After Bryce McFerson entered the transfer portal at the end of the spring practice session, Notre Dame football was without a punter.
That is so far – and the Fighting Irish appear to have nailed one of them.
6-6, 225 pounds James Rendell of Australia accepted a scholarship to be Notre Dame’s next punter.
Rendell had a commitment to Hawaii, but when Notre Dame found out about him, they went after the special teams coordinator Marty Biagi spending time recruiting him in Australia.
Rendell is the son of former Australian rules football star Matt Rendell. Young Rendell spent several seasons with Frankston Football Club in the Victorian Football League.
Rendell began training for what he hoped would be a punting career by working with Prokick Australia, which works with punters in an attempt to connect them to punting at colleges across the United States.
Tory Taylor from Iowa who won the Ray Guy Award as the best punter in the country last year and was just picked in the fourth round of the draft by the Chicago Bears, is one of the many college punters who has coached at Prokick.
What is Notre Dame getting in Rendell?
In your own words he can throw a football up to 80 yards with a cooldown of 5.1 seconds.
Sources: Notre Dame has secured a commitment from Australian punter James Rendell, the 23-year-old son of the late Australian football legend Matt Rendell. pic.twitter.com/IJ4C9idMem
-Matt Fortuna (@Matt_Fortuna) May 2, 2024
Hopefully Notre Dame won’t need to use his skills often in the coming years, but that when called upon, he will perform.
