Ohio State and Notre Dame have reached the same destination with rosters built much the same way.
The teams set to play in the College Football Playoff championship game in Atlanta on Monday night sign elite high school recruiting classes year after year. That has been and continues to be their foundations.
While many teams relentlessly mine the transfer portal in hopes of finding gems, Ohio State and Notre Dame have used the portal judiciously, equally and with great success while putting together their current teams.
Both are college football royalty and can offer NIL riches to go with the exposure and coaching enhancing a player's chance of winning a championship and getting to the next level.
Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard said he had mixed feelings about going into the portal after three years at Duke. But he wouldn't be in the position he's in right now if he hadn't made the move.
“You don’t really understand the magnitude of going to a big-time school until you kind of live it, and I tried to prepare myself for every situation possible, but you’ve just got to go through it to understand what it’s like to play quarterback at a blue blood school,” he said.
According to Associated Press research using 247Sports data, the Buckeyes and Irish both have signed 26 scholarship players from the portal since 2022, Marcus Freeman’s first year as Notre Dame head coach. That's an average of 6.5 per year, among the lowest in the Bowl Subdivision.
The Buckeyes and Irish can be selective when dipping into the portal, and they've predictably had a high success rate with the few players they've taken.
Five of the 22 Ohio State starters in its semifinal win over Texas were transfers, and all have played major roles.
Will Howard (Kansas State) has completed 73.8% of his passes for 919 yards and six touchdowns over the three playoff games. Quinshon Judkins (Mississippi) ran for two touchdowns in the semifinal win over Texas. Will Kacmarek (Ohio) has come back from an upper-body injury to start all three playoff games at tight end.
Caleb Downs (Alabama) had a late interception to finish off Texas. Davison Igbinosun (Mississippi) has a combined 11 tackles and two pass breakups in the three games.
For Notre Dame, four starters in the semifinal against Penn State were transfers. Leonard is one of two Power Four quarterbacks to throw for 2,600 yards and run for 700 this season. Beaux Collins (Clemson) is the team's season receiving leader. Kris Mitchell (Florida International) has been steady at receiver and a big-play threat. RJ Oben (Duke) made a strip sack to set up Notre Dame's only offensive touchdown in its second-round win over Georgia.
The transfers for both teams complement the bevy of high school talent that joins the programs each year.
Nineteen players who signed with Ohio State out of high school have combined for 513 starts, and Ryan Day's classes have landed in the top five in the 247Sports Composite Rankings six straight years. Notre Dame's Freeman has had recruiting classes ranked from seventh to 12th.
The distribution of experience on the rosters is fairly even.
Ohio State leans older, with 13 of its starters in their fourth or fifth years. Ohio State's only first-year starter is star wide receiver Jeremiah Smith.
Notre Dame has nine starters who are either first- or second-year players and five who are fifth- or sixth-year players. The Irish's only freshman starters are offensive lineman Anthonie Knapp, who will miss the championship game because of injury, and cornerback Leonard Moore.
