New Punter

Donate To GopherHole
Yah-E

Yah-E

Bulieve
Joined
Nov 20, 2008
Messages
2,148
Reaction score
1,298
Points
113
From transfer portal Middle Tennessee?! What?

We love our coach but his OC hire and getting players from FCS schools is concerning me.

 



Are punters at the FCS level worse or something?


Is this guy not gud?
 

I don't know why people are so concerned with the OC hire.... As an OC he did great things, it was just when he was a HC that things didn't go great.

As for this Punter, he's just adding to the punter competition because the competition will make them all better.
 


Here are his stats from the Middle Tennessee State website:

2019 (r-Junior)
• Played in all 12 games
• Punted 11 times during the season and averaged 35.7 yards an attempt with six being downed inside the 20-yard line
• Also served as the team’s holder on field goals
• Graded out a winner 11 games
• Punted once at Iowa and it went 35 yards and downed inside the 20
• Had two punts against Rice and both were downed inside the 20
• Had three punts against ODU for a 39.3 average and earned the team’s special team’s player of the week award
• Punted twice at WKU with both being downed inside the 20-yard line

2018 (r-Sophomore)
• Played in all 14 games
• Served as the team’s holder and backup punter
• Had his first career punt at Marshall and it went for 46 yards and downed inside the 20 yard line
• Took over punting duties at FIU as Matt Bonadies sat out with a concussion. He punted four times and placed three inside the 20-yard line, including a long of 46 yards

2017 (r-Freshman)
• Did not play in any games

2016 (Freshman)
• Took a redshirt year

High School
• Lettered in football and baseball at Bob Jones High School
• Earned second team all-state honors as a kicker and competed in the NUC All-American game where he was voted the MVP
• Also tabbed first team all-area as a punter
• Made 10 of 11 field goals as a senior with a long of 46 yards and made 44 of 45 extra points
• Averaged 40 yards on 35 punts
• Played for Coach Kevin Rose
Click to expand...
 


Yah-E said:
From transfer portal Middle Tennessee?! What?

We love our coach but his OC hire and getting players from FCS schools is concerning me.

Click to expand...

Settle down. We have a new scholarship punter, Mark Crawford, from Australia—a likely home run. I’m sure this guy is the replacement for Alex Melvin, SMU’s former punter, who was on the Gopher roster in ‘18 and ‘19 while a Grad Student at the U. Don’t think this is a football scholarship guy. A true grad student who gets to continue playing football, I suspect, like Alex Melvin. Good to have an experienced back-up available in case of injury. Maybe he’s the insurance policy in case the Aussie has some trouble adjusting to the game early on. Maybe, as someone else pointed out, he’s the holder on field goals, if the Aussie isn’t an experienced ball handler. Plus, I bet he’ll be a good, positive addition to the locker room.

As to the new co-OC, he was a great selection. Creative and innovative mind; runs up tempo offense (which we need to work on); and will run a more diverse offense—while carrying over all the good RPO stuff from this year, because of co-OC Simon. Also, he is young and enthusiastic; probably better at recruiting than Kirk C. Try to get a good night’s sleep. Everything will be OK.
 
Last edited:

I doubt top level punting is exclusive to Power 5 and is probably spread out across divisions more than other positions. For example, Concordia Moorhead has an all american punter that would be #16 in FBS at 45 yards per.
 



Yah-E said:
We love our coach but his OC hire and getting players from FCS schools is concerning me.
Click to expand...

Um, maybe I'm missing sarcasm here. Sanford was the Notre Dame OC before getting the head coach job at WKU.
 


In the meantime how are we at kicker going forward? Does Ryerse have competition?
 

BilldGopher said:
In the meantime how are we at kicker going forward? Does Ryerse have competition?
Click to expand...
This is an easy one. Michaek Lantz can do the job on PAT's and FG's from 40 in. Since Ryerse was only kicking off, the new PWO kicker from Wisconsin, Dragan Kasich, should give Ryerse plenty of competition if Ryerse stays.
 



Don't you guys see that I just want us to be ELITE! Middle Tennessee just doesn't sound ELITE!
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Middle Tennessee State is not FCS, they are in Conference USA.

The guy is also a walk-on punter.
Click to expand...
You're right...I stand corrected.....MTSU is not FCS, but they might as well be.
 


Tons of great punters at the lower levels of college football. I wouldn’t let Middle Tennessee State be the factor that sways your opinion of him.
 

Kicking is obviously a problem that the Gophers want to get right. The more people in competition the better. Maybe, Ryerse gets motivated and surprise us. He will be a RS Junior and may graduate early next year.
 

As a non-scholarship player, this is a win-win. As others have said, cheap insurance policy if the Aussie gets hurt or for whatever reason struggles.
 

If he comes into camp and performs better than the others on the roster, I don't care if he came from Normandale CC.
 


This is way too much debate over a walk-on holder/emergency punter.
 


I can remember an NFL team getting a punter from an open workout who kicked for a Division 3 team in college who was working as a bartender. They are out there.
 

Can any of these punters also Kick-off into the End Zone? Short kicks burned the Gophers in both the Wisconsin and Auburn games for big returns. Sorry to nit-pick, just feels like there has to be somebody around the Twins Cities with that is eligible here that can force touchbacks.
 

Have you guys seen some of the legs on the volleyball team?

Ope3 said:
Can any of these punters also Kick-off into the End Zone? Short kicks burned the Gophers in both the Wisconsin and Auburn games for big returns. Sorry to nit-pick, just feels like there has to be somebody around the Twins Cities with that is eligible here that can force touchbacks.
Click to expand...
 

Gopho Sapiens said:
Don't understand the harshness.
He's in the running for the MortellAward.
I like him already!

Click to expand...

Bet the Mortel award goes to Casey O'Brien this year...can't imagine anyone else getting it. But that video is hilarious.
 


I think even more than a kicker we need a special teams coach who can improve all aspects of special teams.
 

  • I think we're going to like this guy!
  • ******************************************************
  • Gophers add a grad transfer walk-on punter in Matthew Stephenson
ByRYAN BURNS 6 hours ago
1
9599595.jpeg

"I chose Minnesota because I think it is a great opportunity to win a punting and holding job, with both of those positions graduating a few guys," Middle Tennessee State graduate transfer punter Matthew Stephenson said about why he's going to be a preferred walk-on for the Gophers. "I also have lots of family in the area and who wouldn’t want to play for PJ Fleck right now?! I had about 15 schools recruit me pretty hard. Wyoming, Charlotte, Louisville, Florida State (before their coaching change) and Troy. I didn't have any offers for January enrollment as everyone wanted to offer for me to show up in the spring, but getting a masters degree while I play is important to me."

Matthew Stephenson@Ya_Boy_Matty

I would like to thank every coach that reached out to me while I was in the transfer portal. With that being said, I’m excited to tell everyone I will be playing my final year and earning my masters degree at THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA! #RowTheBoat #SkiUMah

"My age being an older guy and having playing experience can help the special teams unit as a whole," Stephenson told 247Sports. "They have a lot of young specialists on the team. Coach Wenger also told me that the punting job is wide open for competition and that he thinks me doing sky/short field punts for Middle Tennessee last year could be a great weapon for Minnesota. And that the holding job is also wide open for competition and me having 25 games under my belt in college is a huge plus. A "sky" punt is essentially punting with a short field in front of you. So the object is to pin the other team deep rather than to hit a punt as far as you can."


Matthew Stephenson@Ya_Boy_Matty

After a lot of consideration I have placed my name in the NCAA Transfer Portal in order to grad transfer and play my final season at a different university.

In game stats
-Open field punts: 43.57 yard average
-Sky / Short Field: 36 yard average

"I visited Minnesota a few weeks ago around the 14th of December and on the last day of my visit, I told them I wanted in. The delay in announcing it was just making sure I could get excepted into the grad school program I wanted. I got into the Architecture Sustainable Design program at Minnesota, so I'm very excited. My undergrad degree was Construction Management so I want to work is the Design and Build aspect. There's tons of opportunities in that sector. I'll be moving in sometime between January 16th and 20th. I want Gopher fans to know that I wouldn’t have chosen Minnesota if I didn’t think we could win a national championship this year. And I want to play a role in that. Whether I’m punting or holding field goals or sweeping the floors. I want to play a role in that success and play it as well as I can. My dad also went to the University of Wisconsin. I can’t wait to win the Axe so he can see his son hold it!"
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom