98 days until Notre Dame football: What to expect from kicker Mitch Jeter

New Notre Dame kicker Mitch Jeter wears No. 98, but maybe he should think about switching to 92. He made 92 percent of his field goal attempts as a college kicker at South Carolina the last two seasons.

The track record is as impressive as the number sounds. Jeter made 12-of-14 field goal attempts in 2023, and the two misses came from 50-plus yards away.

Jeter’s first miss came from 50 yards away in a 47-21 South Carolina win over Furman in Week 2. He missed his first attempt of the day against Missouri from 51 yards out before making kicks of 51, 41, 38 and 21 yards in the same game. He was all of South Carolina’s offense in that game; the Gamecocks lost 34-12.

Eerily, both of Jeter’s misses came on South Carolina’s first possession of those respective ballgames. Perhaps it takes him a bit to settle into his surroundings on any given day. That would explain some of his misses early in Notre Dame spring practices. The Irish tend to go right into some special teams work following the stretching period, and Jeter missed wildly with a hook to the left — both indoors in the Irish Athletics Center and outdoors on the adjacent fields.

Those misses shouldn’t be much to worry about. Jeter’s history over two years as the starter at South Carolina is too much to ignore. He was a perfect 11-of-11 in 2022, making him 23-of-25 in his career.

“Of course we’ve seen Mitch can do it plenty, but just to get him in the feel, just to get him in our calls, and our mindset and cadence,” Notre Dame special teams coordinator Marty Biagi said this spring. “Doing a lot of focus on film work. He’s a very big student of the game so he’s often critical of himself just wanting to be perfect. He’s not one that says, ‘Oh well, it went in.’ He’s one that wants it to go right down the middle, which you can appreciate.”

Notre Dame has only had one kicker finish with a field goal percentage of 90 or better in a single season — ever. David Ruffer made 18-of-19 in 2010 to post a percentage of 94.7. The next best single-season field goal percentage in Notre Dame history was recorded by John Carney in 1984. He made 17-of-19 for a mark of 89.5 percent. Close, but no cigar.

One thing that might prevent Jeter from securing another season of 90-plus is volume. He’s probably going to set a career high in attempts in 2024. Spencer Shrader came to Notre Dame from USF and attempted 22 field goals last year. Blake Grupe arrived at Notre Dame out of Arkansas State and attempted 19 field goals in 2022. Jonathan Doerer attempted 20, 23 and 21 field goals in his three years as Notre Dame’s No. 1 kicker.

The best percentage of made kicks in that five-year span stretching from Doerer in 2019 to Shrader last fall? Eighty-five. Doerer made 17-of-20 in 2019.

Jeter probably isn’t going to threaten Shrader’s all-time Notre Dame record of a 54-yard make. But he just might threaten Ruffer’s record of 94.7 percent. He’d have to be nearly perfect, but he’s been there before. Done that.

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