Notre Dame reserve Kendall-Abdur Rahman opts for the transfer portal

Just days before Kendall Abdur-Rahman enrolled at Notre Dame for the first time, in June of 2019, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly gave voice to a premonition that the three-star prospect might surprise a few people.

And quickly.

Yet after two full seasons and three spring practices into a third, Abdur-Rahman has decided to continue that quest at another school.

Friday afternoon, the 6-foot, 190-pound junior-to-be announced on his Twitter account that he is entering the transfer portal. He also thanked the coaching staff and praised the Notre Dame experience.

The decision is all about finding traction on the depth chart — something that former standout quarterback at Edwardsville (Ill.) High near St. Louis struggled to do at both wide receiver and running back.

His only game action at ND came last season in a 52-0 blowout of South Florida on Sept. 19. He did not record a statistic of any kind in that game.

Abdur-Rahman played running back for the Irish in 2020, but when freshmen Logan Diggs and Audric Estime arrive in June, the Irish will have five players and plenty of quality and experience.

He was listed as a wide receiver at the start of spring practice this past Saturday, but he would have been fighting a numbers game there as well.

If Abdur-Rahman is able to transfer without sitting out, as expected, he could have as many as four years of eligibility at his new school, having redshirted in 2019 and having received the blanket COVID exemption in 2020.

Since the end of last season on Jan. 1, nine players have hit the portal, not counting linebacker David Adams, who had medically retired but now wants to reverse that status at a new school.

Seven Irish players have committed to or enrolled at a new school: wide receiver Jafar Armstrong (Illinois), cornerback Isaiah Rutherford (Arizona), center Colin Grunhard (Kansas), running back Jahmir Smith (Appalachian State), linebacker Jack Lamb (Colorado), defensive end Ovie Oghoufo (Texas) and wide receiver Micah Jones (Illinois State).

Safety Houston Griffith put his name into the transfer portal as well but eventually elected to remain at Notre Dame.