Eric Goins came to Notre Dame in the fall of 2023 with seven years of service in the United States Army under his belt and the ambition to come to Notre Dame to get dual master’s degrees in Business and Global Affairs.
And a hankering to still play football, and a year of eligibility he left on the table at The Citadel in 2016 to enlist to serve his country.
With no hopes, he figured, of being able to cash it in.
That he’ll be kicking off Saturday night at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx for No. 6 Notre Dame (9-1), when the Irish clash with 19th-ranked Army (9-0), had its origins with hearing about Matt Ganyard.
Ganyard is a U.S. Marine pilot who restarted his college kicking career at Virginia last season at age 34 by taking advantage of a little-known codicil in the NCAA rulebook about paused eligibility clocks and military service.
So, Goins petitioned the NCAA, was granted a single year of eligibility in 2024, and figured the worst-case scenario at age 30 was that he’d “get some good exercise.”
Then Notre Dame’s No. 1 kicker, South Carolina grad transfer Mitch Jeter, suffered a hip injury Oct. 12 against Stanford.
Goins, who connected on 16-of-21 field goal attempts in his final season (2015) at The Citadel, an FCS school, wasn’t able to win the job as the primary fill-in for Jeter on place-kicks, but he did take over the job kicking off.
And the 6-2, 209-pound Herndon, Va., product continues to do so, even as Jeter is nudging closer to 100% health. He has averaged 62 yards a kick on 41 kickoffs with 19 touchbacks. And he even made his first tackle in an ND uniform, and fifth of his career, covering one of his kickoffs Nov. 9 against Florida State.
Suddenly, Goins went from great backstory to front burner.
“I think most athletes, at a high level, have that belief in themselves that I can do this and will do this,” Goins said of rising above being a bystander. “And if you don’t believe it, then you probably don’t get to this level.
“I can’t say I expected this, but this is what I hoped for, playing. Playing on a football team is a lot of fun, but playing in football games is even more fun. So, I was trying to have as much fun but also be a good influence and role model.
“You play the game to win, so that’s my mindset going in. I’m thankful for the opportunity to do this.”
He’s also thankful that older brother Ray Jr. — a West Point grad and soon-to-be Catholic priest — sister Katie, and parents Ray and Sally will all be in attendance on Saturday.
After this season, Goins — who turns 31 next month — has another year of school to finish his master’s requirements, but not more football eligibility. So he’s savoring every minute of this season.
“To play really meaningful football in mid-November and onward, I got to do that once — in my senior year at The Citadel (in 2015 Citadel made the FCS playoffs), but other than that I didn’t. So it’s just really cool to be in this opportunity and have what we have in front of us.”
And that is to make the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff if the Irish can win their final two regular-season games.
TV start time is 7 p.m. EST for the 12th-ever Shamrock Series game, with an actual 7:15 estimated kickoff. NBC/Peacock has the broadcast.
The WSBT Gameday SportsBeat pregame radio show for the ND-Virginia game is an uber-early 1:15 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. EST (wsbtradio.com/96.1 FM) to accommodate the WSBT broadcast of the ND women’s basketball game between the sixth-ranked Irish and No. 3 USC.
Inside ND Sports has you covered after the game on our YouTube channel with two post game shows. First up and live, five minutes after the game's final whistle, it's former Irish offensive lineman Bob Morton and Inside ND Sports' Eric Hansen breaking down the game and taking questions from viewers on Into The eNDzone
Later, our Postgame Takeaways Show with Tyler James and Hansen, drops in the wee hours for your Sunday morning viewing.
There are plenty of other players to watch in the 52nd-ever meeting between the two teams and 24th of them staged at Yankee Stadium. It’s our practice at Inside ND Sports' to highlight four of them. Here they are:
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► Chat Transcript: Can Notre Dame's defense pass history and playoff tests?
► Opponent Outlook: What Notre Dame should expect from an undefeated Army
Army quarterback Bryson Daily
An in-house promotion of Cody Worley to offensive coordinator — Army’s third OC in three years — catalyzed the 6-foot, 221-pound senior into a statistical marvel.
Among those numbers: Daily is ranked second in the FBS in rushing touchdowns (21), second in total touchdowns (21), third in points responsible for per game (21), and fifth in rushing yards per game (132.8). He also has completed 29 of his 51 passes (56.9%) for 644 yards and 7 touchdowns with one interception. That computes to the No. 1 spot in team passing efficiency nationally.
The former Rivals 2-star linebacker prospect out of Abernathy, Texas, excelled on both sides of the ball in high school — and in basketball, baseball and in the discus in track and field. The Army coaches steered him toward offense after he attended the Army prep school for a year.
The question Saturday night in Yankee Stadium is how will those big 2024 numbers translate against the nation’s No. 6 team in total defense, when the Black Knights have only faced two teams ranked higher than 94th nationally in that stat category?
And how will the ball-hogging, possession-stingy Army offense operate if the Black Knights fall behind and have to pass instead of using it as a surprise element? Army has only trailed for a total of 5 ½ minutes this season.
Notre Dame tight end Mitchell Evans
The Irish need to take advantage of mismatches in athleticism against Army, and the 6-5, 260-pound senior has been more and more resembling his pre-ACL tear self.
His 34 yards in receiving on four catches last Saturday against Virginia was a season-high, but his physicality blocking in the run game could also be a big factor for Notre Dame’s No. 12-ranked rushing offense against the nation’s No. 3 rushing defense.
Notre Dame linebacker Jaylen Sneed
Sneed has excelled against teams with triple-option and single-wing concepts, and that was fully on display earlier this season, on Oct. 26, when the Irish battered Navy, 51-14, 12 miles away and across the Hudson River in East Rutherford, N.J.
In that game, the 6-1, 224-pound junior amassed a career-high nine tackles and recovered a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown.
He’s been able to maintain a good part of that momentum in the two games since then against traditional offenses.
Army linebacker Kalib Fortner
The 6-1, 220-pound junior from Knoxville, Tenn., was the MVP of last year’s Army-Navy Game and is the Black Knights’ second-leader tackler (54). His 7.5 tackles for loss leads a team that ranked fifth nationally in total defense.
Fortner has a twin brother on the team, Liam, who’s a starting wide receiver used primarily as a blocker.
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