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Grant Blankenship to transfer to Oklahoma

By Bobby Norell

Sep 5, 2015; South Bend, IN, USA; The Notre Dame Bagpipe Band performs in front of the Administration Building before the game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Texas Longhorns at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 5, 2015; South Bend, IN, USA; The Notre Dame Bagpipe Band performs in front of the Administration Building before the game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Texas Longhorns at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports /
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Former Notre Dame defensive lineman Grant Blankenship to transfer to Oklahoma.

Over the weekend we learned that Grant Blankenship would no longer be part of the Notre Dame program and that he was looking to transfer. Well, yesterday Blankenship announced that he would be taking his talents to Norman,OK to play for Bob Stoops and the Sooners. The choice of Oklahoma doesn’t come as much as a surprise as Kerry Cooks, who is now the defensive coordinator at OU, was the one who recruited Blankenship to Notre Dame.

Blankenship came to Notre Dame as a four-star recruit and the 14th best defensive end in the class, but never really made any impact of note in his time on campus.

Grant Blankenship
Sep 12, 2015; Charlottesville, VA, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish defensive lineman Grant Blankenship (92) participates in warm-ups prior to the Fighting Irish /

There hasn’t been an exact stated reason on why Blankenship decided to leave the Notre Dame program, but it’s easy to speculate. He had to see the writing on the wall that he wasn’t going to see much playing time in 2016. His playing time dropped drastically last season from his freshman season. In 2014 he appeared in 11 games. Last season he appeared in just a mere three games. Plus with the influx of defensive line recruits like Daelin Hayes and Kareem Khalid, playing time could have been even more sparse for Blankenship this season.

Also Blankenship was suspended in the spring for “violation of team rules”, so it is possible he was forced to leave rather than deciding to leave on his own.

So what does this mean for Notre Dame? Blankenship wasn’t going to make much of an impact on the field this season, but losing him does take a blow on the depth of what already is a thin position on the defensive line. The loss of Blankenship shouldn’t show unless there are a slew of injuries.

Notre Dame continues fall camp on Tuesday in Culver,IN. Make sure to keep up with Slap The Sign as we near closer to the season.

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