Consistency to Determine the Winner of Louisville's Battle for Starting Punter

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Much like at placekicker, one of the Louisville football program's more impactful transfer portal losses this offseason was Mark Vassett.

Not only did Vassett put together a 2022 campaign that was one of the best punting seasons in school history, he was one of the best punters to ever don the Cardinal uniform. His 44.6 yards per punt ranked 18th in FBS and set a new single-season school record (minimum 25 punts), and his 43.2 yard average is a Louisville career record for players with at least 100 punts.

But unlike Louisville's placekicker situation, there's not a clear cut replacement for Vassett waiting in the wings following his transfer out west to Colorado. As such, the battle to determine who will become the next starting punter for the Cardinals has been a fierce one in fall camp.

"This year, the competition is wide open," punter Brady Hodges said last week. "Everybody's coming in knowing that it's a spot (up for grabs). At punting especially. There's three of us that can punt, and none of us are "the guy" right now. Having that openness, and just being able to come out and compete, it's been nice."

While placekicker Brock Travelstead took some reps at punter during fall camp, the competition for starting punter is primarily between Hodges and Carter Schwartz, the only true punters on Louisville's roster. Hodges is a junior from Knoxville, Tenn., while Schwartz is an incoming true freshman and Louisville native who attended Trinity.

When Vassett shockingly opted to enter the portal last December, Hodges says it was an "awakening moment" for him and the rest of the special teamers, giving them a very real chance to earn the starting punting nod. This realization fully played out during fall camp, as the two punters had plenty of booming kicks during the open practices.

This doesn't come as a complete surprise, as both had high kicking pedigrees coming out of high school. Hodges was regarded as a four-star punter according to ProKicker.com, and Schwartz ranked inside the top 100 by Kohl's Professional Camps.

That being said, both Hodges and Schwartz have zero in-game collegiate punts to their names, which has partially played a factor into the competitive nature behind the punting battle in fall camp. When asked what it will take to nail down a starter, Hodges was quick to point out one thing: consistency.

"I feel like, coming down the homestretch in the next two weeks, just consistency," he said. "That's been a big if. Nobody's really been super consistent. So I feel like, throughout the next few weeks, whoever's most consistent, that's who's going to take the job."

Admittedly, Hodges categorized his own consistency as "iffy" throughout fall camp. While special teams coach Karl Maslowski - who spent the 2022 season with Purdue after leaving the Cardinals just after that spring, then later returned to UofL after Jeff Brohm was hired to be their head coach - does agree that the consistency has been hit-or-miss, he also believes Hodges is simply being hard on himself.

"He says he's inconsistent, well, he'll hit four good punts and the fifth one will be a shank," Maslowski said. "That happens. But you only get one punt in the game. He does a good job, it's just we got to make sure that when he gets a bad ball, that it's not that bad. That's where his inconsistency really comes in.

"When I first got here, he would hit the ball up there for four and a half seconds, and it would go only 35 yards. I said, 'Hey, can you straighten that thing out a little bit?' and he's done that. He's done some really good things as far as training himself to do that, and just to work on small fundamental things that make him better. He has improved."

Hodges seems to have the inside track to win the job, but don't count out Schwartz, either. Hodges himself even says that Schwartz - a true freshman - pushes him to be better, and Maslowski likes the long term potential as well.

"He's got a big, big leg," Maslowski said. "We got to work on some stuff with him, but like I said, we got great competition in those positions that we got to replace."

Louisville recently concluded their first fall camp under new head coach Jeff Brohm, and is currently in preparation mode for their season opener. The Cardinals will kick off their 2023 season against Georgia Tech in the Aflac Kickoff Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga. on Friday, Sept. 1.

(Photo of Brady Hodges via University of Louisville Athletics)

You can follow Louisville Report for future coverage by liking us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram:

Facebook - @LouisvilleReport
Twitter - @UofLReport
Instagram - @louisville_report

You can also follow Deputy Editor Matthew McGavic at @Matt_McGavic on Twitter