Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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A year earlier, Newsome was signed to potentially succeed Brindza as the kicker, punter and kickoff man, but he was redshirted to concentrate primar- ily on his development as a punter. Er- ratic and inconsistent during his fresh- man year, Newsome displayed some improvement in the spring, but many of his booming punts were sometimes negated by his fair share of shanks as well. This August, primarily in half-line punt protection and punt pressure drills, he consistently drilled 50- to 60- yard punts with strong hang time. The misses were still there, but a little less frequent. "Newsome's been probably as im- pressive as anyone singularly [in Au- gust camp]," Kelly noted after the eighth practice. "It's a 51-yard average at 4.06.-4.13 [hang time] on an average, which is ridiculous. Their numbers are off the charts right now." There is the caveat that a first-time actual game situation probably will better tell the tale, but Kelly was up- beat that "early indications are they're two very talented kids." The backups would appear to be ju- nior walk-on John Chereson at kicker and left-footed freshman walk-on Jeff Riney at punter. Neither was seriously pushing for the starting job. Fielding Newsome's punts were mainly star junior receiver and front- runner Will Fuller and freshmen speedster CJ Sanders, who in the open practice for Notre Dame employees Aug. 15 electrified the audience with a 90-yard touchdown return in which another 60-plus yard Newsome punt out-kicked the coverage. Another rookie who has been in the mix is walk-on Chris Finke, who is from the same Ohio high school as starting quarterback Malik Zaire. "He catches everything," Kelly said of Finke. "He has some good quick- ness. I'm not saying he would be the starter in any shape or fashion, but if we got in a pinch he could go out there and catch everything. On kickoff returns, the incumbent is fifth-year senior Amir Carlisle, whose 35 returns last year averaged 21.7 yards, with a long of 47. Running back C.J. Prosise, Fuller, and Sanders will also vie for a role as deep men, and possibly freshman running back Josh Adams too. Notre Dame has gone three straight seasons without a punt or kickoff re- turn for a touchdown, a first since the early 1960s. The most veteran member on spe- cial teams is senior long snapper Scott Daly, who has started every game the past two seasons and has a fifth year of eligibility in 2016. Senior walk-on Hunter Smith has worked as both a holder and snapper, but sophomore tight end Nic Weishar also has been taking reps as a long snapper in case of an emergency. Last year Notre Dame blocked a national high six kicks, two of them by nose guard Jarron Jones, who also blocked two in 2013. With Jones out for the season because of a knee injury, matching that kind of production will be difficult, although 6-7½ junior of- fensive tackle Mike McGlinchey, who blocked a field goal against North- western last year, could be an option in the middle. ✦