SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Family motivated Devonta Smith’s transfer portal decision.
Prior to Smith playing the first game of his senior season at Alabama, his son was born. Smith, who is originally from Cincinnati, wanted to be closer to home.
Notre Dame was looking for a graduate transfer nickelback for a third consecutive offseason, and its coaching staff has known Smith since his early days at Cincinnati La Salle High. The match made perfect sense.
“My son and my family were truly what came into my decision to transfer from Alabama and come to Notre Dame,” Smith said Saturday. “Closer to home and I’ll be able to be around my son and my family.”
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Smith’s 7-month-old son, Chrome, and Chrome’s mother are now living with Smith in South Bend as he prepares for his final season of college football. And Smith is now playing for a coaching staff that offered him a scholarship to Cincinnati in 2019. That’s when Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman was Cincinnati’s defensive coordinator and ND defensive backs coach Mike Mickens was Cincinnati’s cornerbacks coach.
“They know my family very well,” Smith said. “They’ve been to my house a couple times. They’ve been around my high school. I’m real close to those guys.”
Picking Notre Dame didn’t take long for Smith once he entered the transfer portal. News of his commitment to the Irish broke roughly 48 hours after he appeared in the portal. That all happened in the week leading up ...
