Notre Dame Special Teams Notebook: Spencer Shrader, Bryce McFerson, Davis Sherwood

Fighting Irish special teams coach Marty Biagi shared his thoughts on several special teams aspects

Notre Dame’s special teams set a new program standard last season. From leading the nation with seven blocked punts to ranking 9th in punt return yards, Brian Mason’s units excelled across the board. Mason is now with the Indianapolis Colts, leaving his successor, Marty Biagi, with big shoes to fill.

Biagi’s special teams have been solid, but nowhere nearly as spectacular as last year’s through the first quarter of the season. The two biggest highlights through three games have been Jason Onye’s blocked field goal against Tennessee State and Sam Shrader’s Notre Dame record 54-yard field goal against NC State last week.

Shrader’s kick is the longest of his career as well. His only previous boot of 50-plus yards was a 52-yard field goal against Temple when he was at USF in 2021. Biagi said this week that he has seen Shrader make one from 70 yards away, but the first year Irish special teams coach also said there is a lot more that goes into the decision to kick than just Shrader’s leg. 

A LOT more.

"I still use an analytics program that a student here in 2016 helped me make that we basically can chart all his kicks in practice,” Biagi began. "All his kicks where it's a live rep versus holding on a stick to make it more realistic, and then his game reps obviously or scrimmage reps. So, it's something we constantly are looking at. Game conditions is huge. Also, are you a golfer? It would be the difference of a firm field where the ball's in the fairway versus hey, we're on more of a spongier field. You can kind of notice that in warmups. When it's a grass field, that field held up really well. In 2016 in the monsoon when (Justin) Yoon was kicking, he was kicking up more water higher than he was kicking the ball, which that's an anomaly. In general, when you get to an away stadium or even to our stadium, because the turf and what they have to do, you're quickly assessing how does the field feel or play out almost similar to golf or like a horse track.

“Then you're talking about it with (Shrader),” Biagi continued. “I kind of go in after warmups, and Coach (Marcus) Freeman and I will talk about that kind of feedback. Then it's a feel and it's a game plan. It can depend on are we moving the ball and feel good? He might say, hey, I want to go with the offense, or is the defense doing a great job that a shorter field isn't as detrimental? Or, hey, we do need to punt to make them go the distance, and then it's just an open line of communication. That's what's great about Spencer is, it's not an attitude or an ego, like, how come I didn't get to kick from it. He's just ready when called upon. That's why I go back to he's literally like a closer. Closers at some point are going to have a blown save, but he's going to bounce right back, and it was so great. He didn't have a great kick in that Navy rep. We didn't get to kick in Tennessee State, but he had shown consistently for two weeks in practice, 'Coach, I'm good.' So that's why it was worth trying.”

Outkicking The Coverage

After punting six times last week against NC State, Irish punter Bryce McFerson is averaging 48.8 yards on eight punts this season. Notre Dame’s net punting average is 41.1 and ranks No. 48. McFerson has shown he has a big leg that can boom it, but there is more to punting for the resdshirt freshman that can ensure better coverage if he isn’t outkicking his coverage with that big leg.

“It's something we've really stressed in terms of the hang time and the distance has to equal up,” Biagi indicated. “Everybody in the stands, loves to go awwwww and see this 65-yard punt, but then they'll also be the first to be freaking out when the returner catches up with the guy's 15-20 yards away. We had to show him while working with his technique, especially this spring and over the summer, that if we shorten his steps, and we can get higher hang, now all of a sudden, it's a great thing to hit that 50-52 yard as opposed to just 40. So we're always talking about what the standard is. It's not about how far you can punt it, it's about the overall net. We felt like a 44-yard net, our goal is to be 45-yard net. Sometimes that varies when you have to pooch punt. But overall, when it's open field, we feel like we have a coverage unit and a punter that can make them pay, which is flipping the field with 45-yard punts.”

Under The Radar Special Teamers

Biagi’s special teams units are a mix of starters and young players who don’t see as much offensive or defensive playing time. He singled out a handful of guys he has seen shine so far.

“Somebody that jumps out is Josh Burnham doing a lot, Junior (Tuihalamaka) is doing a great job, DJ Brown and then you look on offense, Rico Flores, he's moved on to our kickoff return unit, almost our whole frontline are wide receivers, which they're taking a lot of pride in doing,” Biagi said. “Davis Sherwood is instrumental in our punt. He's also a wing on field goal, which you see a lot of the times those guys kind of get run over and don't get praised. He's done a great job there. He's on kickoff return. So, the great part is we have a lot of great players here. So, we're able to kind of spread the workload out and not just either put it on starters, or just put it on, walk-on WOPU, it's a pretty unified thing.”

More On Sherwood

Sherwood has made an impact as a blocker on the offense and the former walk-on scored his first career touchdown on a 10-yard pass from Sam Hartman in the fourth quarter last week. Biagi shared more detail about his special teams prowess.

“He and (Jack) Kiser are like computers,” Biagi proclaimed. “It's unreal. So, it makes my job know with confidence that if we need to have checks in or if we need to adjust something on a Wednesday, Thursday, sometimes we're a little hesitant because they have so many things going on. But both he and Kiser are so dialed in to understanding their role when it comes to special teams, and they take such pride in it. You're like, OK, we're in great shape.”

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