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How will Penn State football decide its key battles at kicker and punter?

Greg Pickelby:Greg Pickel•08/04/23•

GregPickel

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Penn State special teams coordinator Stacy Collins. (Credit: Daniel Althouse/Blue White Illustrated)

Penn State, for the first time in some time, enters a new season with uncertainty at both the kicker and punter positions. The Lions have plenty of bodies to battle for the jobs, which was by design, head coach James Franklin said at Big Ten Media Days. Tracking the competition will be the easy part. Picking a winner may be more difficult depending on how the players perform.

At punter, the Lions brought in former Florida Atlantic punter Riley Thompson to compete with returning sophomore Alex Bacchetta. At kicker, returning redshirt Sander Sahaydak will try to hold off Columbia transfer Alex Felkins. Others will get their chance to shine, too. But those are the main pair to watch at each spot as Penn State starts summer practices.

“We were able to go into the transfer portal a little bit, get some experienced punters and kickers, and compete,” Franklin said. “Feel like we got three long snappers. We didn’t need to do that. There was competition there. But we need competition at punter and kicker, and, not that we didn’t think that our current guys do it, but I want them competing just like every other position. And we didn’t really have competition the way it was sitting.

“So, those guys have been competing all summer. Obviously, we haven’t had a chance to evaluate it really well. They do kind of give me reports on what they think and how the specialists would rank each other. But there’s a big difference between punting at the Lasch practice facility compared to in Beaver Stadium on national television. Same thing with field goals. Not just kicking field goals on a tee, but, the snap, the hold, the kick, the protection, the pressure, the environment. So, it’ll take some time.”

Penn State won’t need ‘nuisance’ to make its final decision

Some positions are easier to use statistical comparisons at than others when making depth chart choices. As Franklin went on to explain, kicker and punter are two of them that allow for pretty easy comparisons and thus decision making.

“The good thing is there’s some things that other positions maybe factor into your decision making process,” Franklin said. “Field goals, it’s pretty clear. The two or three guys who are competing for the job, they’re going to kick the same exact kicks, and whoever has the better percentage, that is on air, in live situations, it’s going to be a pretty good indicator.

“Same thing with punting. At other positions, some more nuance may go into the decision-making process.”

That isn’t the case at kicker and punter. But, Penn State special teams coordinator Stacy Collins will also need enough practice reps to have enough information to combine with the results from spring practice to make a final call. Because of it, both battles are likely to continue throughout August and maybe even into September and the regular season, as well.

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