Among the many takeaways you could have from Penn State’s Week 1 victory at Purdue is the Nittany Lions have a suitable successor for punter [autotag]Jordan Stout[/autotag], but the kickoff duties are either still up for grabs or will be a kicker by committee approach.
[autotag]Barney Amor[/autotag] showed off his powerful leg and ability to pin the football deep with eight punts spanning 375 yards against Purdue. Armor averaged 46.9 yards per punt, with a long of 52 yards, to help Penn State flip the field position or set the defense up in a great spot all night long. Amor had three of his five punts downed inside the 20-yard line, and it should have been four. He had just one touchback in the game, and that was only because an overzealous punt coverage defender made the regrettable decision to try getting a hand on the football when it appeared the ball was going to die inside the Purdue two-yard line anyway.
Stout was a fourth-round draft pick of the Baltimore Ravens in the 2022 NFL draft. Last season for the Nittany Lions, Stout averaged 46.0 yards per punt. Of course, Punt did more than punt the football. He also handled placekicking responsibilities with 34 of 36 extra point attempts converted and 16 of 23 field goals made. Stout also took care of kickoffs for Penn State to keep his leg busy all season long.
While it seems as though Amor has taken control of the punting duties, Penn State spread the other kicking duties around the special teams unit against Purdue.
Going into the game last week, head coach [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] did note that senior [autotag]Jake Pinegar[/autotag] will be the team’s field goal kicker. Penn State didn’t attempt a field goal against Purdue, but Pinegar did convert all five PAT attempts in the game, suggesting he will handle the extra points as well.
Pinegar kicked off once out of the six times Penn State kicked off. [autotag]Sander Sahaydak[/autotag] and [autotag]Gabriel Nwosu[/autotag] each got involved on kickoff duty. Sahaydak took three kickoffs and Nwosi added two. All three kickers had one touchback as Franklin suggested this is a bit of a competition that will be ongoing until a comfortable decision can be made. Franklin suggested he would rotate kickoffs between Sahaydak and Nwosu against Purdue. That could carry over to Week 2 against Ohio.
The encouraging news is any competition dragging on is more because the options are keeping it tough in a good way and not because the staff is looking for the lesser of two evils.
Penn State faces Ohio on Saturday, September 10 at 12:00 p.m. ET on ABC.
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