BREAKING | Notre Dame Lands Aussie Grad Transfer Punter James Rendell
Notre Dame needed a punter heading into the 2024 season, and special teams coordinator Marty Biagi went to a familiar place, Australia, to land graduate transfer James Rendell.
The 6-foot-5, 225-pounder is expected to have multiple years of eligibility left and how much will be decided on NCAA waivers in the future. Rendell, who is 23 years old, will report to campus in early June when the team returns from break.
Former Notre Dame punter Tyler Newsome helped spearhead Rendell’s recruitment as advised Biagi of Rendell’s talents. Newsome had heard about him through ProKick Australia trainer MacKenzie Morgan, who punted at Temple.
“The 574 is a special place and always will be,” Newsome told ISD. “I knew about Rendell through a good friend of mine, Mackenzie Morgan, who is a coach in Australia. I met Mackenzie through training when we both were playing. He has such a great eye for punters, loves it, and is a great coach that understands and embraces the game. I stayed in regular contact with Coach Biagi and Coach Morgan, talking about life and football.”
It also speaks to the relationship between Biagi, who was at Notre Dame at the same time as Newsome, and his former players.
“Coach Biagi and I have stayed in touch since I played for him eight years ago and I can say he was one of the best coaches I had,” stated Newsome. “It felt good to connect two guys that truly love the game and the punter position. I know if there were any way those two guys could help me out they would, so it was my pleasure to do so.”
Rendell comes from the ProKick Australia program, which has been an organization Biagi and head coach Marcus Freeman had been familiar with throughout the years.
In fact, Rendell will be the third Australian punter Biagi will have worked with during his career. Purdue punter Jack Ansell averaged over 40 yards per punt in the last two seasons for the Boilermakers. Ole Miss senior punter Fraser Masin has started the last two seasons and also averaged over 42 yards per punt for the Rebels.
Now, there will be an adjustment to college football for Rendell as he will need to learn the game, but the silver lining is he played semi-pro footie for the Frankston Football Club. Big crowds and atmospheres won’t be a completely new experience, which is noteworthy as the Fighting Irish open the 2024 campaign in College Station.
Rendell also has trained with NFL punters Michael Dickson and Tory Taylor, who was selected in last week’s NFL Draft. He will join walk on punters Eric Goins and Chris Salerno on the Notre Dame roster.
Good genes are also in the Rendell family, as his late father, Matt, was an AFL (Australian Football League) legend. Rendell was a star Ruckman and played in 256 professional games from 1977 to 1992.
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