SIGNED: P Jay Bramblett

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Tuscaloosa (Ala.) Hillcrest punter Jay Bramblett has submitted his National Letter of Intent to Notre Dame.

Rivals: 3.0 stars (No. 4 kicker in the class of 2019)
Kohl’s Kicking: 5.0 (No. 4 punter in the class of 2019)

SENIOR SEASON: Punted 41 times for an average of 45.1 yards with a long of 59, and completed 178 of 260 passes for 2,341 yards with 18 touchdowns and six interceptions.

JUNIOR SEASON: Punted 56 times for an average of 39.0 yards with 25 downed inside the 20.

• All-American Bowl participant.
• 2017 Montgomery Advertiser Alabama Class 6A first-team All-State selection.

Power Five Offers: Missouri

Bramblett’s Irish recruitment happened fairly quickly. The coveted punter communicated with Irish recruiting and special teams coordinator Brian Polian in early May, came to campus for an official visit the weekend of May 26, picked up his offer and committed to the Irish four days later.

Polian was a huge part of Bramblett committing to Notre Dame, and the three-star could be in line for the starting job come fall 2019. Bramblett briefly considered a few other schools, namely Missouri, but once the offer from Notre Dame was on the table, the Irish immediately became the pick.

Bramblett took an official visit to Notre Dame for the Stanford game Sept. 29.

• Born on Jan. 3, 2000.
• Served as starting quarterback and punter for Hillcrest during his senior season.
• Worked with the charity Alex’s Lemonade Stand to raise money for childhood cancer research through pledges connected to his punting yardage.

Bramblett was recruited to come in and win the starting punting job as a true freshman.

Specialist guru Chris Sailer is far, far, far more qualified to speak the ability of a punter or kicker than I am, so when he ranks Bramblett as the top punter in the nation I take notice.

The first thing I observed about Bramblett is that he is a really impressive athlete, which is vitally important for a punter. The better the athlete the more explosive potential he has as a kicker. The better the athlete the easier it is for him to repeat his delivery kick after kick. He's also a football player as well as a punter, having played quarterback for Hillcrest to go along with his punting duties.

The second thing I noticed is when Bramblett kicks the ball it tends to go just as much up as it goes downfield, which is what often separates good punters from great punters. Distance is great, but if arch and height is sacrificed it is easier for returns to get set up. It also impacts the ability of opponents to get a block, as kicks that come off with a lot of arch tend to be harder to get hands on. By getting so much arch on his punts Bramblett not only gets distance, but he makes it harder for returners to do any damage after fielding his punts.

Bramblett thrives at getting a lot of hang time on his punts, which is why so few are returned. He also shows a great feel for ball placement, which is rare for a young punter. The stronger he gets the more distance he'll get, but his early foundation to build upon is really outstanding.

As a senior, Bramblett showed and improved ability to place the ball along the sidelines deep in his opponents territory.

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