David Ruffer Earns Scholarship
When Brian Kelly addressed the media on Friday to wrap up the 2010 season, he gave Notre Dame fans an answer to a question that has been widely debated the last few weeks – walkon place kicker David Ruffer is now former-walkon David Ruffer.
Notre Dame’s record breaking place kicker will return for a 5th season in 2011 and will be on scholarship when he does after being on the Irish squad the past three years as a walkon.
“We are going to award David Ruffer a scholarship for next year,” Kelly said Friday when announcing that he didn’t have any other definitive answers on 5th year seniors for next season other than Ruffer.
Ruffer was not made available for comment on Friday, but he let fans know he was excited to be coming back via Twitter. “Let the early morning workouts continue…I’m coming back! Now let’s go fetch a NC!” tweeted Ruffer Friday afternoon.
Over the past two seasons Ruffer set a Notre Dame record with 23 consecutive field goals before recording the first miss of his career in the Sun Bowl against Miami. Two of those 23 field goals came from 50 yards out.
With Ruffer on scholarship for 2011, Notre Dame will have a total of four kickers/punters on the roster next season, but it’s hard to argue with the decision by Kelly and staff to bring back the closest thing to a sure thing Notre Dame has had at place kicker in a long, long time.
If there is an area in which Ruffer can improve for 2011 though, it’s extra points. Ironically, Ruffer has had much more trouble with point afters than he has with field goals as evidenced by his three misses in 2010.
Ruffer on scholarship, combined with the 23 verbal commitments pushes Notre Dame to 79 scholarship players for next season leaving 6 available scholarships for 5th year seniors and remaining recruits – more on that to follow.
Frank Vitovitch has been Co-Owner and Editor in Chief of UHND.com since joining forces with Kyle Flavin in 1999. Since that time, he has written over 2,000 articles covering Notre Dame football, recruiting, and basketball. He also works with all staff and external writers on all articles published on UHND.com. Frank's love for Notre Dame football started at a young age watching Rocket Ismail give opposing coaches ulcers in the late 1980's. By day Frank works in marketing and holds a degree in Digital Media from Drexel University. Frank's work has been cited by online/print editions of NBC Sports, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated and has been quoted on air by ESPN's Collin Cowherd. He's conducted interviews with Notre Dame legends Rocket Ismail, Randy Kinder, Lee Becton, Reggie Brooks, Michael Stonebreaker, and Ned Bolcar among others over his 20+ years of covering Notre Dame football. He's also been published in the print edition of USA Today Sports Weekly and the USA Today College Football Preview multiple times. Other Published Works/Citations for Frank Three Reasons Notre Dame Will Beat Alabama - USA Today Notre Dame Suspends WR Kevin Stepherson, RB C.J. Holmes Indefinitely - Bleacher Report Notre Dame / Ohio State Fiesta Bowl Preview - Eleven Warriors Brace Yourself: The Fighting Irish are Relevant Again - Sports on Earth Interviews with the Enemy: A Q&A with Frank Vitovitch of UHND - Yahoo! Sports Five Good Minutes: Notre Dame Football Preview With UHND.com - BC Interruption Vicious Electronic Questioning with UHND - MGO Blog
How many walk ons have received scholarships and are they still able to do so
He definitely earned it, bring on 2011!
2 of the 3 xp’s were blocked though, not really his fault