GRAD TRANSFER: Josh Schumacher to Notre Dame

The Stride Report has confirmed via sources that Stanford veteran Josh Schumacher will be finishing his eligibility at Notre Dame as a graduate transfer starting next year. According to TFRRS, he is expected to have two seasons of eligibility remaining in cross country and multiple seasons of eligibility remaining for track.

Schumacher was once a high school superstar. The son of Bowerman Track Club head coach Jerry Schumacher ran times of 4:11 (mile), 8:43 (two miles) and 14:25 (5k track) as a prep runner. He was also the 27th place finisher at the Foot Locker National Championships and was a two-time invitee to the Brooks PR Invitational.

Since joining Stanford, Schumacher has had somewhat limited success, although he has recently shown encouraging glimpses of promise in his final year with the Cardinal.

In the fall, Schumacher was the 31st place finisher in a respectable field at the FSU XC Open. He later finished 5th place in the "Open" race at the Nuttycombe Invitational with a time that would have put him in 104th place in the "Invite" section.

Schumacher later finished 40th at the PAC-12 XC Championships which was ultimately the last race of his cross country season.

Fast forward to the Stanford Invite from last weekend and Schumacher threw down a very promising time of 14:00 for 5000 meters. According to TFRRS, this is the first track season of any kind that Schumacher has contested (attached) at the collegiate level.

Earlier in the week, news that Schumacher would be attending Notre Dame as a graduate transfer was broken on the latest episode of the Blue Oval Podcast.

In a prior Blue Oval Podcast episode, The Stride Report even mentioned that Notre Dame could be a good spot for Schumacher.

That's because the soon-to-be Irish star has built his collegiate reputation in cross country, recently having his best season of competition this past fall. Schumacher's long distance identity could fit well with Notre Dame's roster structure which is heavily focused on events like the 3k, 5k and 10k success.

Not only that, but Schumacher, throughout his last few years with the Stanford program, has worked alongside numerous young up-and-coming stars. Men such as Charles Hicks, Ky Robinson and Cole Sprout, amongst others, are solid examples.

Now, with Notre Dame eventually losing men like Yared Nuguse, Anthony Russo and Andrew Alexander, adding another established veteran presence to the Fighting Irish's lineup can only help.

It's unclear just how impactful Schumacher will be for the Fighting Irish. There is certainly no guarantee that he will even make the team's top-seven in cross country next fall.

However, Schumacher is clearly making noticeable improvements this year. That much was evident during this 2021-2022 academic calendar year. The idea of Schumacher offering reliable depth at the backend of this varsity lineup is a very realistic scenario.