Tag: Marty Biagi

2026 four-star Pennsylvania safety recruit to visit Notre Dame

Can the Irish get him?

In June, Tom Loy of 247Sports predicted that Notre Dame would land Joey O’Brien, a 2026 four-star safety recruit. 247Sports considers O’Brien the best player in Pennsylvania among the 2026 recruiting class. On3 also considers the Irish the odds-on favorite to be O’Brien’s choice.

Of course, the Irish aren’t the only program aiming for O’Brien’s services. Penn State and Michigan also are said to have good chances at getting him. Altogether, O’Brien has received offers from 19 programs. He can pick pretty much anybody he wants because he’s that good.

The Irish now will be able to make an on-campus pitch to O’Brien because he’s set to visit Notre Dame this coming weekend for the game against Miami (Ohio). Hopefully, they can put together a convincing presentation because their current 2026 recruiting class of [autotag]Noah Grubbs[/autotag] and [autotag]Dylan Faison[/autotag] hasn’t changed since Loy made his prediction. It would be nice to see another addition to that class:

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Best of luck to the Irish in their pursuit of O’Brien, especially recruiters [autotag]Mike Mickens[/autotag] and [autotag]Marty Biagi[/autotag], the two defensive backs coaches.

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Four-star tight end picks Notre Dame

Nice get.

Notre Dame has developed a reputation in recent years as the landing spot for many quality tight ends. Our own Nick Shepkowski has taken to giving Notre Dame the moniker of “Tight End U.” Well, he’ll able to keep calling it that for the foreseeable future.

Many experts are high on [autotag]Nate Roberts[/autotag], and the 2025 four-star recruit from Washington, Oklahoma, picked the Irish during a live announcement on 247Sports’ YouTube channel:

Roberts, Oklahoma’s No. 2 recruit and the nation’s No. 3 tight end in the 2025 class, appropriately received his offer from the Irish on St. Patrick’s Day and was getting offers as recently as June 6. [autotag]Gerad Parker[/autotag] and [autotag]Marty Biagi[/autotag] led the charge in recruiting him, and this definitely is a big win for them. He’s comparable in size to [autotag]Michael Mayer[/autotag] and could very well catch up in at least that department by the time his collegiate career begins. Maybe the Irish should start the process of trademarking “Tight End U”?

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Notre Dame Football Lands Powerhouse Australian Punter

Notre Dame’s new, not-so-traditional punter

After [autotag]Bryce McFerson[/autotag] entered the transfer portal late in the spring practice session, Notre Dame football was without a punter.

That is until now – and the Fighting Irish appear to have landed a doozy of one.

6-6, 225-pound [autotag]James Rendell[/autotag] of Australia has accepted a scholarship to be Notre Dame’s next punter.

Rendell had been a commitment to Hawai’i but when Notre Dame learned about him they came in pursuit with special teams coordinator [autotag]Marty Biagi[/autotag] spending time recruiting him in Australia.

Rendell is the son of former Australian rules football star Matt Rendell.  The younger Rendell spent multiple seasons with the Frankston Football Club in the Victorian Football League.

Rendell started training for what he hoped would be a punting career by working with Prokick Australia who works with punters in trying to get them connected to punt for colleges in the United States.

Tory Taylor of Iowa who won the Ray Guy Award as the nation’s best punter last year and was just made a fourth-round draft pick of the Chicago Bears, is one of many collegiate punters to have trained at Prokick.

What is Notre Dame getting in Rendell?

In his own words he can punt a football up to 80 yards with a hangtime of 5.1 seconds.

Here’s to hoping Notre Dame doesn’t have to use his skills often in the coming years but that when he’s called upon that he performs.

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Notre Dame special teams taking shape for 2023

Notre Dame’s special teams were outstanding in 2022 and the leaders of the unit for 2023 are starting to take shape.

Two weeks away from the season-opener in Dublin, Ireland we’re starting to see the picture of what Notre Dame’s special teams units will look like.  New special teams coordinator [autotag]Marty Biagi[/autotag] met the media following Friday’s practice session and named four winners in special teams competitions in fall camp.

[autotag]Bryce McPherson[/autotag] will be Notre Dame’s punter while Chris Tyree will return punts for the Irish.

“Right now, Bryce (McFerson) is going to be our starting punter going in and he’s earned that in how he competed in camp,” Biagi said, “He’s done really well. This spring, I wanted him to prove that he can be more consistent. Even challenged him after the spring game, he had had a really good spring but then performed the spring game, not to the level that was the right standard. We used that as a learning experience. Hey, these are elements that you’re going to have to deal with, with no excuses and practice those things. He’s come out and done really well from a consistency standpoint.”

“CT (Chris Tyree) has done a really good job this camp,” Biagi said. “Really showing he can protect the ball. He wants to be the guy, which is exciting. He’s putting himself in situations when he’s out there, he’s not just catching gradually doing it. There’s an intent that you see. He caught a ton of balls this summer just to prove the point ‘I want the opportunity to do this’. He’s done well.”

-Notre Dame Special Teams Coordinator Marty Biagi on Aug. 11

Tyree’s ball protection was key in him winning the job.  He remains in contention to be one of Notre Dame’s kickoff returners as well as his battle with [autotag]Devyn Ford[/autotag], [autotag]Jadarian Price[/autotag] and [autotag]Jeremiyah Love[/autotag] remains open according to Biagi.

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Biagi also added that backup and walk-on quarterback [autotag]Dylan Devezin[/autotag] will handle the holding duties and extra point and field goal attempts.  As expected, those will be handled by graduate transfer [autotag]Spencer Shrader[/autotag] who enters after playing the last few years at South Florida.

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Notre Dame football: What to like about new special teams coach

What to like about Notre Dame’s likely new special teams coordinator.

Reports surfaced Sunday that Notre Dame is already keying in on a replacement for [autotag]Brian Mason[/autotag] as special teams coordinator. Mason is leaving the Irish for the Indianapolis Colts, with whom he’ll coach special teams. The search for Mason’s replacement reportedly will not be a very long one.

According to Matt Fortuna of The Athletic, Notre Dame is headed to the SEC to fill its special teams vacancy.  Below is what Fortuna tweeted on Sunday afternoon:

Source: Notre Dame is expected to hire Ole Miss special teams coordinator Marty Biagi to the same position. Biagi, who served as a special teams analyst with the Irish in 2016, replaces Brian Mason, who left for the Indianapolis Colts.
– Matt Fortuna on Twitter

A quick look at the biography of [autotag]Marty Biagi[/autotag] details his work, which suggests Notre Dame special teams should resemble more of what we saw in 2022 instead of what they were like for much of the 12 previous seasons.

Watch: New Notre Dame special teams coach’s epic fake fair catch return

This would make Notre Dame a different kind of “Fair Catch U”

Late Sunday night I was going through various college football team websites trying to gather information on Marty Biagi. Biagi has emerged as the front-runner to be Notre Dame’s next special teams coach, and I spent time researching his past and figuring out the intrigue that surrounds him.

Then while scrolling Twitter on Monday morning I saw a couple of Notre Dame writers reference what was perhaps Biagi’s most memorable work. It happened when Biagi was coaching special teams at North Texas in 2018.  He had his return team act as if it was calling a fair catch, only to return the punt 90 yards for a touchdown.

It’s not that this play will be used again at Notre Dame, but that the creativity within Biagi’s mind exists. It only speaks to the different value this regime puts on special teams compared to the previous one. Check it out below:

That play helped spur the Mean Green to a 44-17 thrashing of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

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Watch: Notre Dame’s new special teams coach Marty Biagi mic’d up

More Irish mic’d up fun

When [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag] lost special teams coach [autotag]Brian Mason[/autotag] to the Indianapolis Colts, it left a huge hole for head coach [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] to fill.

The Irish special teams last year was elite, arguably the best group in the country last year. Freeman tabbed former Notre Dame special teams analyst [autotag]Marty Biagi[/autotag], who rose the ranks since leaving South Bend, working with Purdue’s and Ole Miss’ special team.

It was viewed as a very good hire, even if the shoes Biagi had to fill were fairly large.

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It seems like it’s been a right of passage for coaches this spring to get mic’d up and it was Biagi’s turn. Watch below the new, err, returning Notre Dame special teams coach interacting during practice.

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