Punter Jasper Scaife arrives for practice during fall camp, less than one year from the first time he ever kicked a football. (Photo: Joe Weiser)
On September 30, 2025, Jasper Scaife celebrated his 21st birthday by doing something he’d never done before.
He kicked an American football.
Less than a year later, Scaife is Notre Dame’s punter, preparing for the possibility that his first college football game will come against Wisconsin at Lambeau Field. Even Scaife has a hard time processing how quickly it all happened.
After growing up playing Australian Rules Football and spending time as a professional with Hawthorn, Scaife was “delisted” — essentially released from the club — following the 2025 season. That led him to Mackenzie Morgan of Inside 20 Punting, an Australian training program that develops punters for the American game. Morgan, who punted collegiately at NC State, Weber State and Temple, also worked with former Notre Dame punter James Rendell.
“It was on my 21st birthday that I caught up with a good mate of mine, Mackenzie Morgan, who’s the professor at Inside 20 Punting, and we had a kick on that day,” Scaife said. “That was the first time I kicked an American ball.”
Three months later, Scaife was on his way to South Bend.
The speed of the transition was extraordinary. But the actual act of punting an American football wasn’t nearly as foreign to Scaife as you might think.
“I’ve always known, and the environments I’ve been in have always given me the feedback, that I have a talent of kicking the ball,” he said. “It was a little learning curve, kicking a ball a slightly different shape in a different way with a slightly different technique, but fundamentally a lot of it — probably more than 80 percent — is very similar.”
Irish fans didn’t have to wait long to see why Notre Dame was so excited about Scaife. He was one of the biggest stories of Notre Dame’s first fall practice, effortlessly booming punts 50 and 60 yards with hang time that seemed to reach the clouds. It was the kind of performance that made everyone watching stop and take notice.
And the leg isn’t the only thing that stands out. Spend a few minutes talking with Scaife and something else becomes obvious: he is an exceptionally confident young man.
But Scaife isn’t your typical college freshman. He’s 21 years old and has already experienced professional sports in Australia. That background shows. He’s relaxed, self-assured and comfortable talking about both his ability and the challenge ahead. There is no bravado to it. Scaife simply seems to have the confidence of someone who has competed at a high level before and expects to perform when his opportunity comes.
Notre Dame special teams coordinator Marty Biagi has called him a “stone-cold competitor.” Scaife isn’t necessarily ready to give himself that label, but he understands why his coach does.
“A lot of it is personality based,” Scaife said. “A lot of it is based off the environment I grew up in, the sport I grew up playing.”
His own description of his approach is considerably simpler: “Go out, have fun, kick with a smile on your face, and do your best. Full stop.”
From Australia to a South Bend Winter
There was one part of the transition for which Scaife wasn’t quite as prepared: winter.
Scaife had seen snow perhaps once growing up, on a football trip to Tasmania. His other exposure came mostly from Christmas movies. Then he arrived in South Bend in January.
“I moved here in the middle of winter, snowing eight inches every night,” Scaife said. “I was, at times, considering, ‘What have I done? Why am I in South Bend?’”
Fortunately, Notre Dame had someone who understood exactly what Scaife was experiencing. Rendell, another Australian, helped him through those early days. The two developed a close relationship, and Rendell’s advice about making the transition was simple.
“You can do it. I’ve seen you do it,” Scaife recalled Rendell telling him. “Just honestly, just have fun.”
Scaife has also quickly embraced Notre Dame. “There’s no corner on this campus that doesn’t have a story or tradition tied deeply into it,” he said. “You see it everywhere. You feel it everywhere. I’m really grateful to be a part of it.”
Next Stop: Lambeau
Now comes the part that matters.
Scaife has already performed under pressure as a professional athlete. But standing on the field at Lambeau, waiting for his first punt as a Notre Dame player, will be something entirely different.
Will the pressure feel different?
“We’ll see,” Scaife said. “You never know until the day. I’m certainly feeling prepared. My skill set feels ready. My mindset feels ready. My body feels great. Then it’s just about dialing it up and again having fun, performing and doing my job.”
Punting isn’t his only responsibility. Scaife will also serve as Notre Dame’s holder, another part of American football he had to learn after arriving. He makes that sound pretty simple, too.
“It’s not hard,” Scaife said. “You sit, you catch a ball, and you put it on a spot and try to get the laces forward.”
There were some early “teething issues,” but Scaife said those were worked out within a couple of weeks. And when it comes to punting, he’d be perfectly happy to spend most of the Wisconsin game standing on the sideline.
“I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for our offense and CJ,” Scaife said. “I am well aware that there’s not going to be many opportunities to punt, and I’m completely fine with that.”
There are things about Australia he misses. Family tops the list, although Scaife jokingly put the beaches “level par with family.” He misses Tim Tams and the Australian staple known as a “Bunnings snag,” which he strongly recommends uninformed Americans research for themselves.
But for now, his home is South Bend. And consider again just how quickly this has happened.
September 30, 2025: Jasper Scaife kicks an American football for the first time.
September 6, 2026: Notre Dame. Wisconsin. Lambeau Field.
Is the Australian who just wants to kick with a smile ready for that moment?
Scaife’s answer was simple.
“We’ll see.”