SOUTH BEND, Ind. — James Rendell’s literal journey to Notre Dame took 33 hours.
When Rendell, an Australian punter who committed to Notre Dame football in early May, left his home in Melbourne, Victoria, to finally make an official visit to Notre Dame that preceded his June enrollment, it took him roughly 33 hours to arrive on campus. That included a delay at the Melbourne airport, a redirected flight to Honolulu with a layover on the plane, a layover in Los Angeles, a flight to Chicago and a drive to South Bend, Ind.
But even that mess of an itinerary is less confusing than Rendell’s NCAA eligibility. He joked with reporters Thursday that he’s a graduate freshman. That’s because he’s only been guaranteed one season of eligibility at this point, but there’s a belief he could be eligible for up to two more seasons.
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Rendell, 24, received an undergraduate degree from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and intends to gain a master’s degree in nonprofit administration from Notre Dame.
“So as it stands, I’ve currently got one year,” Rendell said of his eligibility. “However, I’ve been pursuing a college football career for quite some time now, and I was ultimately prevented from coming over in prior seasons due to unprecedented circumstances that were out of my control. So henceforth, I’ve got grounds for eligibility waivers. But for now, I’m just focused on the present and the season at hand.”
The 6-foot-6, 219-pound Rendell first followed the path of his father, Matt Rendell, as an Australian rules football player. But the younger Rendell’s career didn’t turn out as successful as his father’s. Matt Rendell played in 256 games across 16 seasons in the Australian Football League and South Australian Football League.
Matt Rendell, who died last June, advised his son as early as 2017 to look into playing American football if Australian rules football didn’t work out as planned. In the last couple years, James Rendell started working with Prokick Australia, a renowned program that has placed hundreds of punters in the college and professional ranks of American football since 2007.
The work of Prokick Australia speaks for itself. Eight of the last 11 winners of the Ray Guy Award, given to college football’s top punter, have been Prokick Australia alums. But James Rendell, who’s in line to be Notre Dame’s starting punter, will make his American football debut in front of a hostile crowd at Texas A&M on Aug. 31 (7:30 p.m. EDT on ABC)
“They’re so good at equipping guys with the skills necessary to succeed over here, not just physically, but mentally as well,” Rendell said of Prokick Australia. “So, I feel like I’m very prepared to be reliable when the team needs to call upon me.”
Part of that training did include punting while wearing shoulder pads and a helmet. He’s only put those on at Notre Dame for a photoshoot as the team is only in pad-less summer workouts currently. Rendell continues to work on two different kinds of punts: the traditional spiral technique used here and the end-over-end style that’s more common in Australian rules football.
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Notre Dame special teams coordinator Marty Biagi was tasked with identifying and recruiting Rendell from Australia. Biagi recruited Australian punters at Purdue and Ole Miss, so the transition is familiar to him. Biagi flew down to Australia in late April to visit with Rendell and his family. The trip included watching Rendell punt and attending a Collingwood-Carlton AFL game at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Despite Rendell’s previous commitment to Hawaii, Notre Dame managed to win him over once Biagi was sold on Rendell as an option.
“Notre Dame is such a massive brand, not only in athletic terms but also the academics as well,” Rendell said. “It’s globally renowned as one of the best institutions in the world. The reach that they have is massive. I see people wearing Notre Dame in Australia, so I knew a fair bit about it. It would have been my top priority on the list of colleges to go to, so I’m incredibly grateful to be here.”
Rendell used to watch college football games in Australia on Sunday mornings. He’ll be playing in one of his own soon enough. Rendell might not be making a trip home anytime soon, but he doesn’t feel like he’s doing this on his own.
“I guess he’d be pretty proud,” Rendell said of his late father. “His whole side of the family is really proud, and they're watching my journey. And like I said, I feel like he’s with me on this journey right now, watching over me.”
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