How Marty Biagi rebuilt Notre Dame’s specialists

This story appears in the Blue & Gold Illustrated 2024 Notre Dame Football Preview. To order your copy of the 160-page, full-color, glossy magazine, which includes opponent previews, Fighting Irish position previews and position previews like this one, click here .

This is Part 1 in a four-part series previewing the Notre Dame specialists.

When Notre Dame needed a punter after Bryce McFerson entered the transfer portal, special teams coordinator Marty Biagi went to a familiar place.

He only needed to fly 9,737 miles to reach it.

Biagi flew to Australia, the country from which he signed Jack Ansell in 2021 at Purdue and Fraser Masin in 2022 at Ole Miss. When he visited former semi-pro Aussie rules football player James Rendell , the now-former Hawai’i commit didn’t wait long to make a decision.

For the 6-foot-6, 219-pound punter nicknamed “Thor,” it wasn’t much of a decision at all.

“Notre Dame is the best college football program in America,” Rendell told Blue & Gold Illustrated shortly after he committed. “I think it’s just got an all-around commitment to excellence, whether that’s on the sporting field or in the classroom.”

Working with Biagi also appealed to Rendell, given his experience and success with Australian punters.

“He knows how to get the best out of them,” Rendell said. “He’s gonna be great for my development.”

The new Irish punter is the son of the late, legendary Aussie rules football player Matt Rendell , so “footy” has always been central to his life. Matt Rendell became an assistant coach and recruiter after his playing career, which allowed James Rendell to stay around the game.

More: Why Australian punter James Rendell is ready for Notre Dame opportunity

James Rendell’s dream was always to play professional footy in Australia. But out of the corner of his eye, the possibility of training to become an American football player at Prokick Australia intrigued him.

Established in 2007, Prokick aims to train and develop Aussie rules football players into college and NFL punters. According to The New York Times , Prokick put an Australian punter on 61 of 133 FBS teams in 2023.

In the summer of 2023, Rendell realized he wasn’t getting what he wanted out of his footy career. He transitioned away from the sport and trained at Prokick full-time over the past year.

“The advantages of growing up playing Aussie rules football, we obviously kick the ball a lot,” Rendell said. “There are some changes you have to make in terms of your technique and the biomechanics of it all, but that’s why the coaches at Prokick are the best at what they do.”

Rendell credited Prokick coaches Tim Gleeso n and Mackenzie Morgan , both of whom punted in American college football before returning to Australia, with much of his development.

“Fortunately, through hard work and dedication and the guidance of those coaches, I’ve found myself in a position where I’m able to study and play football at Notre Dame,” Rendell said. “It’s been a bit of a journey, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

Rendell, a scholarship graduate student with up to three years of eligibility remaining, will join a completely new group of specialists with the Irish. South Carolina graduate transfer Mitch Jeter is a marquee addition kicker, and Marshall graduate transfer Jayden Harrison will upgrade the kickoff return game.

A young group of long snappers and punt returners will compete for starting jobs after the departures of longtime snapper Michael Vinson (exhausted eligibility) and return man Chris Tyree (transferred to Virginia).

Notre Dame scholarship specialists

Kicker

Mitch Jeter (5-11, 195), Gr./1

Punter

James Rendell (6-6, 219), Gr./1*
* Rendell will apply for waivers to receive one or more extra years of eligibility.

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