Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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28 MAY 2022 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY ASHTON POLLARD W hen competition-focused special teams coordinator Brian Mason arrived at Notre Dame in January, there was little time to sit back and take it all in. The Irish had just lost their three- year starting kicker in Jonathan Doerer to graduation, along with fellow three- year No. 1 punter Jay Bramblett as a graduate transfer to LSU. Not only were there too few bodies to breed competi- tion, there were too few bodies to even call it a complete special teams group. "When I first came in here, there were four specialists on the roster," Mason said. "We had two kickers, both of which are freshmen, and two long snappers, who both had some experience. We didn't have any true punters currently on the roster." The kickers are sophomore Josh Bryan and sophomore walk-on Chris Salerno, and the long snappers are graduate stu- dent Michael Vinson and junior Alex Peitsch. That situation just wasn't going to cut it for a special teams guru who be- lieves eight to 10 specialists are needed to have a truly competitive scenario. So, Mason went to the transfer portal and picked up kicker Blake Grupe and punter Jon Sot as graduate transfers. The former came from Arkansas State, while the latter was previously at Harvard. Mason also offered walk-on spots to two high school seniors, kicker Zac Yoakam and long snapper Rino Mon- teforte. Sot, Yoakam, Monteforte and scholarship freshman Bryce McFerson will arrive in South Bend this summer. REDEFINING A PREVIOUSLY STAGNANT RETURN UNIT Once the targets were acquired, Ma- son could take his special teams plans up a notch. Not only does he want a more aggressive group with frequent starters involved, he wants to "create chaos" each time they take the field. That starts with pressure, which he does not think has to be at the expense of punt return potential. "I believe the No. 1 objective is to affect the punter," Mason said during spring practice. "If we can affect the punter and put pressure on him, that will lead to a faster operation, worse hang time and a worse punt more times than not. So that's going to increase our probability of actually getting more returns. "If you're conservative and hold up a lot, the punter is back there in a clean pocket and he can hit a better punt. You're going to call for more fair catches." Fair catches have become a staple of the Irish punt return game recently. The last time they broke the 10-yard aver- age in terms of returns was 2009, prior to the arrival of both Brian Kelly and former special teams coordinator Brian Polian. Mason's unit at Cincinnati averaged 10.32 yards per punt return in 2021, which was 31st nationally. The Irish sat at 8.2 yards. Adding to the idea that both the return yardage can be high and the punt yardage can be low, the Bearcats oppo- nents posted an average punt of just 39.62 yards. That ranked sixth in the country. In addition, Cincinnati ranked third in the nation in punt return defense, allowing just 26 yards on 17 returns, a remarkable average of 1.53 yards per return. While the depth chart is anything but finalized, senior safety Brandon Joseph and graduate student wide re- ceiver Matt Salerno are the two mem- SPRING OVERVIEW: SPECIAL TEAMS New coordinator Brian Mason wants to use the transfer portal and aggressive play to reshape his unit Mason brings a competition-focused approach to coaching the Irish special teams units. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER