The Notre Dame kicking game the past two years, featuring the first two kickers that Charlie Weis has recruited, has had one signature trait: inconsistency. And we’re not talking about your typical college gamble on a 40+ yard field goal attempt either.
This inconsistency is marked by the sound of every Notre Dame fan in the country collectively biting their fingernails whenever a fourth down inside the opponent’s 30 yard line or a kickoff approaches.
But the most puzzling component of this personnel failure is that not only has this happened under some of the greatest recruiting classes that Notre Dame has ever secured, but that these are scholarship kickers.
Both Brandon Walker and Ryan Burkhart are proving to be the weak link in a rebounding young Irish team that can ill afford to leave points on the field. Already we have seen the inability to pin opponents inside the twenty on kickoffs and lack of production in field goal situations contributing to an often-misfiring offensive unit.
As this season stretches on, the unreliability of the Notre Dame kicking game will continue to jeopardize close games and place undo stress upon a young offense that at times has struggled with mental errors.
Brandon Walker is latest Weis-era placekicker that has featured such mostly-dependable legs as D.J. Fitzpatrick and Carl Gioia however, unlike those blue-collar kickers of the past, Walker has continually struggled with accuracy in key situations. Although he has the leg strength to get the ball through the uprights on field goals of 40+ yards, all too often those attempts are wide to either side of the upright.
Last season Walker was a merely adequate piece of a completely underachieving whole, converting six of twelve field goals and 22 of 23 extra points. One can’t help but think that the reason the kicking game didn’t come under greater scrutiny last season is that everyone was busy watching the Irish crash and burn on a weekly basis through most of the year: the sound of the wheels falling off the placekicking unit was drowned out by the wailing and gnashing of teeth directed at the abysmal offensive effort.
Walker’s erratic kicking has been even more evident this season he is currently two for twelve on fields goals through four games. While it’s undeniable that he has been slumping lately and I definitely don’t want to kick a man when he’s down—especially a college athlete—there are some conclusions we can draw from his play thus far.
Namely, that Walker is out of his league placekicking at one of the most visible college sports programs in the country. He wasn’t very highly touted coming out of high school (he was actually more highly ranked as a punter) and hasn’t adapted well to the increased pressure of the college game.
As bad as the placekicking situation might appear, there is another area on Notre Dame special teams that is under performing as much or more.
As I spent the majority of my teen years living in the town right next to Wakarusa, IN and graduated from the same high school as Ryan Burkhart, I had a startling sense of pride that a bona fide
10 comments Last one added 9 months ago — Leave a Comment
CJ Daley 9 months ago
While it is hard to argue with your points about the kickers, I think the use of special teams is incorrect.
ND is currently #1 in the nation in kickoff yards per opponent at 13.94 yards. ND is currently #10 in the nation in punt return yards per opponent at 3.14 yards. That is pretty damn impressive. These are SPECIAL TEAMS numbers.
In fact, one could argue that ND is doing better, on average, not having a kid kick it into the endzone as the starting position has been below the 20 several times. In fact, it might be possible that this is the plan...however I doubt it.
As for Field Goals....well that is just downright ugly. Walker did kick a 41 yard FG in the last game and it split the posts with enough distance to be 51 yards. He has the leg. Personally I think that there is a mental block of sorts. As you clearly pointed out, all kickers have been off for this season and last.
Going forward, what I hope is ND is able to create a couple of leads in a game. If ND is up by 14+ and inside the 30, I think Weis will go for it to build up confidence. Either that or bring in a sports shrink.
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Andrew Hunn 9 months ago
The placekicking and kickoff duties are part of special teams, and those are the only two aspects I am discussing in this article? The only reason our kickoff and punt return yards per opponent are so low (and are a massive credit to another area of our special teams, the coverage team) is because we have insane gunners like David Bruton and Mike Anello. I doubt having Burkhart kick it to the 10 or or occasionally the 15 yard line is part of the game plan.
In regards to Walker, the point is that you want your kicker to salvage you points on failed/stalled drives OR get points for you in key situations. Rarely are you kicking field goals with a 14+ point lead (thank god he was able to get another on the books late in the game last Saturday). Also, I don't percieve the offense lacking any confidence whatsoever, the confidence would be more readily used by Walker making some key field goals in game situations.
Thanks for the feedback!
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CJ Daley 9 months ago
My whole point, which I think you are missing, is as a whole Special Teams for ND is doing well.
The placekicking game for ND has been BAD....but that is just one aspect. As for kickoff duties, I am not sure how you can be upset with #1 in the nation...... As I said before, ND is getting better field position by not kicking it out of the end zone. Last time I checked, those insane gunners are a part of special teams. No?
This was a well written article with very good information. I was only talking about the headline. IMO, it should have read:
Notre Dame Kickers: Kicked to the Curb
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Andrew Hunn 9 months ago
I'm not missing the point. :) Our special teams are much improved, it just disappoints me to see Notre Dame leave points on the board or to have any inconsistency in their play. Also, I can see why the article title might be a little confusing. Mulling over a few alternates in my head currently.
Thanks again.
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Jon Hunn 9 months ago
CJ, your point is well taken, but you're still just talking about half of the Special Teams, maybe even just a third of the special team.
Go look Notre Dame where they are ranked in average kickoff by yards (in other words, how many yards Burkhart averages per kick which is calculated by how far he kicks the ball minus how much the returner returns the ball). I would venture to guess that Burkhart doesn't kick it very far, but the returner doesn't return it very far either. This is part of Special Team, no? Not just coverage but average yards kicked.
The same goes for punting. Eric Maust could have a 55 yard punt, but if the returner returns it 20 yards, it's still just a 35 yard punt net. This is what he is talking about with Burkhart. Even though their coverage is good, Burkhart's average per kick is horrid.
So, Notre Dame is doing decent on two facets of Special Teams: kick off coverage, and punt coverage. But, they are lacking to two very big parts of special teams: field goals, and average yards per kick off. And, they are starting to improve on kickoff return and punt return. However, this just leads to a very AVERAGE Special Teams unit. This could be a very good Special Teams unit if Burkhart and Walker got their stuff together.
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Brandon Beery 9 months ago
Brandon Walker's confidence was shot down to that of an ant last year. He even said that his confidence was badly hurt in the South Bend Tribune a while back. I still think that Ryan Burkhart should have beaten out Brandon Walker in their kickoff for the starting placekicking job but according to the media,"It wasn't even close." It would be nice for Notre Dame to recruit someone that is a highly sought after recruit in the kicking game, but as of right now I don't see that happening. Right now we have some good kickers coming out of the local schools by Notredame. There will be at least four or more good kickers coming out of Penn in the next few years out of St. Clair, Maldinato, and Bayline. There are also some damn good kickers in Middle School too coming out of the PHM corporation so I am pretty sure that Notre Dame's future later will be great it is just the next three years or so that they need someone who isn't in town to handle the kicking jobs.
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Derek Horner 9 months ago
In contrast to the sentiments in my Stanford v. Notre Dame article, I understand your sentiment. I think it is stupid to give a kicker a schollie out of high school. You have no clue how these kids are going to develop. Burkhardt was right behind Kai Forbath in recruiting ranking, but recruiting kickers is riskier than playing betting your stack without looking at your cards in Texas Hold 'Em. Kickers are head cases. I think Charlie should go out and get the best soccer player or walk on he can find. Look at DJ Fitzpatrick...He worked out to be one of the best kickers we've had in the past 10 years.
Though I understand the negativity, I think Walker has turned a mental corner. It was mentioned that Weis spoke to him right before his last made field goal. Maybe that was the turning point. I'll bank on it for Walker's sake. As far as Burkhardt... I don't have a clue.
When I was in High School, one of the top kickers in the country was Courtney Leavitt out of Germantown, Tennessee-the town next to Matt Shelton's hometown and, coincidentally, my hometown. Anyway, Leavitt regularly booted 63 yd field goals, but when he went to South Carolina, he couldn't find his groove. In fact, he never found his groove and did a pretty bold thing. He gave up his scholarship so the coach could use it for another, though Leavitt continued to practice and kick for the team.
It's a fact that kickers are too variable. You just don't know with them, but I am going out on a limb and saying Walker makes at least two against Stanford.
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Andrew Hunn 9 months ago
I hope for all our sake's you're right. I'd love nothing more than to see Walker turn a corner. It is somewhat amazing how much more touted Burkhart was coming out of high school (especially as a placekicker) that Walker and where they both ended up. I agree that trying out some soccer players may not be such a bad idea and I would bet the farm that Charlie has already explored that option.
Thanks for the feedback Derek.
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Two Cents 9 months ago
CJ is right. Notre Dame is ranked first in Kickoff Return Defense. His point is extremely valid.
Also, there are no Kickers above a three star rating, almost never above two stars.
Our current class has the fifth rated kicker in the country, Ben Turk. He is listed as a three star player, which is extremely impressive for a kicker.
There is also Two Star Recruit Nick Tausch, who is ranked 9th in the nation, which means, effectively, that Notre Dame has 2 of the top 10 Kickers coming in next year.
The article was a bit long winded and inaccurate. The place kicking spot definately stinks, and it might be unwise to hand scholarships out to kickers; those being the most relevant points made, it appears the comments contain the real fruit of the insight on this post. 2c
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Andrew Hunn 9 months ago
Point taken on the star-rating methodologies. I've revised the article to take that into consideration.
However, Ben Turk is a punter and Eric Maust is currently doing a fine job, so I am not sure how he enters the conversation. Secondly, Tausch looks promising, but Weis settled for him after Dustin Hopkins declined to commit. It still seems as though the kicking game isn't a very high priority and I find it hard to believe that we can't find a placekicker anywhere you who can offer the accuracy that every other big-time program can rely on.
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