Quick-hitters: Notre Dame special teams coordinator Brian Mason on depth chart, Blake Grupe, punt block approach

Brian Mason’s depth chart decisions are done. He has determined his best specialist lineup in the first half of Notre Dame’s preseason camp.

Arkansas State graduate transfer Blake Grupe is the primary kicker, Harvard walk-on grad transfer Jon Sot is the starting punter and holder, senior safety Brandon Joseph is the punt returner, junior running back Chris Tyree the kick returner and freshman Bryce McFerson the kickoff specialist. Graduate student Michael “Milk” Vinson remains the primary long snapper.

Grad student wide receiver Matt Salerno is Joseph’s backup and “right there with him,” Mason said. Receivers Lorenzo Styles and Braden Lenzy are behind Tyree at kick returner and could line up as the “off returner” next to him.

Mason met with reporters after Friday’s practice. Here are some of the special-teams topics he discussed.

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On the field goal unit’s growing cohesion and confidence

“We lost five specialists from the roster last year. We had to bring in five more. We knew there would be growing pains. We’re trying to get five new guys, four of which game in June, to get as experience together as humanly possible to be a cohesive unit and work together. We have to have a great long snapper, great holder and great kicker. They all have to work together.

“Every week we’ve been here since June with Milk, Sot and Grupe working together, we’ve been trying to get those guys working together to get more confident and more comfortable together.”

On McFerson winning the kickoff job

“Some of those guys, you just know. It took one day of being here in the summer and everyone was saying, ‘We want Sot to be the holder. He’s the best.’ He has done it before. He has years of experience doing it. We have to train McFerson and someone else over the next year to be ready to replace Sot. And McFerson came, he’s wildly talented for a freshman and he’s going to be the kickoff specialist.”

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On freshmen special teams contributors

“The two who would start today if we played are [linebacker] Junior Tuihalamaka and [cornerback] Jaden Mickey. We have a number of really talented freshmen, but those two are more mature beyond their years than most other guys. They’ve handled and taken in a lot of information, processing that information, making good game decisions and just being a step ahead from a maturity and leadership standpoint than most people are when they’re 18.”

On his punt block philosophy

“We have a lot of really good defensive players. Punt block for us is like playing defense. We’re going to guard eligibles, play defense, run pressures, be aggressive and try to affect the punter. Once the punter is getting rid of the ball really fast and we’ve affected him, we’ll go into different looks and holdups like most people would do.”

“The No. 1 goal is to affect the punter. The faster we make him get rid of the ball, the higher probability he shanks it, the higher probability there’s less hang time and we can get more return yards. Punters don’t handle pressure that well because most teams don’t pressure.”

On Grupe’s field goal range

“His range is to 55 depending on situations. He has hit from 53 multiple times in fall camp. That’s dependent on weather and different things like that. But when you’re talking 50-plus across college football, it’s not a high probability kick to begin with. We believe he’s the most consistent guy in all ranges.”

On how he balances a secondary role working with Notre Dame’s nickel backs

“Usually offense and defense meet separately, and you can structure that. The specialists will lift with the offense while the defense meets. Those things are offset a little bit. When they’re not, I go with the specialists.”

On specific special-teams scenarios he wants to practice

“There’s a long checklist, and most people have a long checklist. I don’t know how many things are on that checklist, but there’s a lot of things we still have to get to and we’ll get to next week. We haven’t gotten to hands and onsides yet, but there’s a long checklist of different situations that come up that we have to hit on.”