Biagi tackles placekicking struggles and new punt rule challenges, while developing rising talent in the safety room.
This is going to be a big year for Notre Dame's special teams unit in a couple of different ways. First and foremost, the place kicking operation has to be improved. Last season, the Irish ranked No. 128 in the country in extra points percentage and No. 130 in the country in field goal percentage. Special teams coordinator Marty Biagi has his work cut out for him this season, but Purdue transfer kicker Spencer Porath is looking the part this offseason.
"He's done a really good job in terms of his ball flight, his consistency and feeling fresh," Biagi explained. "He's really come in and gelled with the guys. He has a mindset on the days that we do kick because we don't kick every single day in the spring. You can see a clear on and off switch of when he's locked in and need to be versus the days where it can be low key. So, what you see probably is some game experience and confidence, that's really encouraging."
That isn't the only adjustment Biagi and the special teams unit in South Bend will be going through this offseason. A rule has recently been passed that's been coined as the 'Notre Dame Rule' limiting the creative ways to run trick plays specifically in punt coverage, something the Irish have perfected under Biagi. It will be an adjustment, but one they'll have to make for this upcoming season.
"It's something we kind of heard about the rule last month," Biagi shared. "To take the quote from Brad Pitt in Moneyball, ‘We just adapt or die.’ We'll adjust to whatever rule they come with. It'll be interesting to see how each team approaches it and I think there's still some more unknowns and some clarity we're trying to get from it. It's going to allow schemes to be able to have some tendencies. It's definitely going to create some problems or some issues on both sides."
Special teams isn't the only area of focus for Notre Dame's special team's coordinator. He's also working with the safeties and he's been impressed by two of the younger players in the room. Rising redshirt freshman Ethan Long and true freshman Joey O'Brien have gotten Biagi's attention with the work they've put in this spring.
"He's progressing," Biagi said about Long. "His athleticism is really, really good. You can tell him now being a year into the system, being involved, getting more reps, you're starting to see his athleticism take over. He's just really trying to master the playbook. He's spending a lot of time with the coaching staff. We hope that comparison or analogy always holds true for any of our safeties. He's one that's really competing and challenging every rep."
For O'Brien, the question is how to work him into the rotation. He's an exceptionally talented kid and one that the Notre Dame secondary staff will have to find a way to work onto the field in some capacity. With some early enrollee players, you know early on that they'll force their way onto the field one way or another and O'Brien definitely has that quality about him.
"I think that's something Coach [Chris] Ash and us as a whole secondary staff figure out how to maximize every player," Biagi explained. "What's something that we can do? We have to get our players on the field. I think that'll be something now as we finish out spring ball, that we'll head into training camp with a game plan of how we can get everybody in the best roles to maximize."
Maximizing talent is something to Notre Dame coaching staff has done a tremendous job of over the course of the season. For Biagi, he'll have to do his part with the safeties and especially the place kicking operation. From what we saw in the jersey scrimmage, the Notre Dame kicking game will be in a much better spot than last season. Ideally, that carries over into fall camp then into the season and all three units, offense, defense and special teams, are humming on all cylinders.
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