Notre Dame football: Houston Griffith set to return in 2021

Notre Dame football defensive back Houston Griffith was supposed to be moving into a more prominent role in 2021, but then defensive coordinator Clark Lea left his Griffith’s future seemed up in the air. He became one of many transfers that Notre Dame, and all of college football with the expected one-time transfer rule coming down the pipeline, is dealing with.

That is, until now, as Griffith is withdrawing from the transfer portal and will be returning to Notre Dame for his senior season.

Griffith noted that he met with new Notre Dame defensive coordinator, Marcus Freeman, as well as Brian Kelly and the two of them helped convince Griffith to return based on his role in the defense next season.

That is a role where he should be starting in the defensive backfield and will need to step up his performance from past seasons to make up for a secondary that, while not a weakness is probably the weakest unit on the Irish defense.

For Freeman’s part, he has already been impressive on the recruiting trail, helping Notre Dame to land some great prospects. A recent 4-star prospect in the 2022 class who verbally committed to Notre Dame, Tyson Ford, said, “He’s the perfect coach to get them over the playoff hump they’ve been trying to get over the past two or three years,” of Freeman, who he said was the reason he chose Notre Dame. It seems like Freeman is already having a massive impact, not just recruiting but retaining players too.

Freeman’s impact being felt for Notre Dame football already

Keep an eye on what other players point to Freeman as a reason to come to South Bend because the next step for Notre Dame is going to be recruiting a deep enough and talented enough group to compete with the elite teams. Freeman is clearly capable of doing that.

Griffith will be a starter and will need to play a major role in the defense. A lot of people thought that he was going to last season but only managed to play in seven games last season.

Those seven games matched the most games he has played in any of his first three seasons at Notre Dame. For his career, Griffith has played in 17 games, has 33 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, no interceptions, and 3 pass breakups. Houston Griffith will be graduating from Notre Dame this Spring.