{"id":73529,"date":"2025-04-17T12:30:28","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T16:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=73529"},"modified":"2025-09-20T14:13:54","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T18:13:54","slug":"notre-dame-safety-kennedy-urlacher-enters-transfer-portal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/04\/17\/notre-dame-safety-kennedy-urlacher-enters-transfer-portal\/","title":{"rendered":"Notre Dame Safety Kennedy Urlacher Enters Transfer Portal"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to multiple reports, safety Kennedy Urlacher entered the transfer portal after just one season at Notre Dame. The portal opened on Wednesday and runs through April 25.<\/span><\/p>\n

A constant on Notre Dame\u2019s special teams last season, Urlacher, the son of Chicago Bears great and NFL Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher made 12 tackles as a freshman. Additionally, he saw time at safety during the Irish\u2019s romping win over Purdue in the third week of the 2024 season. In the 66-7 victory over the Boilermakers, Urlacher finished the game with three tackles and one pass breakup. <\/span>All told,<\/span> he appeared in 14 games for the Irish as a true freshman.<\/span><\/p>\n

Multiple Options for Kennedy Urlacher<\/span><\/h3>\n

A four-star recruit <\/span>out of<\/span> Chandler, Ariz., <\/span>Rivals.com<\/span><\/em> ranked him as the 39th-ranked safety in the 2024 class. He selected Notre Dame over TCU, Penn State, Miami, Kansas State, and Illinois. Urlacher had numerous scholarship offers out of high school, including offers from Arizona and Arizona State.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reportedly, Urlacher entered the portal with a \u201cDo Not Contact\u201d tag. That likely suggests that Urlacher <\/span>has an idea of<\/span> which program he wants to transfer to. Following the 2024 season, the USC Trojans hired Chad Bowden away from Notre Dame <\/span>to be<\/span> the team\u2019s general manager. At Notre Dame, Bowden served as the team\u2019s director of recruiting. Bowden was an integral part of Urlacher\u2019s recruitment. Urlacher\u2019s past relationship with Bowden could play a pivotal role in USC landing the talented safety with an NFL pedigree.<\/span><\/p>\n

Notre Dame Loaded at the Safety Position<\/span><\/h3>\n

Notre Dame appears loaded at safety, which helps explain the move. Sophomore <\/span>Tae Johnson<\/span><\/a> was impressive in Spring practice. As was junior <\/span>Luke Talich<\/span><\/a>. A former walk-on, Talich started <\/span>Saturday\u2019s Blue-Gold Game<\/span><\/a> alongside returning starter <\/span>Adon Shuler<\/span><\/a>. Talich made nine tackles and one <\/span>tackle<\/span> for loss in the scrimmage game at Notre Dame Stadium. Johnson, who missed most of last season due to a broken foot, had three tackles and one pass breakup in the Blue-Gold Game.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shuler returns at safety this season after recording 59 combined tackles (fourth on the team) and snatching three interceptions (tied for second on the team) last season for the Irish. Shuler Also in the mix is Virginia Tech graduate transfer <\/span>Jalen Stroman<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking Ahead<\/span><\/h3>\n

While Notre Dame will feel the departure of a talent like Urlacher, the safety position appears in capable hands moving forward. Shuler provides a stable and experienced presence in the secondary. Adding to the veteran leadership is Stroman, who also has the versatility to play multiple roles. Although he <\/span>was sidelined<\/span> for Spring practice, Stroman should be ready to contribute in the Fall. Overall, the safety position for Notre Dame seems well-equipped to maintain a high level of play in the upcoming season, even without Urlacher.<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Photo: MICHAEL CLUBB\/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to multiple reports, safety Kennedy Urlacher entered the transfer portal after just one season at Notre Dame. The portal opened on Wednesday and runs through April 25. A constant on Notre Dame\u2019s special teams last season, Urlacher, the son of Chicago Bears great and NFL Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher made 12 tackles as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4854,"featured_media":73532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10906,8,11,2,35676,7316,35603],"tags":[33354,13624,34846,33717,259,9997,3402,84],"class_list":["post-73529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cfb","category-fbs","category-independents","category-featured","category-notre-dame-fighting-irish","category-recruiting","category-usc-trojans","tag-blue-gold-game","tag-brian-urlacher","tag-chad-bowden","tag-kennedy-urlacher","tag-notre-dame-fighting-irish","tag-spring-transfer-portal","tag-top-25","tag-usc-trojans"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4854"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73529"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73531,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73529\/revisions\/73531"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}