After many weeks of wondering when Quincy Porter would finally get on the field for Notre Dame, Marcus Freeman delivered the answer on Monday. Unfortunately, it was hardly the answer anyone was looking for about the talented wide receiver.
Opening his Monday press conference, Freeman told the assembled media that Porter will undergo season-ending surgery later this week. That ends the former Ohio State wideout's first season in South Bend without playing a single snap. In fact, it ends his season without ever actually suiting up, as he also missed all of spring practice.
Notre Dame football announces Quincy Porter is out for the rest of the season
Freeman said that Porter will have patella surgery after another flare-up occurred. This report comes after weeks of Notre Dame believing that Porter was making progress and would be back in the "next few weeks."
It's been a rough road for Porter since he transferred from Ohio State to Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish knew that he was banged up but expected him to be fully healed by the time the summer rolled around. For one reason or another, the timeline for his return kept getting pushed back.
Every time it got pushed back, it looked more and more like Porter was never going to play. However, Freeman made it clear this was something new and that he was indeed on the road to coming back, because the issue that caused his surgery had popped up.
While the Notre Dame receiver corps can soldier on without Porter, especially because they've already been dealing with his absence, it does take a talented player off the board.
Porter was a 5-star wide receiver in the 2025 recruiting class. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound receiver from Bergen Catholic High School in Oradell, New Jersey, originally signed with Ohio State before transferring to Notre Dame in January 2026.
Porter finished as the No. 23 player in the 2025 class, the No. 5 player at wide receiver, and the No. 1 player in New Jersey, according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings. As a senior at Bergen Catholic in 2024, Porter caught 57 passes for 969 yards and 11 touchdowns, averaging 17.0 yards per reception while helping the Crusaders finish 11-1 and win the New Jersey Non-Public A state championship. He finished his high school career with 133 receptions for 2,624 yards and 38 touchdowns.
Porter is talented enough to have played in his freshman season. Porter appeared in five games and caught 4 passes for 59 yards.
The worst piece of news about Porter having to miss the 2026 season is how eligibility works now. With the 5-for-5 rules changes put in place earlier this spring means that there is no chance for him to redshirt. The 2025 season is a wasted year no matter what. The NCAA is also severely limiting how someone can get a waiver, even a medical waiver when this kind of injury would have essentially been nearly an automatic waiver.
The good news is that Quincy Porter will still have three years to show what he can do and now he can focus on getting healthy and getting ready for his next season with Notre Dame, instead of trying to hurry back this fall.
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