Notre Dame transfer guard Cole Certa signs with Clemson

Notre Dame will likely face former Irish guard Cole Certa next season. He signed with Clemson on Sunday out of the transfer portal, opting to remain in the ACC.

Tiger Illustrated reported that Certa was visiting the Tigers on Friday, and he evidently committed on the spot. He’ll have two years of eligibility remaining.

Throughout his sophomore year, Certa transformed from a fringe bench player to a dangerous three-point specialist to a red-hot three-level scorer capable of leading his team’s offense on a given night. He dropped 30-plus points in three games from late January to late February, averaged 15.8 points per game in ACC play and finished fourth in the conference for Most Improved Player. He became a true building block for the Fighting Irish.

Now, he’ll be a building block for Clemson. As a high-volume sharpshooter on an upward trajectory, he was likely a hot commodity on the open market.

On3’s Jamie Shaw mentioned DePaul, Marquette and Louisville as other possible options for Certa, but he also said he was keeping his recruitment close to vest.

Certa was the sixth Notre Dame men’s basketball player to announce plans to enter the portal, following Sir Mohammed, Garrett Sundra, Ryder Frost, Jalen Haralson and Markus Burton. He was the first to sign with a new school.

Certa’s departure is a significant blow to Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry‘s program, whose saving grace in three losing seasons was the young talent it had recruited and developed. But that’s the reality of college basketball in 2026: If you develop young talent, there’s a good chance another school will reap the reward.

In his sophomore year out of Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy, the Illinois native averaged 12.8 points per game on 36.7% from beyond the arc. He also made 89.2% of his free throws, leading the ACC in free-throw percentage. His 2.6 three-pointers made per game ranked eighth in the conference, and his 2.9 free-throws made per game ranked 19th.

There were times, particularly with Haralson and Burton sidelined with injuries, that Certa was Notre Dame’s best source of offense. He became an invaluable piece as the Irish tried, often in vain, to win games down the stretch. When he got hot, he typically didn’t miss.

“That’s the one thing about Cole, is he can get hot in a short amount of time, right?” Shrewsberry said in February. “He only needs just one open, clean look to get him going. And then he can start to make contested looks.

“Some of those threes he made in the first half [in a 37-point performance against Georgia Tech] were tough shots, contested, right? But once he’s already seen one go in, sometimes it doesn’t really matter.”

Certa’s exit leaves Notre Dame with veteran guard Braeden Shrewsberry as its only consistent volume three-point shooter. The Irish will shop for his replacement(s) in the transfer portal themselves.