Notre Dame has received a commitment from former Purdue Boilermakers kicker Spencer Porath this evening filling the final need from this portal window. There are still some players that Notre Dame is in the mix with, but Porath fills the final need from a roster perspective. This is a solid pick up, and after the field goal kicking struggles the Irish faced this past season, it was likely they were going to look to the portal.
This is the fourth consecutive season Notre Dame has gone to the transfer portal for a kicker. In 2022, they picked up Blake Grupe who is now kicking for the Indianapolis Colts. That season, Grupe went 49 of 49 on extra point attempts and 73.7 percent from field goal range. In 2023, they picked up Spencer Shrader who also did some field goal kicking for the Colts this past season. Shrader had an exceptionally strong leg, but only hit 15 of his 22 attempted field goals.
In 2024, they signed Mitch Jeter from South Carolina. Jeter kicked the game winner against Penn State in the Orange Bowl against Penn State ultimately sending the Irish to the National Championship game against Ohio State. Jeter went 54 of 54 on extra points, but made 13 of his 21 attempted field goals. Unfortunately, that was only the start of the kicking woes for the Irish.
This past season, the kicking operation in South Bend hit an all-time low. Transfer kicker Noah Burnette missed two extra points and one field goal this season and missed half of the regular season with an injury. True freshman kicker Erik Schmidt made 41 of his 42 attempted extra points, but went 0-3 on attempted field goals. After this past season, it was likely Notre Dame would look to the portal once again for a kicker, and this evening, Porath from Purdue committed to the Irish.
In the last two seasons with the Boilermakers, the Brownsburg, Indiana native went 22 of 28 on field goals and 41 of 41 on extra points. This past season, he went 15 of 17 from field goal range and hit his career long of 53 yards against Washington on the road. He also hit a 50 yard field goal against Michigan on the road. Porath has also kicked in Notre Dame Stadium and made three field goals and all three extra points.
Porath's 88.2 percent field goal percentage from this past season would be the highest from a Notre Dame kicker since Fighting Irish legend Justin Yoon back in the 2015 season. This was a great pick up by the Irish and special teams coach Marty Biagi in the portal. The place kicking operation held back Notre Dame's red zone operation. They averaged 42.0 points per game this season despite a woeful kicking game. Fixing the kicking operation is top of the list for Biagi this offseason and getting a kicker like Porath is a great start.
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