Notre Dame football scrimmages without defensive lineman Tyson Ford as he weighs his options

SOUTH BEND — Tyson Ford, third-year defensive lineman for Notre Dame football, did not attend Saturday morning’s jersey scrimmage at Notre Dame Stadium.

According to Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman, Ford is “taking some personal time just to figure out what he wants to do moving forward.”

The NCAA’s spring transfer portal window for football re-opens on April 16 and runs through the end of the month. A political science major who enrolled in January 2022, Ford is projected to graduate in May 2025.

On the field, the former four-star recruit from St. Louis’ John Burroughs High School has struggled to carve out a niche within a deep position group. At 6-foot-4 and 290 pounds, Ford has practiced at both defensive end and defensive tackle during his college career.

When defensive line coach Al Washington was asked about Ford on March 20, two practices into spring sessions, the veteran assistant sounded sympathetic.

“He’s working inside right now,” Washington said. “He’s been working his tail off. We just have a lot of older guys. I think that’s tough for any young player. If I was in (Ford’s) shoes, I’d be like, ‘Man.’

“But you just have to control what you can and you have to continue to work your best, and I credit Tyson for doing that. I have a very high opinion of Tyson. He’s a great kid. For him this spring is a great opportunity to continue to work. We all know the game is unpredictable, and he’s just got to continue to put his foot to the pedal.”

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Staying proactive in portal era

After taking a redshirt in 2022, Ford made just three game appearances and played a total of 13 defensive snaps in 2023. He made one tackle and had a quarterback hurry against Tennessee State in Game 2; he also saw the field briefly on Senior Day against Wake Forest (five snaps) and in the regular-season finale at Stanford (two snaps).

Fifth-year cornerback Clarence Lewis recently announced his intention to exit as a graduate transfer, making him the 15^th Notre Dame player to enter the portal since Thanksgiving. It’s possible a talented Irish roster could experience additional attrition on either side of the Blue-Gold Game on April 20.

Last spring the Irish lost quarterback Tyler Buchner (Alabama), running back Logan Diggs (LSU), defensive back Lorenzo Styles (Ohio State) and linebacker Prince Kollie (Vanderbilt) to the transfer portal.

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“It’s called having honest conversations with your players,” Freeman said, speaking in general about how to stay proactive in the transfer portal era. “That’s what we have to do and that’s what our job as coaches is: to have honest conversations, to have relationships with our players, so there are no surprises.

“That’s what we do. This isn’t just a transfer portal discussion. This is a year-round (focus). If you love your players and you want to see them reach their full potential, you’re going to have honest conversations with them. I don’t want it to change because there’s a transfer portal window coming up.”

Graduate transfers have until May 1 to enter the spring portal and still be eligible to play in the fall.

“That’s just what we should do if we’re mentors and leaders to young people,” Freeman said. “We should have a relationship with them and we should be honest with them and they should be honest with us. So then when they make a decision — ‘Hey, I want to stay. I want to transfer’ — it’s not a surprise. But that comes from having a relationship with them, which takes time and it takes investing in those young people.”

Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for NDInsider.com and is on social media @MikeBerardino.