ACU is replacing a strong kicker from last season. How's the competition coming along at that position?
We brought, in a lot of new faces and we have some serious talent in the room. I'll start with
Kyle Ramsey, a transfer from Houston. He's been a kickoff guy and a field goal and extra point guy. He's been dialed in every time. He's a steady presence to a young group and has a real ability to show them how to prepare every day. I feel really fortunate that we have Kyle here.
Three freshman kickers.
Kyler Meschi. I was in San Antonio to watch a quarterback in the state playoffs and the night before there was another game going on but neither team was on my radar. Saw this kid playing receiver and scoring touchdowns and kicking field goals and kicking off. He kicked one out of the end zone so I started watching him and we kind of built a relationship and we got him here. He's got a big leg but he's still learning the position. He's never been exclusively a kicker and he's learning what it takes. He's a competitive guy and he wants to be thrown into the fire.
Thomas Barr kicked the game-winning field goal in the State Championship game. His swing is consistent. Everything he does is consistent and he's getting stronger every day.
Dylan Riggins is a combo punter and kicker. Trying to figure out exactly where he fits. He's got a lot of pop in his leg really.
How about the punter?
Our only true punter on the roster is
Grant Nickell. Grant has done both kicking and punting before but he's going to focus on punting right now. He's got a really good leg and he's punishing the ball.
Who is delivering the ball to these guys?
Dustin Inness has played really well for us at long snapper. He's a leader in the room; a vocal guy and a great teammate.
Cade Bleakney has come miles from where he was last year and picked up a lot of accuracy and velocity.
Have we identified return men yet?
Those are still in tryouts. I mean, we have some guys that we've identified as candidates
Is there a guy on the kick coverage team that people better account for?
I think we turn the tape on of
Izaiah Kelley when we show guys what we want on kick-off team to look like. It's Izaiah. He runs hard down the field and he's violent.
Trey Adams is really strong there, too. They are
savvy football players, and, and they're really good athletes.
