NEW ORLEANS — After nailing a 49-yard field goal just before halftime in Notre Dame’s 27-17 win over Indiana in the first round of the College Football Playoff, Mitch Jeter delivered a message to anyone within earshot of his voice.
“I’m back!” he yelled as he returned to Notre Dame’s sideline, as captured by Fighting Irish Media’s video team.
The Jeter that Notre Dame pulled out of the transfer portal last offseason after four seasons at South Carolina had basically been missing since he suffered a groin injury in Notre Dame’s sixth game of the season against Stanford. At that point in the season, Jeter was 5-of-7 on field goals with his two misses blocked by Northern Illinois.
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In the four regular season games Jeter played after a two-game absence, Jeter made just one of his five attempts. It was hard to consider Jeter anything other than a concern for Notre Dame heading into the playoff, but then he delivered on a cold night in South Bend, Ind.
“To be able to go out there and make a big-time kick in a playoff game was special,” Jeter told Inside ND Sports. “To do that in Notre Dame Stadium in front of those fans — I obviously really appreciate those fans showing up, making that environment special for the first playoff game of hopefully many to come in Notre Dame Stadium. That was cool.”
Jeter didn’t hide his emotions at all. He pumped his hands toward the Notre Dame sideline and emphatically slapped hands with head coach Marcus Freeman before special teams coordinator Marty Biagi gave him a tap on the helmet.
“I think he was really full of joy about it,” Biagi said, “and we all were, and we’re going to need him.”
Biagi was confident on how Jeter would perform against Indiana based on his pregame warmup in which he was hitting field goals of 50-plus yards.
“He really had an intense focus,” Biagi said, “that he wasn’t going to let any element, weather, wind, cold, whatever, affect his performance, and you could see that he was really dialed in in warmup.”
Jeter later made a 33-yard field goal in the third quarter. Then Indiana blocked his 37-yard attempt in the fourth quarter. Blocks have been an issue for Jeter this season. None of his field goal attempts at South Carolina were blocked. He’s had four blocked at Notre Dame this season.
That’s just another example of how strange of a season it’s been for the 5-foot-11, 195-pound Jeter.
“Definitely kind of a roller coaster of a season,” Jeter said. “Just going through the injury and stuff like that. I never really had that in my career. I’ve been able to battle back and feel confident going into this game.”
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Jeter described his groin issue as one that he could feel the impact every kick was making on the muscle. Following the injury, Jeter was barely practicing at all. Then he’d test out his physical capabilities in the pregame warmup to determine if he could play and how far he could kick the ball without any pain.
Jeter described himself as back to full strength now. He worked to push himself past the stretch where he missed all three of his field goal attempts against Army and USC, which included one blocked by Army. He also pushed back on the idea that he had mental hurdles to overcome during that stretch.
“It’s not mental at all,” Jeter said. “I go out there and treat every kick the same way.”
That might matter to Jeter and Biagi, but the result is what he’s judged on. Despite the awakening against Indiana, Jeter is still 8-of-15 on the season. His 53.3% rate his second-worst (114th) in the FBS among kickers who average one field per game and have played in 75% of their team’s games.
Georgia (11-2), who the Irish (12-1) will play Wednesday (7:45 p.m. EST on ESPN) in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal staged by the Sugar Bowl at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, features the 12th-best FBS kicker in terms of field goal percentage this season. Peyton Woodring is 20-of-22 (90.9%) on field goals this season. (UPDATE: The game has been postponed to Thursday.)
Jeter is used to lining up on a sideline opposite Georgia. He played against the Bulldogs in each of his four seasons at South Carolina. But the Gamecocks lost in all four of those games. Jeter didn’t attempt any field goals in those losses and made all three of his extra points.
Though the stakes are higher this time around, Jeter doesn’t want to make it a bigger deal than any of the previous matchups. Of course, he hopes the outcome is different.
“I played against Georgia every year in my career. This game’s no different,” Jeter said. “It’s a big-time SEC game. Obviously, Notre Dame being another big-time football program as well, we’re ready for the challenge.”
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