Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM MAY 2022 29 bers of the team with experience returning punts. Those were the "top two" according to Mason. Two freshmen, cornerback Jaden Mickey and running back Jadar- ian Price, also are in the mix. BLUNDERS PLAGUE BLUE-GOLD GAME W i t h s eve ra l m e m b e rs o f what will be the 2022 Irish spe- cial teams group this fall still set to arrive, Mason worked with a smaller unit this spring. Grupe and Bryan traded reps and, while most practices were closed to the media, the two kickers appeared to be fighting for their spot atop the depth chart. "We're alternating," Grupe said in March of his role versus Bryan's. "We're both very competitive and both kicking the ball very well. That's all you can ask for — healthy competition." On April 23, it was time to simulate a game environment. The results were underwhelming. Bryan missed both of his field goal attempts — one from 37 yards and one from 48 yards — while Grupe hit from 36 yards but missed from 41. "We have to improve," Freeman said just after the conclusion of the spring game. "That's a huge challenge. We had a scrimmage a couple of weeks ago, and I wasn't pleased. We tried to challenge them during the week. Obviously, today we were 1 for 4. "If we want to be a championship- caliber football team, we better improve at the kicking game." The punters struggled at times, too, although one had a rather valid excuse for getting the rust off. Chris Salerno had five punts for 163 yards, an average of 32.6 yards per boot. His longest punt was 48 yards. Junior walk-on Bryan Dowd punted six times for 252 yards, which comes out to 42 yards per punt. Dowd was more on par with what Bramblett did last year. The former Irish specialist averaged 43.1 yards per boot last season, with a long of 72. Dowd's long was 58. Dowd had just joined the team ear- lier that week, however. He is also the goalie on the Notre Dame soccer team, although he was recruited to play foot- ball. He was added to the football roster just before the Blue-Gold Game draft. Looking at the results of the scrim- mage, to Mason's previous point, nei- ther Salerno nor Dowd are true punters. Sot may need to take control of the room upon arrival this summer. He's had four years of college football at Harvard and was a first-team All-Ivy League spe- cialist in 2018 and 2019. He averaged 42.3 yards per kick and downed 24 punts inside of the 20-yard line. It's an impressive body of work, but he will have to compete with McFer- son for the role, per Mason. "They will certainly have an equal opportunity to be the starter, and I think they're both really tal- ented having been able to see and work with both of them," Mason said. "I think it's really great we can have somebody experienced that can come in like Jon Sot, just like we have Blake Grupe. "He brings in four years of play- ing experience, and he can add value in a lot of different ways. He's going to be a good punter and he can be a good holder." W h i l e s p r i n g p ra c t i ce h a s concluded, there is still time for Freeman and Mason to figure out the special teams unit. The competition will be there based on the volume of players, but at how high a level remains to be determined. Fundamentals have been stressed this spring with the team, and that extends to the specialists. Before the focus can be chaos, the basics will need to be sorted out. It seems whoever takes the field in Columbus, Ohio, is anyone's guess at this point, including Freeman and Mason. ✦ Blake Grupe, a graduate transfer from Arkansas State who is competing for the starting kicker job, went 1 of 2 on field goal attempts during the Blue-Gold Game. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER BGI Post-Spring 2022 Notre Dame Scholarship Depth Chart: Special Teams After spring practice and the Blue-Gold Game, here is Blue & Gold Illustrated's projection for how Notre Dame's 2022 depth chart could shake out when the Fighting Irish open the season this fall. Kicker No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 99 Blake Grupe 5-7 3 ⁄8 150 Gr./1 91 Joshua Bryan 6-0 185 So./4 Punter No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. — Bryce McFerson 6-1 181 Fr./4 Long Snapper No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 65 Michael Vinson 6-2 203 Gr./2 44 Alex Peitsch 6-1 1 ⁄8 208 Jr./3