Marty Biagi is used to dreaming and planning in pencil in the spring, knowing some eventual key parts of Notre Dame football’s special teams operations might not arrive/enroll until June and others might not be fully healthy and audition-able until August.
And yet the third-year Irish special teams coach does so with a comfortability, knowing how committed ND’s head coach, Marcus Freeman, is to special teams excellence and not holding back on Biagi’s options to make that happen.
And now comes another curve. Perhaps.
The uncertainty of what roster limits will look like in 2025 — with a reduced cap more likely than not, that would force cuts before the start of next season — adds another layer to the calculus of putting together the best personnel on special teams without eroding those players’ effectiveness on offense or defense.
“I still think it’ll be about the same amount of guys from that standpoint, in the group,” Biagi told reporters last week. “I think what you’ll see is a bit more, ‘Hey, we’ve go to figure out how to use the four games, the four games, the four games,’ if that makes sense.”
Players who haven’t previously redshirted are eligible to do so if they don’t play in more than four regular-season games in a season. Postseason games don’t count against that maximum. And there’s plenty of planning and discussion that goes into whether to breach that maximum, particularly with freshmen.
“We don’t want to waste somebody just for one play or something [by using them in a fifth game],” Biagi said, “but [we’re] trying to map out who’s had a great fall camp and may not be ready to play on offense or defense, so we can start getting them in. That kind of thing.”
So, who has stood out so far among the early enrolled freshman from a special teams standpoint?
Linebacker Madden Faraimo, cornerback Cree Thomas, safeties JaDon Blair and Ethan Long, and wide receivers Elijah Burress and Jerome Bettis Jr. have made positive early impressions, Biagi said.
“I know it’s a lot of names, but it’s just still so early,” he said. “But I think them being here will definitely help. So, it’s not just all new to them in fall, where they’re trying to learn the offensive playbook and defensive playbook [on top of special teams].”
Taking a pass on Rendell throwing?
Beyond the expected punting prowess Notre Dame believed it was getting when it secured a commitment from Australian import James Rendell last spring, was an elite athletic ability and Australian Rules Football experience that seemed perfect for fake punts as well.
And Notre Dame did execute fake punts with proficiency in 2024, just never with the 6-foot-6, 227-pound Rendell involved.
And even though he and Notre Dame starting quarterback Riley Leonard were roommates.
“I've done a little bit of work with [QBs] coach [Gino] Guidugli, but I think it still needs a little bit more work,” Rendell said of his ability to throw a spiral, not just boot one. “I think I can throw it, but my technique isn’t — Riley said my technique’s beyond help, but I can definitely get it down there. But we’ll see. We’ll see.”
What Rendell initially struggled with at Notre Dame last season, actually, was punting. In mid-October, halfway through the regular season, the Irish ranked 84th nationally out of 133 FBS schools in net punting. But by season’s end, ND was 37th at 40.16 yards. The Irish were 83rd in net punting in 2023 before Rendell’s arrival.
And Rendell/ND was one of only 10 FBS teams that didn’t have a single punt roll into the end zone for a touchback in 2024.
“When I look back and reflect upon the season, I think for me it was really broken up into two halves,” Rendell said. “In the first half, I probably wasn't performing as well as I would have liked and to the standard the team expects of me and what I expect of myself. But it's in those times where you really learn the most and make the most strides and progress.
“So, I think the biggest challenge for me, particularly early on, was just adapting to the game day requirements. Because, obviously, the game goes on for around four hours, but you're warming up two hours before the game. And you might be sitting on the bench for an hour or two until you go out and you have one rep, and you’ve got to make it count.
“Some games you’re not punting until halfway through the last quarter. So, the biggest challenge for me was just trying to stay physically and mentally at an optimal level. And that's one of those things that you can only gain with experience. I think as the season went on, I was able to get a lot better with that and more comfortable with my process.”
Rendell finished with a raw average of 41.8 yards on 50 punts. He also during the season successfully petitioned for the NCAA for a second year of eligibility after being guaranteed just one initially.
Another petition for a third year is in the works for the 25-year-old from Melbourne.
“It's a possibility, but I don't want to speculate on that too much at the moment,” he said. “I'm just focused on the present moment and the season ahead. If I can get an extra year, everyone would like that. We'll have to play it by ear.”
Burnette getting into the swing of things
For the fourth time in the four offseasons of Marcus Freeman’s head coaching regime, Notre Dame brought in a grad transfer to be the primary place kicker.
And for the third time in Biagi’s three seasons as Freeman’s special teams coach, he’s trying to help that incoming kicker remake his kicking swing. This time it's former North Carolina kicker Noah Burnette’s turn.
“I think especially when we recruited him, there were some things that I wanted to make sure he was kind of focused on and felt like he could do,” Biagi said. “So, now actually seeing it live and in person, I think he has a true goal of trying to make sure ‘OK, when I’m swinging, I’m using the right technique and not just trying to hit this long ball, home run swing’ So, he’s really refined it.”
Burnette was 15-of-21 on field goals for North Carolina last season after going 19-of-20 the year before. He follows Mitch Jeter (South Carolina 2024) and Spencer Shrader (South Florida 2023) under Biagi, and Blake Grupe (Arkansas State 2022) under Brian Mason.
Both Grupe (Saints) and Shrader (Colts) are on NFL rosters, and Jeter hopes to soon join them.
“I think being able to have the confidence to know that you’re being coached by a guy that has played the position,” Biagi said of his recruiting pitch to Burnette. “By a team, with coach Freeman, from top-down values special teams and where we believe in that phase. We kick a lot of field goals. So, a head coach is looking and expecting in that role to put points on the board.
“So, if you win that spot, you’re going to get that opportunity. I think, more than anything, he felt like it was a real relationship, and he was going to get coached on a day-to-day basis. Which is something a lot of specialists might not always get across the country.”
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