Former Notre Dame DL Aiden Gobaira resumes career, chooses transfer portal destination
Aiden Gobaira has found a new home, close to home. On Saturday, the former Notre Dame football defensive lineman announced on social media that he committed to James Madison. Gobaira attended Chantilly (Va.) High, 112 miles from where he will resume his college football career
In June, Notre Dame confirmed with Blue & Gold that Gobaira — and fellow 2022 defensive line signee Tyson Ford — had been dismissed from the Fighting Irish program via a medical scholarship. He officially entered the NCAA Transfer Portal on Oct. 22 with at least three years of eligibility remaining. Ford also entered the portal and committed to California last month.
The On3 Transfer Portal Industry Ranking rates Gobaira as a three-star prospect. He ranks as the No. 126 edge rusher and No. 1,594 overall player. On3 reports there are 2,452 players in the transfer portal as of Saturday night.
Gobaira tore his ACL in fall camp 2023 and missed the ensuing season plus 2024 spring practices. That amounted to valuable time lost in trying to assert himself as an option for position coach Al Washington along the Notre Dame defensive line.
In the lone season Gobaira was healthy while at Notre Dame, his freshman year in 2022, Gobaira only played one career snap. It came in a blowout win over Boston College in the home regular-season finale.
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Gobaira arrived in South Bend as the No. 177 overall prospect and a four-star talent in the 2022 recruiting class. He was also the No. 20 edge rusher in the class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, and the No. 5 player from Virginia.
He verbally committed to the Irish over Penn State, considered the favorite for part of his recruitment. Former Notre Dame defensive line coach Mike Elston recruited Gobaira in high school. But Elston left for Michigan before the start of the 2022 season, so Gobaira never played for him.
Arizona State, Boston College, Duke, East Carolina, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Old Dominion, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Vanderbilt, Virginia and Virginia Tech also offered Gobaira in high school.
In 2021, Gobaira was a semifinalist for the Maxwell Football Club National High School Defensive Player of the Year Award. He played in the spring that year because of COVID-19, posting 16 sacks in eight games. He was also the Regional Defensive Player of the Year for head coach Sean Curry at Chantilly (Va.) High.
