It is not very often much attention will be given to the recruitment of a punter, but this is no ordinary situation. Blake Gillikin of Georgia announced his intention to join the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Class of 2016, choosing Penn State over Georgia, Northwestern and Vanderbilt. Gillikin will end up filling a significant role in Penn State’s special teams unit when he does arrive so long as the recruiting reports on his abilities live up to the hype.
Per Lions 247, Gillikin is among the top-rated punting recruits in the nation with the fourth-best overall ranking from Kohl’s Kicking. Kohl’s specializes in kicking camps, because kickers are people too. Kohl’s ranked him as a five-star punter and last season he received multiple all-region honors in Georgia, his home state. Kohl’s also notes Gillikin showed off a leg ready for Division 1 football, which is good news for Penn State fans given the results in the punting game the last year or so.
So incredibly excited and proud to announce I've committed to play football for Penn State 🔵⚪️🔵⚪️ #WeAre pic.twitter.com/is9FmFGBBD
— Blake Gillikin (@blakegillikin) June 21, 2015
Penn State ranked 14th in the 14-team Big Ten in average punt distance last season, with just 36.6 yards off each punt. And that is not because Penn State punters were perfecting their coffin kicks. Only three teams in the Big Ten punted more than Penn State (Maryland, Illinois, Indiana), and all three averaged a minimum of four extra yards per punt. For the sake of comparison against the gold standard in the conference, Ohio State led the conference in punting average with 45.08 yards per punt. For a team that struggled as much as it did on offense last fall, the Penn State special teams did not help change the battle of field position in Penn State’s favor very often.
Special teams are important. In an ideal world, with an ideal roster, you will not notice much about your special teams unless something is going wrong. Penn State’s punting game has been a massive struggle, perhaps another result of NCAA sanctions similar to the offensive line. When only so many scholarships are available, it is not likely one will be used for a punter (although it may be wise to bring in the best special teams players you can in those situations). But now Penn State is operating at full strength with scholarships, which allows the team to address holes as needed while continuing to add quality depth in the process. So why not address a big need at punter?
Gillikin is the 11th commitment in Penn State’s Class of 2016 as things stand right now. This actually puts Penn State over the maximum 85 scholarships allowed in 2016 (I believe now on track for 93 scholarship players), although that number can easily change between now and 2016 based on how many upperclassmen return and how many leave early etc.
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