Tag: walk on

2020 Florida Gators Football Profile Card: Zack Sessa

This is a player profile for kicker Zack Sessa, a freshman transfer from Georgia Southern who looks to join the Gators in 2020 as a walk-on.

Name: Zack Sessa

Number: 36

Position: Kicker

Class: Freshman

Height: 6’0″

Weight: 170 lbs

Hometown: Venice, Fla.

High School: Venice High School

Twitter: @ZackSessa

2019 statistics:

Signed with Georgia Southern but never enrolled.

Overview:

A graduate of Venice High School, Sessa played wide receiver and defensive back, in addition to handling kicking duties, during his time with the Indians.

Making 22-of-34 (65-percent) of his prep field goal attempts, including a 50-yarder as a freshman in 2015, he was rated as a two-star prospect, the No. 28 kicker in the 2019 class, and a top-375 player in the state, per the 247Sports Composite.

Sessa committed to the Sun Belt Conference’s Georgia Southern Eagles on February 6, 2019, the same day he signed his National Letter of Intent (LOI), but never enrolled at the school and was granted his release.

“Zack asked for a release from his LOI due to personal reasons and we granted his release,” Eagles head coach Chad Lunsford told the Savannah Morning News on June 23, 2019.

“He will not be attending Georgia Southern and we wish him the best.”

Joining Dan Mullen’s program as a preferred walk-on in June, Sessa has been competing with redshirt junior Chris Howard for the backup job behind junior Evan McPherson, who connected on 17-of-19 (89-percent) field goal attempts in 2019.

Video

Notre Dame Football: Kiser woken up to news of Saturday start

I can’t imagine a Saturday getting off to a much better start than Jack Kiser’s did before Notre Dame played South Florida.

How did your Saturday morning go?

I’ll start.

At roughly 5:25 a.m. CT my 10 month old daughter, who has been a rock star with sleeping through the night of late, woke me and my wife up as she was screaming endlessly down the hall.

A little time with mom and dad made the tears go away though and she was back asleep within 15 or so minutes and I got to sleep in until almost seven as a result.

Although lively, my morning wasn’t nearly as intense as Notre Dame sophomore Jack Kiser’s had to have been.

Kiser, Indiana High School’s Mr. Football in 2018, went to bed Friday night without any intention of starting against South Florida but those plans changed shortly after he woke up Saturday morning.

According to Brian Kelly, Kiser practiced with Notre Dame’s scout defense on both Tuesday and Wednesday this week.  Because both Shayne Simon and Marist Liufau were made unavailable, Kiser suddenly found himself on top of the depth chart.

And Kiser didn’t just fill a hole on Saturday, he starred as he led Notre Dame with eight total tackles that included a pair of stops behind the line of scrimmage.

In what wound up a 52-0 drubbing of South Florida plenty of players had moments and made plays but Kiser was chosen by Brian Kelly as the winner of Saturday’s game ball.

Kiser, who grew up in Royal Center, Indiana, located about 75 miles south of Notre Dame’s campus.  It’s safe to say making his first career start and getting the game ball on the same afternoon meant for an all-time day.

“Notre Dame is the peak of the mountain,” Kiser said “I’m wearing a golden helmet just to be on the team.”

“So to put the helmet on, walk down that stair case and to actually take live snaps and contribute to win? To get the game ball? You just don’t think those things will happen!”

I don’t know what will happen with the Buck linebacker position next week at Wake Forest but I do know based off his performance on Saturday that Jack Kiser isn’t going to be just a flash in the pan.

Related:  FIW Selects Game Ball Winners for South Florida Game

Notre Dame Adds Preferred Walk-On to 2020 Recruiting Class

Brennan Wicks of Maryland has announced his decision to walk on at Notre Dame. Find out more about the newest member of NDFB right here.

Late news came Wednesday night for Notre Dame as preferred walk-on for the 2020 recruiting class, Brennan Wicks is headed to South Bend.

Wicks is an offensive lineman from Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville, Maryland and is listed at 6-5, 280 pounds.

Wicks played offensive tackle his senior year but also lists guard as a potential position.  You can see his senior year highlights here.

Former Notre Dame Captain Signs with NFC Champion 49ers

Chris Finke walked on at Notre Dame. Now the wide receiver will essentially try to walk on with the NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers.

Chris Finke has beaten the odds before.  He walked onto the Notre Dame football team before eventually earning a scholarship and ultimately becoming a captain this past season.  Now he’ll get to try and essentially walk-on in the NFL as he’s signed with the defending NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted free agent.

Finke was a vital part of the 2018 team that went unbeaten in the regular and had a huge game against USC in the regular season finale.  After struggling most of the first half Finke had a couple huge catches before capping the first Notre Dame scoring drive of the night just before halftime.

Finke finishes his Notre Dame career with 1251 career receiving yards and eight touchdown receptions.  His best game his senior year came against Duke in early November as he found the end zone twice and was given game ball honors by his head coach.

The 5-9 Finke is a product of Dayton Archbishop Alter High School in Ohio and at Notre Dame majored in finance with a minor in innovation and entrepreneurship.

Notre Dame Adds 2020 Walk-On Quarterback

New Prairie High School’s Chase Ketterer announced Thursday night that he’ll attend college at Notre Dame as a walk-on prospect in the 2020 class.

Local kid chooses local school.  No matter how many times you rinse and repeat, that story never gets old and always feels good.  Now we get to hear it in regards to Notre Dame’s latest 2020 commitment, a local quarterback who is chasing big dreams with the Fighting Irish.

New Prairie High School’s Chase Ketterer announced Thursday night that he’ll attend college at Notre Dame as a walk-on prospect in the 2020 class.

The most interesting piece of conversation in this story isn’t so much a walk-on taking a chance at a big time school, but one doing so instead of taking Valparaiso up on their scholarship offer.

As a prospect Ketterer isn’t some incredible get.  He’s a run first quarterback, going for 5464 rush yards over the last three seasons and scoring 98 touchdowns.  He added 1494 pass yards and 17 passing touchdowns in that time.

Ketterer was a 2019 Indiana High School Athletic Association, Northern Indiana Conference (North) MVP and named a member of the Indiana class 4A All-State team this past fall.