Most people
would say that the punter, along with the kicker, has one
of the two non-contact positions on the team, Tennessee’s
Dustin Colquitt would disagree with that assessment. It’s
not that he looks to pick fights with defensive linemen,
no, Colquitt assaults footballs. The son of former NFL
punter Craig Colquitt, he has inherited a strong leg and
no doubt has had some fine instruction throughout his
upbringing on the nuances of punting. Colquitt, the 2003
All-American, Ray Guy Award finalist finished fourth in
the nation in punting last year with a 45.9-yard average.
Colquitt’s
proficiency for punting can be attributed to many
individual talents. He has great extension, which allows
him to get unusual height and distance on his kicks. It’s
not just the distance Colquitt gets though, it’s the Ray
Guy-like hang time. At 6’2” and 196 lbs, he has nice
height and long legs, which help him to generate excellent
foot speed. He is flexible enough to swing the leg back
further than most punters so that when he connects, the
ball is going to go far, as evidenced by his 18 punts of
50 yards or more last year. He is quite adept at dropping
the ball inside the 20, which he did 19 times last year.
He also has an ability to avoid a lot of shanks or ‘lame
duck’ punts by using a short drop, while still getting
tremendous leg drive.
Of course,
Colquitt is still far from the perfect punter, but perhaps
what makes him so intriguing is his desire to become the
perfect punter. Colquitt considered leaving last year for
the NFL, but decided to remain at Tennessee to earn his
degree in political science and to work on a few things.
Colquitt will work on quickening his motion. After more
than 100 consecutive punts without having one blocked, the
Volunteers gave up 2 blocked punts in 2002, and a quicker
motion by Colquitt could have avoided those. He is not
yet as consistent at finding that sweet spot on his foot
as he should be, which means he will sometimes follow a 50-yard punt with a 30-yard punt that doesn’t turn over.
The more repetition he can get before coming to the NFL,
the more likely it is that he will find that spot
consistently. The last thing he will be working on is
directional punting because, although he gets great
distance, it seems that when he’s asked to kick in a
specific direction, he is sometimes off the mark.
After another
season to work on his weaknesses and to continue to hone
his strengths, Colquitt will no doubt be the first punter
taken in the draft, and for good reason. After one
memorable game in which Colquitt averaged over fifty yards
per punt and repeatedly downed the South Carolina
Gamecocks inside their twenty, Gamecock’s coach Lou Holtz
stated, “Five second hang time, never seen anything like
it.” Tennessee coach, Phillip Fulmer has said of
Colquitt, “A couple of ball games, it’s likely we would
have had a hard time if it wasn’t for his kicks.” That
statement alone should be evidence enough to prove
Colquitt’s importance to a team. Coaches, players and
announcers often attribute wins to offensive or defensive
superiority, but you rarely hear someone say they won a
game by getting better field position than the other team,
although that is often the case.
Punting is
football’s most thankless job. Yes, I was a punter. One
of the very few things that bother me about the NFL is the
absence of a punter from the Hall of Fame. There have
been references throughout this article to the great Ray
Guy. He has awards named for him, has stories repeated
about him, and is emulated by most punters, but even he
couldn’t get a whiff of one of those bronze busts in
Canton without buying a ticket to get in. Even if you
believe that Guy was nothing more than a product of the
“Madden propaganda machine,” I ask you this: Is the man
you consider to be the best punter to ever live in the NFL
Hall of Fame?
Ray Guy has
been the name in punting for as long as I can remember,
but I think he could soon be replaced by Dustin Colquitt.
The kid is that good. If the men controlling the Hall of
Fame balloting had any appreciation for the art of
punting, we might some day get to see Ray Guy in the Hall,
and who knows, maybe Colquitt as well.
