Tag: Spencer Shrader

Notre Dame players named to preseason award watch lists

Will anyone win this year?

It’s the time of year when we start seeing award watch lists come out in anticipation of the college football season. With Notre Dame expected to be highly ranked once again, there are plenty of players who are ripe for watching. Whether or not any of them actually take home any of this hardware is anyone’s guess right now, but they’re at least on the radar of those who know college football best.

In some cases, more than one Notre Dame player is on the watch list for the same award. Also, as different award watch lists come on different days, it can be difficult to keep track of them all. Rest assured, we will be doing just that as these lists continue to come out.

At season’s end, we’ll find out if any of them or maybe somebody different becomes the first national award winner for the Irish since [autotag]Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah[/autotag] won the Butkus Award in 2020:

Notre Dame hosting Virginia Tech wide receiver transfer this weekend

He would be a great addition!

The Irish have a few needs that they are going to try and fill via the transfer portal. One of the biggest is quarterback, but there has not been much news from any of the multiple targets Notre Dame is going after. They have already found a kicker, [autotag]Spencer Shrader[/autotag], and are hosting former [autotag]Virginia Tech[/autotag] wide receiver [autotag]Kaleb Smith[/autotag] this weekend.

Smith, a grad transfer, played his best football during his final year for the Hokies, catching 37 passes for 674 yards and three touchdowns. All of those numbers were career highs for the six-foot-two-inch and 222-pound receiver. By getting Smith to South Bend, it’s a big first step in gaining a commitment from the transfer.

The wide receiver unit struggled mightily this fall and with tight end [autotag]Michael Mayer[/autotag] leaving, the need to add more talent really is paramount. [autotag]Lorenzo Styles Jr.[/autotag] suffered through a sophomore slump after it looked like he was primed for a breakout after a huge [autotag]PlayStation Fiesta Bowl[/autotag] last year.

[autotag]Jayden Thomas[/autotag] showed flashed, but wasn’t consistent. Same goes for [autotag]Deion Colzie[/autotag] and [autotag]Tobias Merriweather[/autotag]. If the Irish are able to get a commitment from Smith, it would be a very big transfer portal recruiting win.

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Notre Dame lands new kicker in transfer portal

No bull, Notre Dame lands South Florida kicker in portal.

For the second year in a row Notre Dame went fishing in the transfer portal for a new kicker and found a grad-transfer.  Spencer Shrader, previously of South Florida, announced his commitment to Notre Dame on Tuesday.  The Irish are getting a veteran collegiate kicker who began at South Florida as a walk-on and has overcome early struggles and developed into an asset.

After going just 4 of 9 on field goal attempts as a freshman in 2019 and 4 of 6 a year later, Shrader has been successful on 20 of 26 attempts over the last two years.  He’s also never missed an extra point attempt in his career and has hit from as far out as 52 yards in a game.

In addition, Shrader handled kickoff duties at South Florida.  My expectation is that he’ll enter spring as the favorite to win both placekicking and kickoff responsibilities.

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