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Notre Dame Signings Should Fix Kicking Woes
Nov 29, 2025; Stanford, California, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish kicker Erik Schmidt (18) warms up with Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Tyler Buchner (10) before the start of the first quarter against the Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium. Stan Szeto-Imagn Images

Notre Dame Signings Should Fix Kicking Woes

Originally posted on Notre Dame Fighting Irish on SI
By Nick Shepkowski  |  Last updated Jan 21, 2026 6:20 PM ET

Where were you on October 11, 2025?


Major League Baseball was just finishing its divsional series that night, as the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Chicago Cubs in the winner-take-all fifth game, to head to the National League Championship Series.

The NBA was still 10 days from tipping its season off, and the NFL was about to enter its sixth Sunday of the 18-week long regular season.

But perhaps you were in South Bend, Indiana, watching Notre Dame dismantle North Carolina State to the tune of a 36-7 victory.

That game wound up being the last time Notre Dame would successfully kick a field goal in the entire 2025 season. Mind you, the Fighting Irish moved to 4-2 on the year with the win, and would ultimately finish the year 10-2.

Notre Dame's Kicking Woes Get Addressed Twice Over

Whatever happened last year with Notre Dame at kicker isn't going to work in 2026. Much of the fear about just how far Notre Dame could possibly go had it made the College Football Playoff was built around the fact it had about as bad of kicking situation as any football team in the country, regardless of level.

That has been addressed in a big way now though, as Notre Dame has flipped the nation's top ranked kicking recruit from Michigan.

Micah Drescher of Hinsdale (Central), Illinois had been a Michigan commitment but after the Sherrone Moore situation went down, got out of his national letter of intent that he signed with the Wolverines. On Tuesday, Drescher officially signed with Notre Dame, and should be expected to help the Irish right away.

Drescher will likely be Notre Dame's kicker of the future if all goes according to plan, but for 2026, help is on the way from a former Big Ten kicker.

Notre Dame Nabs Purdue Kicker from Transfer Portal

The here and now for the Notre Dame kicking situation could have been easily overlooked last week. While Notre Dame was busy adding loads of talent in the transfer portal, it also quietly added kicker Spencer Porath from Purdue. He brings with him two years of being the primary kicker for the Boilermakers, making 15 of 17 field goal attempts this past season, as well as all 41 PATs over the last two years.

He brings a consistent leg after a year that Notre Dame made just five of nine field goal attempts. It didn't make a single kick over 50 yards long this past season and made just one of two attempts from beyond 40 yards, which tells you about the lack of confidence the coaching staff even had in the kicking game.

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Takeaway:

Kickers are interesting people. It seems like it should be perhaps the easiest position to scout, but it seems like it often turns out to be one of the most difficult.

For whatever reason, the kid that makes seemingly every kick in high school suddenly can't do it when he gets to college.

Notre Dame has the benefit of having Marty Biagi as one of the nation's most creative and best special teams coaches, but the issues in the kicking game have been clear.

Hopefully the investments made at the position this off-season lead to less of a dread whenever a kicking unit goes on the field in 2025.


This article first appeared on Notre Dame Fighting Irish on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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