SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Pity the plight of college football’s modern-day punter. With high-flying offenses proliferating and analytics dictating that teams try to convert more fourth downs rather than give the ball away, punters on the best teams in college football have fewer chances than ever to make their mark.
Consider Ohio State punter Drue Chrisman’s most memorable moments this year.
He took a knee at the Buckeyes spring game and proposed to his girlfriend. (She said yes.) And three weeks ago, Chrisman was at the center of another clever ruse, completing a pass from a punt formation that jolted Ohio State from an early funk and two-touchdown deficit in the Big Ten championship game.
🚨 FAKE PUNT 🚨@OhioStateFB converts on 4th and 9 to keep their offense on the field! pic.twitter.com/OwnCvQOUjD
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) December 8, 2019
Everything Chrisman has done with his kicking leg has been far less interesting — and only slightly more frequent. His 40 punts this season were one-third fewer than he had a year ago, when he was a semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award, which goes to the top college punter.
“I call it the sideline net season,” Chrisman said. “This year I did a lot of warm-ups and kicks into the sideline net.”
Chrisman is not alone in feeling relegated. Oklahoma’s Reeves Mundschau, a sophomore in his first year as the starter, punted just 33 times this season. Louisiana State senior Zach Von Rosenberg, a 29-year-old who turned to college football after playing six seasons of minor league baseball, had but 39 punt attempts, down from 51 last season. And Clemson junior Will Spiers had only 37 (though Clemson attempted eight other punts), a drop off from 64 last season.
That may change in Saturday night’s College Football Playoff semifinal, where second-ranked Ohio State and third-ranked Clemson are not only undefeated, but have the two best defenses in the country — each allowing fewer than 250 yards per game. Or to choose another metric, Ohio State has forced 95 punts this season and Clemson 99.
So, while the quarterbacks (Trevor Lawrence of Clemson and Justin Fields of Ohio State), running backs (Travis Etienne of Clemson and J.K. Dobbins of Ohio State) and the receivers (Tee Higgins of Clemson and K.J. Hill of Ohio State) figure to have a say in how the Fiesta Bowl unfolds, Chrisman and Spiers may have a rare voice, too.
“Honestly, in a game like this, the punt is one of the best offensive plays in the game,” Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney said. “There’s nothing wrong with a punt. Field position is critical in games like this. It’s the hidden yards. It’s the game within the game.”
Added Ohio State Coach Ryan Day: “There’s games when you get in shootouts and it seems to not matter as much. But I talked to our team about this — I think the field position game will be critical in this one.”
If so, Clemson will at least turn to an experienced hand.
Spiers, a former walk-on, learned to punt from his father, Bill, who punted for Clemson before playing parts of 13 seasons in the major leagues as a utility infielder. (Bill is a senior special teams assistant at Clemson.)
Will Spiers played baseball, his favorite sport, growing up and was a quarterback — he played in high school and was conscripted as the fourth-string quarterback last season. But he realized by the end of his junior year in high school that punting would carry him to college.
“When baseball season gets here and Clemson starts playing, I always get the feeling of ‘I miss this. I miss being out on the mound or the infield,’” said Spiers, who completed his only career pass on a fake punt in 2017. “But football has been a great opportunity for me, and it’s a great time to be at Clemson.”
While Spiers has had some jittery moments this season — he dropped a snap and had a pair of short punts against Wake Forest — he has rarely given opponents a chance on punts, allowing only three of his 37 kicks to be returned.
Asked at a news conference on Friday whether Spiers reminded him about his throwing arm, Swinney said: “Yeah, I think we’re planning the first punt will be a fake. We’ve been working the double, triple reverse, pitch back to Will, throw down the field. Our timing has gotten better over the couple weeks, so ...’’
Swinney then looked over at Day, who was sitting alongside him.
“Oh, sorry,” he said. “Coach Day is right there.”
While there was little doubt that Spiers would attend Clemson — his grandfather, Bud Spiers, played on the first Clemson baseball team to reach the College World Series, and his cousin, Carson Spiers, is a senior pitcher for the Tigers — picking a college was more complicated for Chrisman.
Growing up in Cincinnati, he had an affinity for Ohio State. But raised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he felt the tug of Brigham Young University. He also considered Florida State. “Ohio State just felt like the right decision,” said Chrisman, who graduated this month and is uncertain whether he will return for his senior season.
Chrisman played soccer growing up and taught himself how to kick a football by watching old clips of Guy, the only punter in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and scouring YouTube videos. When Chrisman began working with a kicking coach his junior year in high school, he learned punting mechanics, which he has also put to use on trick kicks of water bottles.
Chrisman, who played some quarterback in high school, had pestered Urban Meyer, the former Ohio State coach, about his passing skills. When the Buckeyes were short on quarterbacks early last season, Day — then the offensive coordinator — gave Chrisman some reps in practice.
“So I knew what he was capable of,” Day said.
And what he wasn’t?
“Exactly,” Day said.
But until the Big Ten title game, Chrisman had never thrown a pass in a game. And with the Buckeyes trailing Wisconsin 14-0 and facing fourth-and-9 at their own 26, it seemed an unlikely opportunity. But Chrisman lofted a pass that tight end Luke Farrell hauled in. And though the possession ended with a turnover, the play seemed to shake Ohio State from its lethargy and the Buckeyes stormed back in the second half to win.
“It was good to be able to show off the old cannon, make sure I still had it,” Chrisman said.
The artillery may be packed away on Saturday, but with a pair of stout defenses on the field, the Fiesta Bowl may provide Chrisman and Spiers the rare stage to make a difference — with a right foot.
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December 28, 2019 at 03:36AM
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Can They Kick It? Yes They Can. Ohio State and Clemson Just Don’t. - The New York Times
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