Notre Dame’s search in the transfer portal for additional help next season isn’t limited to the headline positions of quarterback, wide receiver and defensive line. The Irish are also in the market for a kicker.
Notre Dame will host South Florida graduate transfer Spencer Shrader this weekend for a visit, Inside ND Sports confirmed Friday afternoon. 247Sports first reported the news.
A source told Inside ND Sports that Shrader has already received a scholarship offer from the Irish. Shrader announced last Friday his entry in the transfer portal.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Shrader kicked in 43 games across four seasons for USF. He joined the Bulls in 2019 as a walk-on out of Lithia (Fla.) Newsome High before being elevated as a scholarship player.
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Shrader became the full-time kicker as a junior in 2021 after splitting time as a freshman with Coby Weiss and as a sophomore with Jared Sackett. He made 11 of his 13 field goal attempts (84.6%) in 2021 with a long of 52 yards. His two misses came on 48- and 51-yard attempts. He finished 4-of-5 on field goals of 40-49 yards and 1-of-2 from 50-plus.
Shrader, who was named one of 20 semifinalists for the Lou Groza Award (best kicker in college football) in 2021, made all 35 of his extra-point attempts that season.
Shrader wasn’t as accurate in 2022 for the 1-11 Bulls. He finished the season 9-of-13 on field goals with a long of 49 yards. He was 3-of-4 on attempts of 30-39 yards, 2-of-4 on attempts of 40-49 yards and 0-1 on attempts of 50-plus yards. His misses were from 31, 44, 49 and 54 yards. He still made all 37 extra-point attempts.
Shrader wrapped up his USF career with a field-goal percentage of 70 (28-of-40) and an extra-point percentage of 98.9 (95-of-96). Shrader also performed kickoff duties with 116 of his 208 kickoffs (55.8%) going for touchbacks and an average of 60.0 yards.
Notre Dame turned to the transfer portal for place-kicker Blake Grupe (Arkansas State) and punter Jon Sot (Harvard) via graduate transfers last offseason. Special teams coordinator Brian Mason has made competition a priority at the specialist positions. Grupe and Sot won’t be back next season, because they’ve both exhausted their NCAA eligibility.
The Irish have another scholarship kicker on the 2022 roster: sophomore Josh Bryan. He made his lone extra-point attempt as a freshman and didn’t play in the regular season this year.
Freshman walk-on Zac Yoakam did kickoffs for the Irish this season. He averaged 62.7 yards per kickoff in the regular season with 44 touchbacks on 70 kicks (62.9%).
Grupe was 13-of-18 on field goals (72.2%) with a long of 47 yards with misses of 39, 42, 42, 44 and 45 yards. He was 2-of-3 from 30-39 and 6-of-10 from 40-49. Grupe made all 43 extra points.
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