According to Irish Illustrated sources, Notre Dame’s defensive back, Houston Griffith, is expected to return to South Bend and play Fighting Irish again next season. This was first reported by Bryan Driskell of the Irish Breakdown.
On January 4, Irish Illustrated reported that Griffith was entering the Transfer Portal and was leaving South Bend. The 5 to 11 and 205 pound fighter officially put his name on the list in 48 hours. However, Griffith is expected to remove his name from the portal soon. As of 10:45 ET, Griffith is now officially out of Transfer Portal.
Irish Illustrated also reported last week that Griffith was expected to return due to the fact that there was a new defensive technical team at the secondary in Notre Dame. Defensive coordinator Clark Lea has since become Vanderbilt’s head coach and safety coach Terry Joseph left to train defensive defenders in Texas.
According to sources, the conversations between Notre Dame and Griffith went very well. The head coach told us Brian Kelly did an excellent job recruiting him personally and making it clear how important Griffith is to next year’s team. This, mixed with the recruitment efforts of the new defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman, helped the Irish a lot.
The 5-11 and 205 pounds arrived at Notre Dame as part of the 2018 class. The highlight of the Bradenton (Florida) IMG Academy, originally from the Chicago area, chose Fighting Irish over Florida state scholarship offers , Alabama, Duke, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma and many others across the country. Under Armor All-American was highly praised outside of high school and ranked as one of the top 100 candidates in 247Sports Composite Rankings. He was the No. 11 cornerback of that cycle. 247Sports had a slightly lower ranking as the general recruiting No. 148 in 2018. He recorded 28 tackles, two tackles for loss and one sack as a senior at IMG.
As a freshman at Notre Dame, Griffith played 11 games and even started the fight against Wake Forest. He totaled 14 tackles and two pass separations that year. He played 13 games the following year, totaling five tackles and a pass separation. In 2020, Griffith played 12 games, of which he debuted, totaling 14 tackles and one tackle for defeat.