Notre Dame goes back to the portal for a kicker and gets UNC’s Noah Burnette

Notre Dame special teams coordinator Marty Biagi follows a familiar script this winter.

Getting an experienced kicker out of the transfer portal, just like his predecessor Brian Mason did it in front of Biagi.

The latest is Noah Burnette, a North Carolina graduate who announced Saturday his decision to continue his college career with the Irish. During his three seasons as the Tar Heels’ top kicking option, he had a 79% success rate on field goals.

The 5-10, 175-pound product from Raleigh, N.C., who signed with UNC out of high school in 2020, begins spring semester classes at Notre Dame on Monday, along with the rest of ND’s transfer class, 13 early-enrollment freshmen and the players from the 2024 team who will return for 2025.

The transfer class began to grow again on Saturday with the signing of defensive tackle Jared Dawson from Louisville.

The 2024 ND team will also spend the next week preparing for the College Football Playoff National Championship Game on Jan. 20 in Atlanta. The 7th seed Irish (14-1) will face 8th seed Ohio State (13-2) at Mercedes-Benz. Stadium one week starting Monday, with kickoff at 7:30 p.m. EST on ESPN.

Notre Dame also signed a high school kicker/punter last month: Erik Schmidt, a 6-1, 200-pounder from Milwaukee who will enroll at ND in June.

Burnette entered the transfer portal on December 12th, following ND: Blake Group (State of Arkansas), Spencer Shrader (South Florida) and Mitch Jeter (South Carolina) from the last three offseason transfer cycles.

Grupe is in his second season in the NFL as a kicker for the New Orleans Saints. Shrader is under contract with the Kansas City Chiefs but is currently on the team’s injured reserve list after suffering a hamstring injury last month.

Recovering from a chronic hip injury suffered midseason, Jeter has hit 7-for-8 field goals in ND’s current CFP run. That includes a 41-yarder in the fourth quarter of Thursday night’s CFP semifinal win over Penn State that broke a 24-24 tie.

Burnette struggled with a leg injury early in the season, which may have led to a decline in his accuracy in 2024. He made 15 of 21 field goals for the Tar Heels last season, with the same make/miss ratio in 2022. But in 2023, he went 19 of 20. His career yardage is 52 yards.

Although Burnette entered the portal on December 12th, he stuck around and hit an extra point for UNC in the 27-14 Fenway Bowl loss to UConn on December 28th.

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Notre Dame received commitments from four transfers in December – tight end Ty Washington (Arkansas), Alabama defensive back Devonta Smith and wide receiver Will Pauling (Wisconsin) and Malachi Fields (Virginia).

The Irish are expected to add more in the next few days.

The transfer portal opened on December 9th and closed on December 28th, but this deadline only applies to entering the portal and not to finding a landing spot. Ohio State and Notre Dame players have an additional five-day window after the national championship game to enter the transfer portal.

There is also a 10-day spring period from April 16 to 25.

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