Three things I like about Notre Dame Punter #16 James Rendell

Boom baby

The Notre Dame football roster is full of great players — known and unknown. No matter the place on the depth chart or the recruiting ranking a player had attached to him before his arrival at Notre Dame — there are probably some things I really like about him. So over the course of the next few months, let’s take a positive approach to running down the roster.

Almost daily (just being honest) I’ll list three things I like about a single player on the roster, and as an additional bonus, I’ll post some extra pics over on the OFD Instagram account (be sure to follow RIGHT HERE).

Next up…

#16 James Rendell — Punter

Notre Dame has a formula for bringing in kickers and punters to play football for the Irish — and that’s normally through the transfer portal. Rendell, however, the Irish went searching the ends of the earth, which is quite obviously in Melbourne, Australia.

Here are three things I like about James Rendell:

1. He is the size of a mountain.

With punters and kickers, the size of a player is often overlooked. What does it really matter how big they are when 99.8% of the time they are just booting the ball in one way or another? And yet… Rendell is 6’6” 227 pounds and rocked up. He’s definitely one of those “first guy of the bus” guys, and he’s the punter. I love that.

2. I like the international flavor.

There is something about Aussie kickers in college football, but mostly I just like how much more reach Notre Dame has globally with its international inclusions. Football teams — more than any other sport — are an incredible mix of players from every conceivable background. We’re just adding “big ass Australian” to the mix.

3. He can boot the ball.

Despite our good friend Jude and his objections — Rendell has a massive leg and showed it quite a bit last year. As he continues to get coaching and learn the position, he should get better and better. That’s how you take a punter and make him a weapon.