SOUTH BEND — Notre Dame kicker Spencer Porath is headed back to Ross-Ade Stadium this weekend for the first time since his portal-free transfer after two years at Purdue.
And while it’s rare that an opposing kicker is the villain of the day, Porath should be up to the challenge, no matter what invective flies forth from the student section, aka the Ross-Ade Brigade.
“Try and take it as a faceless opponent,” special teams coordinator Marty Biagi said after practice on Tuesday evening, Sept. 22. “We try to do a really good job with our sports psych. Very similar to — probably not on the same level — but even when Riley (Leonard) went back.”
In 2024, the former Duke quarterback wasn’t facing the Blue Devils per se, but the high-profile transfer did lead the Irish to a win over Texas A&M, former coach Mike Elko and several assistants who knew Leonard from his Durham days.
That’s where Joey Ramaeker, Notre Dame’s director of sports psychology, comes in.
“Coach Ramaeker does a good job of trying to find similarities of those kinds of things,” Biagi said.
In 2025, Arkansas transfer tight end Ty Washington returned to Fayetteville and left with a 56-13 win. As he’d predicted months earlier, the stands were nearly empty by halftime as the 11 a.m. CT kickoff sent fickle Hogs fans running from the heat.
Former Wake Forest quarterback Sam Hartman had to face the Demon Deacons on Notre Dame’s Senior Day in 2023, but that was a 45-7 laugher that ended with Hartman spinning a yarn about hot chocolate and flying marshmallows.
New NCAA rule bans ‘ghost transfers’
Back on Aug. 6, in his last visit with local media, Porath was asked how he thought the Week 4 trip to Purdue might go for him.
“I think it will be awesome,” he said. “I loved everything about Purdue. Everyone’s great. The coaching staff is great, the players. I can’t wait, and I’ll be excited.”
Porath quietly enrolled at Notre Dame for the spring semester without informing the Purdue coaching staff he was looking to leave. News of his transfer commitment was widely reported on Jan. 13.
On April 1, the NCAA’s Division I Cabinet implemented significant penalties for schools that sign so-called “ghost transfers,” with the policy stretching back to Feb. 25. Penalties include fines of 20% of a program’s annual budget and a half-season suspension for the head coach.
Should a school fail to self-report such a violation within 15 days, the NCAA can increase the fine by 5% and the coach’s suspension by 10%.
Purdue’s new kicker, freshman Jacobo Echeverria Lozano, has made seven of eight tries this season with a long of 39 yards.
Speaking Tuesday, Biagi said the key for Porath will be “just having a true approach and a game plan,” no different than usual.
The kicker’s unflappable nature should work to his advantage.
“Spencer’s so locked in,” said Biagi, a former Marshall kicker/punter. “When he crosses over onto the field, he’s really dialed.”
Why Notre Dame kicker Spencer Porath is Mr. Fix-It
That approach continued even after Porath’s first miss in six field-goal attempts with the Irish. His 39-yard try sailed wide right against Michigan State, but Notre Dame led 27-10 with nine minutes remaining.
“He was mad at himself,” Biagi said. “He knows he did a cut swing or a slice swing. The best part is I had the tablet and I walked over, and he goes, ‘I don’t need to see it.’“
Porath, who made 15 of 17 field-goal tries as a Purdue sophomore in 2025, hadn’t missed since his final attempt with the Boilermakers: a 54-yard try to end the first half in a 56-3 home loss to Indiana on Nov. 28.
His other miss was from 47 yards early in the fourth quarter of an Oct. 11 loss (27-20) at Minnesota.
“What’s great is he already knew how to fix it,” Biagi said. “He knew what he had done wrong. He really just wanted another shot. That’s what you love. There was no finger pointing, no excuse. He could tell me what he already did before he even saw the tablet.”
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame football kicker Spencer Porath ready for Purdue return