Big Ten Position Rankings 2016: PUNTERS PUNTERS PUNTERS PUNTERS PUNTERS

It's the only day MNWildcat cares about at OTE. Come, share in the punt of human kindness with me!

By MNWildcat Feb 29, 2016, 9:14am CST

We say around Off Tackle Empire that punting is winning, and often that's more than a little tongue-in-cheek. But ask Michigan in 2015 if punting truly was, indeed, winning, and after most of them were done weeping/punching you, they would likely agree.

And ah!, the Big Ten punter. A noble breed, usually long of leg and big of heart, always there to brighten your day with his tweets and occasionally actually do some really cool stuff off the field. As a young lad in the frozen backyards and later the only-slightly-less-frozen high school football fields of Minnesota, I aspired to be one of them: scooping my worthless long snapper's 2-hopped snap, rolling three steps to the right, and letting a rugby-style punt fly.

But life is cruel and short, and I had to settle for going to college as a member of the marching band instead. Maybe that's why I'm so bitter.

...where was I? Oh yes. Punters. This is my favorite article to write and perhaps the only one I really actually care about writing at OTE. My #taeks are probably wrong to all of you, but that doesn't mean they're any less #hot.

Anyways, your only assignment while reading this article is to think about Sam Foltz's hair, read Peter Mortell's tweets, and watch the Michigan punter gif over, and over, and over. No, that's not that gif. That's the other gif. Because thank you, Michigan, for never failing to give us punter gifs.

So yes, step on into the Rhys Lloyd-Stefan Demos Memorial Punters' Lounge. Let's do this.

1. Cameron Johnston (Ohio State)

Punter	School	Yr	Tot	Yds	YPP	Lg	I20	I20%	TB	TB%	FC	FC%	50+	50+%
Johnston	OSU	4	58	2549	43.948	67	26	44.8%	7	12.1%	21	36.2%	18	31.0%

Twitter: @Cam_Johnston

Johnston didn't win the Big Ten Punter of the Year award in 2015, but with the exception of yards per punt (an area in which he fell just .25 yards behind the runner-up) and a slightly higher touchback rate, the Aussie matches Foltz stat-for-stat. While in part a product of the Buckeyes' excellent coverage team, Johnston produced a whopping 36% fair catch rate on his kicks while still putting nearly a third of his kicks over 50 yards. The 2015 Ray Guy semifinalist will likely find his way onto that list again in 2016 and is sure to continue to flip the field for the Buckeyes.

2. Sam Foltz (Nebraska)

Punter	School	Yr	Tot	Yds	YPP	Lg	I20	I20%	TB	TB%	FC	FC%	50+	50+%
Foltz	UNL	4	56	2477	44.2	67	15	27%	5	9%	9	16%	16	29%

Twitter: @samfoltz27

Jesse Collins: Sam Foltz is the best punter in the Big Ten. His average was best in the Big Ten last year, and he was stellar at pinning teams inside their own 20. He's the returning punter of the year and he's also a holder so FOLTZ FOR PRESIDENT!

MNW: Unfortunately, as ultimate arbiter of all things OTE punting, I disagreed. And I'm so, so sorry, Sam Foltz and all of Nebraska, because Get fucked, Ohio State. Foltz means more to his club - there's no doubt about that. But by that logic, too, Purdue would be in first place. While Foltz wins the All-B1G Punter Hair award and the 2015 Eddelman-Fields Award, it's gotta be Johnston by the nose of the ball.

3. Jake Hartbarger (Michigan State)

Punter	School	Yr	Tot	Yds	YPP	Lg	I20	I20%	TB	TB%	FC	FC%	50+	50+%
Hartbarger	MSU	2r	57	2434	42.702	61	21	37%	8	14%	13	23%	17	30%

Twitter: @JakeHart24

Noted Member of the Aryan Race Jake Hartbarger will become the third four-year starter at punter for the Spartans if his redshirt freshman year results hold up. Replacing the inimitable Mike Sadler, the 6'4" Ohioan gained a reputation for pinning opponents deep, putting a second-best 37% of punts inside the 20 and booting 30% of his kicks over 50 yards. Look for him to sneak onto the Ray Guy Watch List soon if he keeps this up.

4. Joe Schopper (Purdue)

Punter	School	Yr	Tot	Yds	YPP	Lg	I20	I20%	TB	TB%	FC	FC%	50+	50+%
Schopper	PU	2	58	2332	40.2	69	20	34%	2	3%	19	33%	12	21%

Twitter: @schopperindacar

Joe Schopper won the job from Thomas Meadows and proceeded to be the most valuable player for Purdue in 2015. If there's one person I won't be surprised to have ranked too low on this list, it's the freshman out of Indy with the strong bow tie game. I'd likely chalk up some of the low touchback rate to, well, Purdue not being close enough to the end zone for touchbacks to be an issue, but a 40-yard average as a freshman with the third-best I20% of any returning B1G punter has to turn some heads.

5. Ryan Frain (Illinois)

Punter	School	Yr	Tot	Yds	YPP	Lg	I20	I20%	TB	TB%	FC	FC%	50+	50+%
Frain	IL	4	70	2814	40.2	72	12	17%	9	13%	15	21%	12	17%

Twitter: @Rfrain13

Hooray! Something that Illinois does semi-competently! Frain has a nice if second-tier leg for a Big Ten punter, with a solid YPP but a below-average touchback rate. The Indianapolis native will be key to Illinois' ability to flip the field and give its defense some breathing room as it no doubt slowly chokes itself to death in 2016.

6. Nicolas Pritchard (Maryland)

Punter	School	Yr	Tot	Yds	YPP	Lg	I20	I20%	TB	TB%	FC	FC%	50+	50+%
Pritchard	MD	2	55	2099	38.164	70	13	24%	1	2%	18	33%	5	9%

Twitter: @NickPritchard19

After Nathan Renfro left College Park for Knoxville, Pritchard filled in admirably as Maryland's only freshman to start all 12 games for the Terrapins. While he didn't show off as big a leg as most of the other punters in the Big Ten, the New Egypt, NJ, native had an outstanding fair catch rate and limited returns by opponents. Adding a little leg strength will see him vault up this list in the future.

7. Ron Coluzzi or Colten Rastetter (Iowa)

Punter

School

Tot

Yds

YPP

I20

I20%

TB%

FC%

50+

50+%

Coluzzi

2310

39.2

34%

37%

Rastetter

######

Iowa used two punters last year, with Marshall Koehn coming on to boom the occasional rugby-style punt and keep Dillon Kidd honest (after other scholarship punter) Connor Kornbrath left the program but stayed on scholarship. Both are gone, though, and there's uncertainly and competition at the punting slot.

Because of course there's competition at the Hawkeyes' punter slot. And not only is there competition, but per Black Heart Gold Pants' very own RossWB, Iowa's gotten graduate transfer Ron Coluzzi from Central Michigan.

That's right.

A graduate transfer.

At punter.

Iowa.

Twitter: I can't find an active account for Coluzzi, and Rastetter hasn't tweeted in almost a year. Because this is Iowa.

8. Hunter Niswander (Northwestern)

Punter	School	Yr	Tot	Yds	YPP	Lg	I20	I20%	TB	TB%	FC	FC%	50+	50+%
Niswander	NU	3	85	3227	38.0	56	21	25%	2	2%	30	35%	6	7%

Twitter: @HunterNiswander

I'm sure he's a nice kid. And Pat Fitzgerald does ask Niswander to sky a lot of punts, yielding a very high fair catch rate. So no doubt I'm more upset at the system than the punter.

But that 50+% rate and the YPP make me want to put my head through a wall. It is agonizing to watch Northwestern punt the ball, and it has been for some time. Oh, and the best part? InsideNU is projecting that in 2016 Niswander will be pushed by...no one. We're one-deep at the ol' puntin' slot. Suuuuuper.

Sample Size Issues:

We've got a couple returning punters with some potential, but limited stats:

Kenny Allen (Michigan)

Punter

School

Tot

Yds

YPP

I20

I20%

TB%

FC%

50+

50+%

Allen

100%

Twitter: @KennyAllen91

Replacing the much-maligned Blake O'Neill, former kicker Kenny Allen showed at least one flash of a big leg in 2015. In all honesty, I can't tell who Michigan's starting punter actually will be in 2016, so someone feel free to correct me here. Regardless, this being Michigan and all B1G things being unequal, I'm sure he'll clock in at about the 3^rd- or 4^th-best punter in the conference by year's end.

Michael Cintron (Rutgers)

Punter	School	Yr	Tot	Yds	YPP	Lg	I20	I20%	TB	TB%	FC	FC%	50+	50+%
Cintron	RU	2r	3	153	51.0	57	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	2	67%

The massive freshman from Piscataway (way to lock down the ol' backyard, Rutgers!) only punted once for the Scarlet Knights in 2015, absolutely booming three kicks against Wisconsin. I like what I saw, but it's too early to call this a trend, so we'll slot him in the uncertain category.

The Newcomers

I'm pretty loathe to rank freshman or new punters. Just pretend that everyone looked great at kicking camp, was a 5* Kohl's Camp punter, and was All-District/Section/Conference in high school. In lieu of actual analysis, here are the rest from around the conference:

Joseph Gedeon (Indiana)

Twitter: @ChoccoBoomStick

Already an odds-on favorite for best Tweeting punter to replace Peter Mortell, Joseph Gedeon replaces the departing Erich Toth at Indiana. The freshman has already begun campaigning for awards in 2016:

2016 holder of the year pre season watchlist?? @PMortell37 pic.twitter.com/ju0vBi6zcX
— Joseph Gedeon (@ChoccoBoomStick) December 17, 2015

Minnesota

Ryan Santoso? Some walk-on who will emerge at spring ball? I honestly don't know. The only thing I do know is that no one can replace Holder of the Year Peter Mortell.

"Your hands are too slow" they said.
"Your cadence has no rhythm" they said. This one's for the state of Minnesota. pic.twitter.com/HkgGRK0aL1
— Peter Mortell (@PMortell37) December 1, 2015

Blake Gillikin (Penn State)

87townie: Penn State has incoming freshman Blake Gillikin, who I think will make an immediate improvement on PSU's punting unit. In 2015, we punted 81 times, with an average distance of just 39.3 yards. The net was 35.7 yards. That's horribad...108th out of 128 possible teams.

Gillikin comes in as a 5* punter according to Kohl's Kicking. His stats look impressive and let's face it, the position is his to lose.

Twitter: @BlakeGillikin

PJ Rosowski (Wisconsin)

Redshirt freshman P.J. Rosowski takes over for the departing Drew Meyer. Per the aptly-named BradNortmansActingCoach, he will be challenged by 3* punter outta Georgia Anthony Lotti.

Twitter: @PJRosowski8

---

I'm sure I've failed to adequately break down/diagnose at least one RED HOT PUNTING RACE at one of these schools, so be sure to impugn my character, credibility, and sense of fashion in the comments. Vote in the poll and follow your favorite punter (oh hell, follow them all! Punters are the best!) on Twitter.

Punting is winning,

MNW