Huskies Boast a Four-Foot Advantage in the Kicking Game
They're usually off by themselves during spring football practice, without a coach to hover over them, all left to their own devices to get better.
They chat, stretch and together head off to an empty field or vacant stadium, away from everyone else, to work on their craft.
The Husky kickers.
On Saturday, they each took a brief turn to show off their skills during the two-hour scrimmage.
This group currently consists of about a half-dozen players, notably place-kickers Peyton Henry and Tim Horn, and punters Race Porter and Triston Brown. Two seniors and two juniors. Amazingly for Division I kickers, all on scholarship.
Two-deep, the two kicking jobs appear very well stocked.
Brown, a California junior-college transfer who arrived last year, remains the only one who hasn't appeared in a regular-season game and is considered somewhat of a mystery man.
He seemed to disappear in the great monolith that is the Husky football depth chart, certainly forced to wait for Porter, a sixth-year player, to use up all of his available eligibility before he becomes a recognizable figure on game day.
Yet in Saturday's morning session, Brown drew attention to himself near the end of the scrimmage. He launched a towering 50-yard punt that came down just short of the goal line and, with some weird English on it, spun out of bounds on the 5.
He drew an appreciative roar from teammates and fans who saw all of this unfold.
Porter remains the No. 1 guy, launching a handful of midway through the two-hour workout, more so to facilitate the punt-return team that had Rome Odunze, Kyler Gordon and Jalen McMillan each bringing the ball back upfield.
The kick-return team got a similar workout, with Sean McGrew darting back up the field. Of course, the UW will add returner/receiver Giles Jackson from Michigan to the mix this summer, a swift player who brings 97- and 95-yard touchdown returns with him from the Big Ten school.
Henry and Horn each received the opportunity to attempt a lone field goal in scrimmage conditions. Henry calmly launched a 47-yarder that easily sailed through the uprights, while Horn converted a 43-yarder in a similar manner.
All of this didn't include the soft boot that Richard Newton offered up in the video before the scrimmage began.
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