Notre Dame freshman safety Khari Gee enters the transfer portal

Khari Gee signed with Notre Dame last December without ever visiting campus. Now the freshman safety will likely leave the Irish football program without ever playing in a game. 

Gee entered his name into the NCAA’s transfer portal this week, a source confirmed with ND Insider. On3 first reported the news Wednesday evening.

The 6-foot-2, 195-pound Gee did not play in any of No. 5 Notre Dame’s 12 regular season games. 

Gee landed in Notre Dame’s 2021 recruiting class in a bit of an early signing period surprise. The College Park (Ga.) Woodward Academy product had been verbally committed to LSU since May 2020, but he signed with Irish before publicly declaring he was no longer committed to play for the Tigers. 

Notre Dame needed depth at the safety position, so Gee was a welcomed addition. Rivals rated him as a four-star recruit and ranked him as the No. 29 safety in the 2021 class. 247Sports rated him as a three-star recruit and pegged him as the No. 45 safety. 

After All-American safety Kyle Hamilton went down with a knee injury in the USC game, Notre Dame turned to a pair of sophomores to improve the safety depth: former wide receiver turned rover Xavier Watts and cornerback Ramon Henderson. That clogged Gee’s path to immediate playing time. 

Given Gee’s size and physicality, he may have ended up playing at the rover position for the Irish in future seasons. Instead, Gee will seek a new program to give him a fresh start. 

Gee became the fifth Notre Dame player to enter the transfer portal since the beginning of the 2021 season. Senior wide receiver Lawrence Keys III (Tulane) and junior quarterback Brendon Clark (Old Dominion) announced their departures during the regular season. Junior safety Litchfield Ajavon and senior linebacker Shayne Simon entered the transfer portal this month. 

If Notre Dame can convince seniors Houston Griffith and DJ Brown to return next season, the Irish should have six scholarship safeties back from the 2021 roster with Griffith, Brown, Watts, Henderson, junior KJ Wallace and freshman Justin Walters. 

Notre Dame signed three defensive backs during the early signing period last week: four-star recruits Jaden Mickey and Benjamin Morrison and three-star recruit Jayden Bellamy. Only Bellamy played significant time at safety as a senior. 

Follow ND Insider Tyler James on Twitter: @TJamesNDI.