Who’s atop nation’s kicking stats? It’s a Boise State ‘punt god’ from Down Under, mate
Making the switch from Australian Rules Football to American college football left Boise State punter James Ferguson-Reynolds with some questions.
Like the first time a penalty flag was thrown in a game.
“I was sitting there and I think it was a holding call,” Ferguson-Reynolds said. “I didn’t know if it was offense, defense. I didn’t know what it was for, and there were flags going everywhere. It was just funny. I had no idea what was going on. If everybody else cheered, I cheered, too.”
With a year of college football under his belt, the sophomore from Geelong seems to have picked up the American game just fine for an Australian bloke.
He leads the nation this season with an average of 51.15 yards per punt, an increase of nearly 10 yards from last season, when he booted 63 punts for an average of 41.8 yards.
He’s also stepped in as the holder on PATs and field goals.
He’s proved to be a fair dinkum Bronco.
“He’s been huge, man,” said Boise State cornerbacks and special teams assistant Demario Warren. “He’s been able to flip the field in the open field. He’s been able to pin them deep when we’ve downed the ball inside the 5 a couple times, so it creates huge field position for our defense. And he’s been pretty consistent at being able to get the ball off quick and getting the ball in the right spots.”
Of his 20 punts this season, 14 have gone for 50 or more yards, including a long of 67 against San Diego State, and nine have landed inside the opponent’s 20. Ferguson-Reynolds had a 53-yard punt against the Aztecs that the Broncos were able to down at the 1-yard line.
“Just little things like that, it can be overlooked, but he does such a great job in his role in what he does,” tight end Riley Smith said. “It’s just exciting to see him on the field, and he celebrates a lot, too, so it fires us up and gives us some momentum.”
Ferguson-Reynolds arrived at Boise State through a program called Prokick Australia, a Melbourne-based academy that specializes in converting Australian Rules Football players to the U.S. game. According to The New York Times, 61 of the 133 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision have Aussie punters on their rosters this season.
None has been as bonzer as Ferguson-Reynolds, who has a variety of different kicks in his repertoire.
“My coach back home got in touch with Boise State and they saw my film, and they were lucky enough to like it,” Ferguson-Reynolds said.
With the addition of former Boise State kicker Tyler Rausa to the Broncos’ staff this season as the special teams quality control coach, Ferguson-Reynolds said he’s made great strides in his mental game, which has led to the improvement on the field.
“The mental side, it’s a more aggressive mindset,” Rausa said. “It’s not being able to settle for what last year was and it’s not being able to settle for what the national average is. We want to set the bar to where it’s almost unattainable in ways, but it’s something that we can get to.”
At first glance, punting might seem pretty straightforward. But every kick isn’t the same. Ferguson-Reynolds has three types of punts at his disposal — the banana punt, Aussie ball and natural spiral.
The banana punt is used for pin scenarios or if there are physical obstacles, such as sun in the eyes or wind. The Aussie ball is an end-over-end punt that can “give you some funky looks,” Rausa said, and the natural spiral tends to produce the most distance.
Regardless of the kind of punt, Ferguson-Reynolds is booting the ball with confidence this season. Even if a lot of it is good fortune, he seems to have become adept at always getting the forward roll, adding great distance even if the ball doesn’t sail through the air as much.
But all things considered, he’d rather be on the field less. And Boise State fans certainly would like to see more scoring drives and fewer fourth downs, which is the punter’s time to lift his mates.
“Yeah, man, it’s funny. I’m personally doing pretty well, so I get a lot of mixed signals on social media,” Ferguson-Reynolds said. “I get fans saying, ‘He’s awesome, punt god’ and all this stuff. Then you get the odd one that says, ‘I hate seeing the punter out there. I don’t want to see him even if he’s the best player.’
“But I’m not too worried about that kind of stuff.”
BOISE STATE AT MEMPHIS
When: 2 p.m. Mountain time Saturday
Where: Liberty Stadium (58,325, AstroTurf), Memphis, Tennessee
TV: ESPN2 (Beth Mowins, Kirk Morrison, Stormy Buonantony)
Radio: KBOI 670 AM/93.1 FM (Bob Behler, Pete Cavender)
Records: Boise State 2-2, 1-0 MW; Memphis 3-1, 1-0 AAC
Series: First meeting
Vegas line: Memphis by 3
Weather: High of 92 degrees, 7% chance of rain, 8 mph wind
