Following the Notre Dame football team's win over Boston College, just what the team is going to do about its kicking situation has been a popular topic of conversation. On Monday, head coach Marcus Freeman addressed his plan, but it's probably not what Fighting Irish fans were hoping he'd say.
In particular, some fans have started asking the Irish to think outside the box to find a kicker. The success of Brandon Aubrey in the NFL after being a member of the ND soccer team has people wondering if that group might be an untapped resource.
Notre Dame’s kicking woes continue after Boston College win
Freeman had heard those suggestions, and he shot them down, pointing out that current rules don't allow him to look outside the Notre Dame program now that the season has started.
"It’s an NCAA rule that before the season you set your (scholarship) rosters at 105," he said. "There’s guys that you can declare grandfathered in that were previously on your roster, but once your rosters are set you can’t add anybody to your roster. That’s why we can’t do anything about that right now."
So what's the answer that Freeman has come up with? For now there really isn't an answer at all.
"We're going to keep putting guys in there until we consistently have somebody put the ball through the field goal posts," Freeman said Saturday. "We have three kickers, but if you rotate three kickers, you don't have one. And we'll figure out physically what it is, with Noah [Burnette], but we've got to do what we do in practice better in the game."
The good news is that before Notre Dame has to take on a red-hot Pittsburgh Panthers' squad, they'll be able to get a bit of a warmup against a Navy squad they've dominated over the last few years.