Noah Burnette injury update: Marcus Freeman addresses Notre Dame kicking situation

Coming into the season, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman was confident in his kicking game, led by transfer Noah Burnette. Then, Burnette went down with an injury and has been forced to miss some time lately, sparking a backup competition.

Freeman recently addressed the kicking situation. While he didn’t have any specifics on where Burnette was in his recovery, he did note that he and special teams coordinator Marty Biagi have made the decision that if he can’t go, then they need to stop flip flopping on the backup kicker.

“Yeah, I had a long conversation with Coach Biagi on Sunday,” Marcus Freeman said. “We’ve been in a kicking battle between Erik [Schmidt] and Marcello [Diomede] for a couple weeks, just trying to prepare in case Noah couldn’t go. And I think it’s time, at some point this week, we just gotta [say], ‘Hey, if Noah can’t go, this is gonna be the guy’ because we — I, as the head coach — gotta have confidence in that person. Our team has to have confidence, and that young person has to have confidence.”

A transfer from North Carolina, Burnette was previously a Second Team All-ACC selection. Since getting to South Bend, he’s been excellent when healthy. He’s 13 for 13 on extra points and 3 for 3 on field goals this season. All of those kicks are shorter than 40 yards. However, for the past few weeks, he’s been dealing with an injury and has been trying to get on the field, but that soreness hasn’t let him play since the first half of the Arkansas game.

In place of Noah Burnette, Marcus Freeman has turned to freshman Erik Schmidt and junior Marcello Diomede. Against Boise State, it was Schmidt who initially handled those duties before having an extra point blocked. Diomede came in and handled those duties without missing for the rest of the game. For the season, Schmidt is now 10 for 11 on extra points and has missed a field goal. Diomede is two for two on extra points.

“And I told him, it’s kind of similar to the quarterback competition. There’s two guys that are really, really good, and they’ve both been really good and both missed some in practice. The stats probably aren’t gonna give you an answer. You’re gonna have to make a decision, and we’ll make one this week in the case that Noah can’t go. But I think it’s time now — the competition,” Freeman said. “It’s not helping us the way that I would like it to, so we need to now make a decision and just say, ‘hey, you’re gonna be the guy if Noah can’t go, and let’s get ready.”

The ideal situation for Freeman and Notre Dame is still getting Burnette healthy enough to kick. However, if he’s not able to go against NC State next week, then the Irish will have a more stable backup plan in place.