Senior Spotlight – Cameron Johnston

‘The punt is the most important play in football.’ – Jim Tressel

Since Jim Tressel became the head coach in 2001 to Urban Meyer taking over in 2011, the Buckeyes have always relied heavily on their special teams to make plays to help them win games. The right foot of Australian Cameron Johnston has done more than his fair share over his four seasons punting for the Ohio State Buckeyes. Johnston started out as an Australian Rules Football player before coming over to Columbus in 2013 when special teams coach Kerry Coombs saw his tape and offered him a scholarship. Since then the Buckeyes have not had to worry about punting the football as the ever reliable Johnston has averaged over 44 yards per kick in his career with 53% of his kicks ending up inside the opponents 20 yard line.

Before venturing across the Pacific Ocean and landing in Columbus, Ohio, Cameron Johnston was a 4th round pick of the Melbourne Football Club of the Australian Rules Football League. He ended up only playing one season for Melbourne before trying out his craft of becoming an American Football punter. He followed in the footsteps of fellow Australians Jamie Keehn at LSU and Tom Hornsby at Memphis who also came over and kicked in the collegiate game. Some famous Australians have gone on to kick in the NFL like Darren Bennett for the San Diego Chargers and currently Brad Wing for the New York Giants.

Late in the 2013 recruiting cycle, the Buckeyes had a commitment from Johnny Townsend and were set to sign him to a letter of intent. Townsend changed his mind on signing day and signed with the Florida Gators leaving the Buckeyes in a hole with no scholarship punters on the roster. Enter Cameron Johnston, who was down to Ohio State and Alabama as his final destinations. When Townsend went to Florida, Johnston signed with the Buckeyes in the summer of 2013 and the rest is history.

Johnston entered the 2013 season never having punted in a live game situation. His first game would be in Ohio Stadium in front of 100,000+ fans against the Buffalo Bulls and the now famous Khalil Mack. Johnston had three punts in his debut and averaged 41.3 yards per kick along with one being downed inside the 20. It was the beginning of the steadyness we have come to expect from Johnston in his four years here. During Johnston’s freshman year, he led all Big Ten punters with a 44 yard per punt average which ranked him 16th nationally. He was named a second-team freshman All-American by College Football News while leading the nation in punts downed inside the 20 yard line percentage at 63.3%. He was named Big Ten special teams player of the week when the Buckeyes played Wisconsin after punting the ball six times and landing five of them inside the 10 yard line. He also broke the 37 year old record of Tom Skladany with a 57 yard per punt average in a game against Illinois. The Buckeyes went 12-2 in 2013, and if not for the precision punting of Johnston there were quite a few games that could have gone the other way.

In Johnston’s second year at Ohio State he punted one fewer time than he did in 2013 playing in one more game. He upped his average to over 45 yards per punt and dropped 54% of his kicks inside the 20. He led the Big Ten in net punting average at 41.8 yards per punt as most of his kicks were either fair caught or downed by the Buckeye special teams. Cameron was a semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award and finished as a honorable mention All-Big Ten player. Since he punted so few times for the Buckeyes his stats were not eligable to be ranked nationally as he didn’t qualify for the minimum amount of punts needed per game. Had he been eligable he would have ranked second in both punts downed inside the 20 and inside the 10. Johnston’s big game was against Penn State at Beaver Stadium. The Buckeyes were in a battle with the Nittany Lions all game long and Johnston ended up punting six times and landing four of them inside the 20 and two inside the 10 on which Penn State punted the ball back every time. Cameron was a huge asset in leading the Buckeyes to the National Championship.

Johnston entered his junior year as a seasoned veteran on a team looking to repeat the success they had the prior season by winning the College Football Playoff. Johnston ended up punting 58 times in 2015 for a 43.2 yard average with 43% of his kicks being downed inside the 20. He also had his first kick blocked during this season. Johnston ended up on the Ray Guy Award semifinalist list for the second straight year, but did not come away as a finalist. He averaged over 50 yards per punt in games against Western Michigan, Maryland and Northern Illinois. Johnston by far got the most work of his career against Michigan State in the cold wet rainy game when he punted eight times against the Spartans. There were some that thought that Johnston would try and enter his name into the NFL draft after his junior season, but he came back for his senior season to continue his Buckeye legacy.

Johnston’s senior season has been his best so far in terms of average yards per kick, but it might be remembered most for the blocked kick against Penn State that led to a touchdown and a loss in Happy Valley. Despite the block and the loss, Johnston is still one of the best ever to kick at Ohio State. He has led the Buckeyes to the league lead in net punting for each of his first three seasons, and his career average ranks him 3rd on the Buckeyes all-time list. He will certainly be a semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award again this season, and has a nice chance of nabbing the award.

The Buckeyes took a flier on a guy from down under in 2013 and it is safe to say that it paid off in spades. Johnston has been reliable from the moment he stepped on campus, and his consistancy and calm demeanor have proven to be exactly what the Buckeyes needed from their punter. Jim Tressel would have loved to have Cameron Johnston punting for him back in the day, but he had a good one too in Andy Groom.