Notre Dame LB Jack Lamb plans to grad transfer

The trajectory of Jack Lamb’s career at Notre Dame never recovered following a season-ending hip injury in 2019. Now the Irish linebacker will look to finish his football career elsewhere.

Lamb, a junior, announced Tuesday on Twitter that he plans to complete a graduate transfer after finishing his degree this spring.

The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Lamb carved out a role as a linebacker in Notre Dame’s dime package during the 2019 season until suffering the hip injury against Virginia Tech on Nov. 2. Lamb recorded seven tackles, two tackles for a loss, one sack, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery in eight games before being sidelined.

In 2020, Lamb wasn’t able to gain much traction in the competition at buck linebacker with junior Shayne Simon and sophomores Marist Liufau and Jack Kiser sharing most of the playing time.

“We still really have a lot of confidence in Jack, but he’s been slowed by his injury, which was career-threatening,” said head coach Brian Kelly in September. “During camp, he had a little bit of a setback with that hip. He has worked through that, but he’s been behind, quite frankly, in a very competitive situation.”

Lamb made his impact mostly on special teams in 2020. He played in all 12 games and tallied 13 tackles, 11 of which were solo tackles.

Lamb, who is majoring in finance at Notre Dame, will be eligible to play at his transfer destination immediately and could have as many as three years of eligibility remaining given the NCAA exception made during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Landing Lamb out of Temecula (Calif.) Great Oak was considered a significant win for the Irish in the 2018 recruiting cycle. The four-star recruit chose Notre Dame over UCLA, Washington, Oregon and Penn State, his parents’ alma mater.

Rivals ranked Lamb as the No. 2 inside linebacker and No. 77 overall in the 2018 class. 247Sports slated him as the No. 7 inside linebacker and No. 105 overall.

Lamb became the seventh Notre Dame player to express plans to enter the transfer portal since the season ended Friday with a 31-14 loss to Alabama in the College Football Playoff semifinal.

Lamb's announcement followed transfer portal reports for running back Jahmir Smith, wide receiver Jafar Armstrong, center Colin Grunhard, cornerback Isaiah Rutherford, safety Houston Griffith and defensive end Ovie Oghoufo.