Wolverine Digest

Punter who committed to Michigan in spring retires from football

Luke Bauer has left the team and is reportedly entering the working world

Seth Berry

Oct 12, 2024; Amherst, Massachusetts, USA; Missouri Tigers punter Luke Bauer (93) warms up before a game against the Massachusetts Minutemen at Warren McGuirk Alumni Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images
Oct 12, 2024; Amherst, Massachusetts, USA; Missouri Tigers punter Luke Bauer (93) warms up before a game against the Massachusetts Minutemen at Warren McGuirk Alumni Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images / Eric Canha-Imagn Images

This spring, Michigan football secured a commitment from Luke Bauer from Missouri to compete with Hudson Hollenbeck for the starting punting job. Instead, Bauer, who would have been entering his sixth year of college football, has decided to retire from the sport and enter the working world, he told MLive.

"(It) was a personal and family decision,” Bauer, wrote in a social media message to MLive. “Loved meeting the coaches and players. Moving on into the working world. "Will be watching and rooting on Michigan this season!”

Bauer started all 13 games for Missouri in the 2024 season where he averaged 41.8 yards per punt on 49 kicks, while 13 of his 49 punts were downed inside the opponent's 20-yard line. When the Wolverines' official roster was released on the team's website on Wednesday on the first day of fall camp, Bauer was absent from the list. Now, the answer is known as Bauer has stepped away from football.

Bauer
Oct 12, 2024; Amherst, Massachusetts, USA; Missouri Tigers punter Luke Bauer (93) during the first half against the Massachusetts Minutemen at Warren McGuirk Alumni Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images / Eric Canha-Imagn Images

Hollenback, a former walk-on, has one start in his career for the Wolverines, which came in the ReliaQuest Bowl last season against Alabama. In that game, Hollenbeck punted the ball six times for an average of 46.2 yards per kick, with two of those being downed inside the Crimson Tide 20.

The decision from Bauer prompted the Wolverines to add a second punter to the roster this past weekend in Hunter Robertson, who comes to Michigan from Division II Clarion University in Pennsylvania.

Michigan lost its starting punter from the past two seasons in Tommy Doman as he transferred to Florida. Now, Hollenbeck is the frontrunner to win the job, as head coach Sherrone Moore told reporters at Big Ten Media Days last week in Las Vegas.

Hudson
Jan 1, 2024; Pasadena, CA, USA; Michigan Wolverines place kicker Hudson Hollenbeck (90) warms up before the 2024 Rose Bowl college football playoff semifinal game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

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Seth Berry
SETH BERRY

Seth began writing on Michigan athletics in 2015 and has remained in the U-M media space ever since, which includes stops at Maize N Brew and Rivals before coming onto Michigan On SI in June of 2025. Seth has covered various angles of Michigan football and basketball, including recruiting, overall team coverage and feature/analysis stories relating to the Wolverines. His passion for Michigan sports and desire to tell stories led him to the sports journalism world. He is a 2020 graduate of Western Michigan University and is the former sports editor of the Western Herald, WMU's student newspaper.

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