Sam Pittman loves reporter's question, gives fun answer on Max Fletcher

Special teams don’t always get the love they deserve in the game of football, but they did following Arkansas‘ 28-6 win over Kent State.

Razorbacks’ head coach Sam Pittman was asked about his punter Max Fletcher following the game, with a reporter asking Pittman to reflect on his performance after being called upon ‘early and often’. Which Pittman found quite humorous following the win.

“I love your comments man,” Pittman said laughing.

“Early and often,” Pittman repeated. “I think early he kicked good and often he kicked good. I don’t remember him shanking one or anything like that.”

Fletcher was called upon early, as the Razorbacks’ first three offensive possessions of the day ended in punts by Fletcher. And he delivered a solid performance, which Pittman asked about and assessed in real-time after the game.

“What’d he average Kyle?” Pittman asked to a member of the staff. “45 [yards]. Wasn’t as good as last week, he averaged 49. Did they have any punt return yardage? I don’t think they did, did they? 45 net, I think that’s pretty good early and quite a few times.”

Fletcher’s first three punts of the day ended up being his last of the day, as Arkansas offense began to find their rhythm.

As Pittman mentioned, Fletcher averaged 44.7 yards per punt on Saturday with his longest being a 47-yarder. He also pinned the Golden Flashes within the 20 yard line on his first punt of the day, playing a key role in the field position battle on Saturday.

Fletcher is in the midst of his second season as the Razorbacks punter, appearing in nine games last season and earning a selection on the Ray Guy Award Watch List this preseason. He was a three-star recruit out of the punting organization Prokick Australia, ranked the No. 4 punter in the 2022 recruiting class according to On3’s Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

He punted 38 times last season for an average of 37.5 yards, which he’s already shown improvement on this season early, boasting a 47.4 yard average this season following eight punts through two games.

Kent State was able to keep the game close early, dominating the time of possession in the first half and limiting the Razorbacks’ offensive attack. This made Fletcher’s job of flipping the field and getting field possession in the favor of Arkansas early in the game crucial.

His role on the team may go unnoticed at times, but it didn’t on Saturday, as Fletcher played his part in Arkansas’ second win of the season.