Notre Dame football scores big as Ivy League grad transfer joins program

While the transfer portal has officially closed and spring practice are officially over, the Notre Dame football team is still quietly reshaping its roster and adding quality depth. The latest Fighting Irish moves have involved bringing in walk on players from other programs in order to bring some more veteran presences to the bench.

The latest walk-on player is of the preferred walk-on variety and comes from the Ivy League. The Notre Dame football has added defensive line transfer Quentin Autry. The defender made everything official on Saturday afternoon.

Autry's Columbia career has had some bumps along the way, as he saw his first season in the Ivy league get canceled due to the COVID pandemic. His second year with the Lions was put on hold after he suffered an injury.

So far, the defensive lineman hasn't turned himself into a superstar at the FCS level, but he did show an ability to be at least steady. The graduate transfer totaled 19 tackles, one sack, one-and-a-half tackles for loss, three quarterback hits, and 12 hurries in his 2023 campaign.

Notre Dame football adds Ivy grad transfer as preferred-walkon

Autry's journey to South Bend is a bit of a story of coming full circle, in a way. The New Jersey native played his high school ball at Notre Dame High School in Millstone, NJ. 

There, he was both a standout on the football field as well as the basketball court. He was a captain on the basketball team and a two-time all-conference basketball player in the prep ranks.

Though he doesn't project to have anywhere the kind of season of Jason Onye, his build is similar to the talented defensive lineman. He lands on a unit that is quite deep and therefore, it would be a bit of a surprise if he saw a ton of action. 

Of course, Notre Dame football coaches will give him all the opportunities to make some noise this fall and compete to get on the field for his final two college seasons.