Reviewing the Redshirts is an off-season project meant to resurrect discussion about the 2022 Notre Dame freshmen who retained a year of eligibility and discuss their possible impact in 2023 and beyond. The Fighting Irish were able to redshirt 17 players this past season while 1 player medically retired (Joey Tanona) and another player has transferred already to Syracuse (Jayden Bellamy).

Today we’ll take a look at a player looking to take over the starting punting job and also be involved in other areas on special teams.

P/K Bryce McFerson

Hometown: Indian Trail, North Carolina
Height: 6-1 1/2
Weight: 190

247Sports Composite Ranking: 3-star, No. 8 P, No. 48 NC, No. 1959 National, 0.8144 score

18 Stripes Grade: 87.7

Murtaugh’s Blurb from the Class Grade:

He kicks that things real high.

You’re welcome for this cutting-edge scouting report. McFerson was a long-time commit to Wake Forest (do their fans hate us or what?) who flipped to the Irish in late November 2021 about a month prior to Early Signing Day.

He was the #1 punter for Sailer Kicking and invited to the All-American Bowl, as well.

Need at Position: High

McFerson was flipped while Notre Dame still another year from Jay Bramblett heading into the 2022 season, which raised a few eyebrows around the fan base. Then, Brian Kelly left for LSU and reports broke that Bramblett was set on a grad transfer to another school. On January 17th, Bramblett announced he’d be following Kelly to Baton Rouge.

For a brief moment, it looked like McFerson could have a real shot to win the punting job for the Irish as a true freshman but one day after Bramblett’s announcement Notre Dame announced the grad transfer of Harvard punter Jon Sot.

Expected Spot on the 2023 Depth Chart: Starter

There hasn’t been a deep enough look at spring practice to know for sure but it’s expected McFerson will easily win the punting job for the Irish in 2023.

During fall camp last year McFerson was close to winning the kickoff duties but according to head coach Marcus Freeman the extra work resulted in a strained hip flexor for the freshman. As such, they decided to shut down McFerson’s kickoff work and focus solely on punting.

Heading into 2023, sophomore walk-on Zac Yoakam returns after a solid season handling kickoffs. The Irish are also bringing in USF grad transfer Spencer Shrader who also handled kickoff duties for the Bulls over the past 4 seasons. The kickoff competition might be one of the best on the team this summer and fall!