California JC Punter Commits as UW Walk-On
Without a lot of fanfare, Adam Saul committed to the University of Washington football team this past week as a walk-on punter from the Southern California junior-college ranks
Yet that's usually the case for these fourth-down specialists — no scholarship right away.
Similar to the long graduated Race Porter and current No. 1 Husky punter Jack McCallister, they come without financial assistance, earn the job and ultimately hope to receive a UW full ride.
Saul will arrive in Montlake from El Camino College in Torrance, California, where he averaged 42.4 yards per punt for a 5-6 team.
What's different about him is he stands 6-foot-5 and goes 195 pounds, making him unusually tall for a college punter.
Saul is originally from Gurnee, Illinois, and Warren Township High School.
He spent the 2020 college season as a redshirt at Illinois State, was out of football in 2021 and punted and handled kickoffs for his JC team this past fall.
In December, Saul was offered a scholarship by Eastern Illinois, but didn't accept it.
He'll come to the UW and compete for the job with McCallister, the returning starter who as a freshman walk-on punted 23 times for a 40.8-yard average, with a long of 58 yards.
McCallister beat out the since-departed Kevin Ryan, who was brought in from Idaho State, where he averaged 45.6 and ranked fifth among FCS punters in 2021, but couldn't transfer that distance over to the Huskies. Ryan punted just once last season, launching a 37-yarder against Colorado.
The Huskies are definitely in the market for a place-kicker now that Peyton Henry used up six years of college eligibility.
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