Notre Dame Impact Players For 2025: No. 46 Noah Burnette originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
Notre Dame is now 46 days away from kicking off the 2025 season against the Hurricanes down in Hard Rock Stadium. The Irish will be relying on some impact players to get them through the home opener as well as getting them back to another run at the National Championship. I broke down who I believe will be the top 50 impactful players for Notre Dame this season. Let’s continue this countdown to kickoff with my No. 46 most impactful player, North Carolina transfer kicker Noah Burnette.
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Transfer kickers have become a staple of Notre Dame’s special teams over the past couple of seasons. In 2023, they picked up transfer kicker Spencer Shrader who set a Notre Dame record for making two 50 plus yard field goals in the same game. South Carolina transfer Mitch Jeter drilled the game winner against Penn State in the Orange Bowl which sent the Irish onto the National Championship game. This year, it’s Burnette’s turn to cement his name in Fighting Irish lore.
What He Brings To The Table
Burnette is a a quality kicker who spent his first three seasons kicking for the Tar Heels. He was a mid-year transfer who spent the spring getting acclimated to special teams coach Marty Biagi and the Notre Dame special teams unit. Last season, he drilled 97.4% of his extra points going 38-39. His field goal kicking percentage took a hit in 2024 (71.4%) but was a 95% field goal kicker for North Carolina in 2023.
Burnette had a rough kick in the jersey scrimmage and missed his first attempt in this years Blue Gold game, but the numbers don’t lie, he’s a pretty accurate kicker inside of 50 yards. Notre Dame struggled last season in the kicking game, in large part due to Jeter’s midseason injury. The Irish finished the year ranked No. 128 in the country in field goal percentage (55.6) after missing 12 of their 27 field goal attempts throughout the season.
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At North Carolina, Burnette kicked on some big stages including on the road against Florida State, Boston College (who Notre Dame will face on the road on November 1), at Minnesota, at Clemson and against Miami. It doesn’t have quite the leg that Shrader has, and doesn’t have the top level accuracy of a healthy Jeter, but his skillset should improve Notre Dame’s kicking stats at the end of the season dramatically.
What Is His Impact?
Burnette’s experience against upper level P4 opponents in the ACC gives him an advantage at Notre Dame. He’s kicked against Pittsburgh, Miami, Boston College, Syracuse and NC State, all ACC opponents on Notre Dame’s 2025 schedule. Outside of his on the field impact, Burnette will also have the opportunity to mentor incoming freshman kicker Erik Schmidt. The 6-2 Wisconsin native was the No. 1 rated kicker in the nation by 247Sports composite rankings.
In high school, he specialized as a punter, but took on kickoff and place kicking duties his senior year. Schmidt will likely be Burnette’s replacement in 2026 when he’s out of eligibility, but he has a ways to go before he’s ready to kick in big moments for the Irish. Burnette will have the opportunity to work with Schmidt for an entire season to help get him ready.
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Players who have transferred to Notre Dame for their final year of eligibility have bought into the culture that Marcus Freeman is building and is leaving the program better than they found it. Burnette can make a significant impact on and off the field which is why I have him ranked as the No. 46 most impactful player for Notre Dame in 2025.
PAST TOP 50 BREAKDOWNS
No. 47 – Guerby Lambert
No. 48 – Sullivan Absher
No. 49 – Jordan Botelho
No. 50 – Charles Jagusah
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This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 16, 2025, where it first appeared.
