Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1543321
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM MARCH 2026 17 He's another potential over produc- tion portal pickup for Notre Dame, but for all of the reasons it made so much sense to circle back to him, the Irish just couldn't resist adding him to the roster. Rightfully so. THE KICKER Last but not least. Notre Dame couldn't go into the 2026 season with its projected No. 1 place- kicker being someone who missed all three of his field goal attempts in 2025, plus a missed extra point. Erik Schmidt had a chance to turn himself into the Irish's unquestioned kicker as a true freshman, but he didn't rise up to the task. Rest assured, the Irish assuaged fear for the future of the program's place- kicking by covertly landing a commit- ment from Purdue's Spencer Porath. Porath never officially entered the transfer portal. He's on Notre Dame's 2026 roster anyway, much to Boiler- makers head coach Barry Odom's cha- grin. He hinted at some foul play amid the mysterious switcheroo. "He never entered the portal here, and it's amazing how that works," Odom said. Odom's loss is obviously Notre Dame's gain. Porath made 15 of 17 field goal at- tempts in 2025 with a long of 53 yards. Only four kickers in Notre Dame history have matched or exceeded Porath's sin- gle-season accuracy percentage of 88.2. He's never missed an extra point. Notre Dame missed four point-after attempts as a team last season alone. For whatever reasons, entrusting a transfer to be Notre Dame's kicker has had varying degrees of success in the Marcus Freeman era. Blake Grupe wasn't automatic by any means in 2022. He made 73.7 percent of his field goals. Spencer Shrader set a Notre Dame re- cord for longest field goal in program history at 54 yards, and he made from that mark twice, but he also connected on only 68.2 percent of his field goal tries. Mitch Jeter and Noah Burnette both dealt with debilitating injury issues in the last two seasons. Jeter rebounded to make 7 of 9 field goal attempts in the College Football Playoff, including a last-minute game-winner in the Orange Bowl versus Penn State, but it was not a given Burnette was going to be able to bounce back from his ailment to provide the same level of consistency had the Irish qualified for the CFP last season. In Porath, Notre Dame is hoping to have an always healthy, almost always reliable placekicker for the 2026 sea- son — no matter how his addition to the roster came about. ✦ Transfers In Name, Pos. Cl./Elig.* Old School Francis Brewu, DT Jr./2 Pittsburgh Mylan Graham, WR R-So./3 Ohio State Tionne Gray, DT R-So./3 Oregon Keon Keeley, DE R-Jr./2 Alabama DJ McKinney, CB R-Sr./1 Colorado Spencer Porath, K Jr./2 Purdue Quincy Porter, WR So./3 Ohio State Jayden Sanders, CB So./3 Michigan Transfers Out Name, Pos. Cl./Elig.* New School Taebron Bennie-Powell, S R-So./3 Boise State JaDon Blair, S R-Fr./4 Missouri Joshua Burnham, DE R-Sr./1 Indiana Marcello Diomede, K+ Sr./2 Ohio State Karson Hobbs, CB Jr./2 Florida State Bodie Kahoun, LB R-So./3 Boston College Kenny Minchey, QB R-Jr./2 Kentucky Ben Minich, S R-Jr./2 Miami (Ohio) Gi'Bran Payne, RB R-Sr./1 Cincinnati Anthony Rezac QB+ R-So./3 South Dakota State Scrap Richardson, WR R-Fr./4 Auburn Anthony Sacca, LB R-Fr./4 UCLA Leo Scheidler, WR+ R-Sr./1 — KK Smith, WR R-Jr./2 Michigan State Cree Thomas, CB R-Fr./4 Colorado Chance Tucker, CB R-Sr./1 — Preston Zinter, DE R-Jr./2 Rice * 2026 class year and remaining eligibility; + walk-on Kicker Spencer Porath set a single-season Purdue record by connecting on 88.2 percent (15 of 17, including 3 of 3 versus the Irish) of his field goals in 2025. PHOTO COURTESY PURDUE ATHLETICS COMINGS AND GOINGS As of Feb. 16