Nebraska Football: Special teams in good shape with addition of punter
Nebraska Football is getting some help from overseas.
Nebraska football added to the punting room on Monday. The program landed punter Daniel Cerni from Prokick Austrailia. For reference, that particular program has produced five Ray Guy winners and 17 All-Americans since 2007.
Cerni’s decision to come to Nebraska could be a result of special teams coach Jonathan Rutledge. As Sean Callahan of HuskerOnline notes, Rutledge coached another ProKick Australia punter while at Auburn.
One of the biggest issues for Nebraska football in terms of special teams was their hang time on punts. Nebraska averaged just 3.68 seconds of hang time in 2018. The highest average they have recorded in the last four seasons was 4.06 seconds back in 2017. Cerni should be able to help with that. He is known for kicks with over five seconds of hang time.
Special teams was such an issue for Nebraska football last year. The fact that they are getting skill players that can make an impact right away is key. Particularly on punts, that hang time will undoubtedly help the punt coverage unit get back and in good positions to tackle. Last season, the unit was very disorganized in their running lanes and they did not seem prepared. Having that extra hang time could help Nebraska football in that regard.
Extrlemely excited to annouce I have recieved and accepted a full scholarship to study and play football at the Univiersity of Nebraska for the upcoming season 🌽🌽 @HuskerFBNation pic.twitter.com/3BLBJDMl1t
— DC (@Daniel_Cerni) May 11, 2020
Admittedly, I’ve really had to research this punter. He seems like a good fit for the Nebraska program, and am I happy that the program was able to tap into the connection that Rutledge brought. I like the fact that Nebraska football is placing an emphasis on special-teams and I would rather have too many punters and kickers than not enough.
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I’ll be interested to see what Cerni brings to the table. It sounds like he has a fair amount of pedigree. Now, he just needs to be able to put it together for Nebraska. Special teams is a huge part of a football game. If one of his kicks can make the difference between good and bad field position for the opponent, then I would consider that a job well done.