Transfer Portal: Former South Carolina kicker Mitch Jeter commits to Notre Dame
For the third-straight season, a graduate transfer kicker is coming to South Bend. Former South Carolina kicker Mitch Jeter, one of the best in college football at his craft, committed to Notre Dame on Thursday.
Jeter has been a wildly accurate kicker for the past two years, going 23-for-25. That’s 92 percent, and they haven’t all been chip shots, either — Jeter is 3-for-5 from 50 yards or more. He is On3’s top-ranked transfer portal kicker, just ahead of Hawaii transfer Matthew Shipley.
In two full seasons, Jeter has never missed a field goal from inside 50 yards. He is 20-for-20. On extra points, Jeter is 77-for-80 in his career.
In 2023, Jeter made field goals in eight different games, maxing out at 4 makes in 5 attempts on Oct. 21 in a loss to Missouri. That passed his previous career high of 2 made field goals, set Sept. 30 in a loss to Tennessee and Sept. 24, 2022 in a win over Charlotte.
His career long, set Sept. 3, 2022 in a win over Georgia State, is a 53-yard field goal.
The 5-foot-10 senior from Salisbury, N.C. has also been the Gamecocks’ kickoff specialist for four seasons, most recently kicking 41 touchbacks in 64 attempts in 2023. He was a three-star recruit in the class of 2020 out of Concord (N.C.) Cannon School.
Jeter will replace graduate Irish kicker Spencer Shrader, who will run out of eligibility after the Sun Bowl on Dec. 29. Shrader, a transfer from South Florida, went 14-of-20 in his only year at Notre Dame, including 4-of-6 from 50 yards or more. He set the program record for longest made field goal at 54 yards on Sept. 9 in a win over North Carolina State, and he tied his own record in a loss to Louisville on Oct. 7.
Shrader replaced Blake Grupe, who transferred to Notre Dame from Arkansas State prior to the 2022 season. He went 14-of-19 on field goals with the Irish before signing an undrafted free agent contract with the New Orleans Saints.
Grupe won the Saints’ starting kicker job out of training camp, and he’s 24-of-30 on field goals so far in his career. He is one of two former Fighting Irish who kick in the NFL, the other being former Notre Dame soccer player and Dallas Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey. Aubrey is perfect on field goals so far in his NFL career.
With Shrader gone, Jeter will likely sit atop the Notre Dame depth chart right away. The Irish have two other kickers on their projected 2024 roster: Rising junior Zac Yoakam and rising sophomore Marcello Diomede.
