Just hours after former Notre Dame punter Bryce McFerson announced Maryland as his transfer destination, the Irish football program secured reinforcements at the position from Australia.
Special teams coordinator Marty Biagi, who's spent the week recruiting in Australia, received a verbal commitment from punter James Rendell, multiple sources told Inside ND Sports. Rendell, 23, accepted a scholarship offer to become a member of Notre Dame's incoming 2024 recruiting class. Rendell was previously committed to Hawaii.
Rendell, who will join the program this summer, may have as many as three seasons of eligibility remaining, but it's uncertain if he'll be limited to one or two seasons instead.
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Rendell's late father, Matt Rendell, had a successful professional career in Australian rules football. The younger Rendell played multiple seasons with the Frankston Football Club in the Victorian Football League.
The 6-foot-6, 225-pound James Rendell started preparing for an American football career by working with Prokick Australia. The organization trains punters with the goal of connecting them to colleges in the United States.
The last two winners of the Ray Guy Award, given to the top punter in college football, have been Australians who once worked with Prokick Australia: Rutgers' Adam Korsak (2022) and Iowa's Tory Taylor (2023). Previous winners Tom Hornsey (2013), Tom Hackett (2014-15), Mitch Wishnowsky (2016), Michael Dickson (2017) and Max Duffy (2019) had Prokick Australia training on their résumés.
Rendell, whose reported nickname is Thor, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that he can punt a football up to 80 yards and averages a hang time of 5.1 seconds.
Notre Dame has been pursuing Rendell since McFerson entered the transfer portal two weeks ago. Biagi's trip to Australia allowed Notre Dame to make sure everything was lined for his enrollment and NCAA eligibility.
Biagi worked with Australian punters Jack Ansell and Fraser Masin at Purdue and Ole Miss, respectively. Ansell, who Biagi recruited to Purdue, averaged 38.3 yards per punt on 44 punts as a freshman in 2021 with Biagi. He's since averaged 41.9 and 40.7 yards per punt the last two seasons. Masin, who Biagi also recruited, averaged 42.1 yards per punt in his first year at Ole Miss with Biagi. Masin averaged 42.5 last season.
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