Marty Biagi Names Specialist Favorites, Breaks Down Punt Returners
Notre Dame began fall camp with open competitions at every specialist position besides long snapper, a job that belonged to three-year starter Michael ‘Milk’ Vinson.
The position battles increased the preparation of the entire room.
“Everyone is on the same page, and we want to be the best special teams unit in the country,” Vinson said. “We're willing to do whatever it takes.”
Three weeks into fall camp, special teams coordinator Marty Biagi named winners and clear favorites.
A Decision at Punter?
The most intense competition likely occurred at punter, with redshirt freshman Bryce McFerson and Penn graduate transfer Ben Krimm pursuing the job.
On Tuesday evening, McFerson received the majority of dedicated punting reps and launched several high, spiraling kicks 50+ yards downfield.
A few days later, Biagi declared McFerson the clear leader. It’s fair to expect the sophomore to assume punting responsibilities when Notre Dame opens the season against Navy on Aug. 26 in Dublin, Ireland.
“Right now Bryce is going to be our starting punter going in,” Biagi said, “and he’s earned that in how he competed in camp. He's done really well.”
McFerson enrolled at Notre Dame as one of the top prep punter prospects in 2022, but it wasn’t a foregone conclusion he’d win the job, especially after he underwhelmed in the Blue-Gold Game.
McFerson boomed his first attempt 52 yards downfield and gave up a short return of five yards.
On his final three opportunities, he shanked punts of 36, 32 and 36 yards despite having plenty of field to work with. He finished the game with a poor 35.5-yard net punt average.
“He had a really good spring but then performed the spring game — not to the level that was the right standard,” Biagi said. “We used that as a learning experience. Hey, these are elements that you're gonna have to deal with with no excuses and practice those things.”
McFerson has the leg and athleticism of an NFL punter, but he still needs to prove he can handle the pressure of performing before thousands of fans.
Over the last few months, he’s worked to improve the mental aspects of his game.
“We’ve worked with the psychologist a little bit, too,” McFerson said. “I’ve also gotten some good advice from Spencer (Shrader), who was saying like mentally, you need to be able to see your good balls as just normal and see a back ball as just an anomaly. That’s a mental thing that’s really helped confidence-wise.”
If McFerson doesn’t perform on Saturdays, a proven commodity in Krimm could take the job. In 2022, Krimm led the Ivy League with an average of 41.6 yards per punt.
Shrader Emerges as Field Goal, Kickoff Favorite
In practice viewings, USF transfer Spencer Shrader has been the most consistent kicker, especially from 40 yards and beyond.
He’s also the only kicker on the roster with in-game experience at the college level, making 20 of 26 (76.9 percent) field goal opportunities over the last two years.
There’s a chance that number could improve under Biagi’s.
In six seasons as a special teams coordinator, all of Biagi placekickers with 10 opportunities or more have connected on at least 80 percent of field goal attempts.
“All we're trying to do is give them some direction,” Biagi said. If we can go from 76 percent to 88 percent or 85 to 92, that's all we're trying to do. That's what my goal is, but it has to be that they want to learn it. It can't just be because I said so.”
Zac Yoakam performed admirably on kickoffs last fall as a walk-on. He booted touchbacks on 61.6 percent of kicks, which ranked third among freshmen kickers and 39th overall.
That said, the kickoff job currently belongs to Shrader, who finished fourth nationally by booming touchbacks 80.7 percent of the time.
"They definitely both will be competing in that regard,” Biagi said. “Spencer, right now would be our starting kickoff guy with that just from a leg strength standpoint, but again, it's just the perfect point that at any point the No. 2 has to be ready and to step right in.”
Dylan Devezin Locks Down Holder
The departure of 2022 punter Jon Sot’s also left a hole as the team’s holder.
When Biagi took over the job, he immediately turned his attention toward the Notre Dame quarterback room.
“If you think about it, they catch more snaps than anybody on a daily basis. They're used to operating under pressure,” Biagi said. “They're used to having to make (different) kinds of checks. It's hard to get the first-string guy sometimes, especially with Sam, getting so much just thrown at him here.”
In April, walk-on transfer quarterback Dylan Devezin quickly emerged as a favorite for the job.
In fact, Devezin basically won the job by the end of spring, but Biagi needed Shrader’s approval before coming to a final decision.
“I wanted to wait for Spencer to get here because I always do take the kicker's opinions of it,” Biagi said, “but he (Devezin) was so committed to it, it was settled pretty quickly.”
Punt Return Candidates
Everyone wants a punt returner capable of taking it to the house, but those opportunities are limited in today’s game. In 2022, just 34 FBS players returned a punt for a touchdown.
On the other hand, muffed opportunities swing games and cause losses.
“Protecting the ball is the No. 1 thing,” Biagi said. “At the end of the day, if we can get the ball from the defense to the offense, that’s a win no matter what.”
With elite speed, Chris Tyree presents an intriguing option for the role.
“CT has done a really good job this camp, really showing he can protect the ball. He wants to be the guy, which is exciting. He’s putting himself in situations when he’s out there; he’s not just catching gradually doing it. There’s an intent that you see. He caught a ton of balls this summer just to prove the point, ‘I want the opportunity to do this.’”
Other candidates include cornerback Jaden Mickey and wide receivers Matt Salerno, Jaden Greathouse and Jordan Faison.
“Those would probably be fine,” Biagi said, “but you can only have one, maybe two go out.”