As every Tulane fan knows our current punter and kickoff specialist, Zack Block, will be a senior next season. Of Block’s 55 kickoffs this year, 40% (21) were touchbacks. Of his other 34 kicks, the average was returned from the 8 yard line for an average return of 17 yards (the same 25 yard line as the touchbacks.). Overall, that’s pretty good. His punting, however, has been inconsistent for three years. This year his 39.2 average (which included a number of “shanks”) earned him 94th place in the punting ranks—not too good. So, among our many deficiencies, is punting worthy of keeping two scholarship punters on the roster next year?
Tulane is obviously interested in California-based punter, Ryan Wright, who has had in home visits from the staff and will be making an official visit to New Orleans next week, . Still I’m not at all sure he has been offered to this point. At least one Kohl kicking camp named him the #1 high school punter in the country and he averaged 41.6 yards per punt over three years (43.6 as a senior). Wright was also a high school QB though his Nike time in the 40 of 5.09 suggests he’s not for our offense. More interesting is that he threw for 27 TD’s with only 3 INT’s as a junior before throwing only 4 TD’s and 4 INT’s as a senior. Not sure what happened there. Anyway, besides being a good punter, he apparently has some capability to throw the ball in a “fake punt” situation which is somewhat intriguing. As an additional aside, he hit .364 as a catcher/1st baseman last season.
Another guy who has caught my attention may or may not even be on Tulane’s radar. He’s Reed Bowman, the punter for Blinn JC, and I came across him while researching the Blinn defensive back, Vonte Davis, who we have offered for sure. Anyway, Bowman led the entire nation this year in the JC ranks with a 53.0 yard average on 35 punts, which was 8 yards more than second place. Frankly, that's an almost unheard of average at any level of football, so that’s impressive. Bowman was an all-conference (high school) punter in 2015 but I don’t know what happened to him the next year; he wasn’t at Blinn. But, he’s currently listed as a redshirt freshman so he has three years of eligibility to go but has used up his redshirt. Anyway, he can really “boom” them.
Again, I don’t think punter is in our top tier of “needs” but if we have enough slots left, we might be grabbing one.
Roll Wave!!
Tulane is obviously interested in California-based punter, Ryan Wright, who has had in home visits from the staff and will be making an official visit to New Orleans next week, . Still I’m not at all sure he has been offered to this point. At least one Kohl kicking camp named him the #1 high school punter in the country and he averaged 41.6 yards per punt over three years (43.6 as a senior). Wright was also a high school QB though his Nike time in the 40 of 5.09 suggests he’s not for our offense. More interesting is that he threw for 27 TD’s with only 3 INT’s as a junior before throwing only 4 TD’s and 4 INT’s as a senior. Not sure what happened there. Anyway, besides being a good punter, he apparently has some capability to throw the ball in a “fake punt” situation which is somewhat intriguing. As an additional aside, he hit .364 as a catcher/1st baseman last season.
Another guy who has caught my attention may or may not even be on Tulane’s radar. He’s Reed Bowman, the punter for Blinn JC, and I came across him while researching the Blinn defensive back, Vonte Davis, who we have offered for sure. Anyway, Bowman led the entire nation this year in the JC ranks with a 53.0 yard average on 35 punts, which was 8 yards more than second place. Frankly, that's an almost unheard of average at any level of football, so that’s impressive. Bowman was an all-conference (high school) punter in 2015 but I don’t know what happened to him the next year; he wasn’t at Blinn. But, he’s currently listed as a redshirt freshman so he has three years of eligibility to go but has used up his redshirt. Anyway, he can really “boom” them.
Again, I don’t think punter is in our top tier of “needs” but if we have enough slots left, we might be grabbing one.
Roll Wave!!