39 days until Michigan football: What to expect at punter in 2023
There’s much anticipation heading into the Michigan Wolverines football season, and TheWolverine.com is counting down the days until the Sept. 2 opener against East Carolina. We’ll discuss current Michigan events, the upcoming season and/or take a look at a significant number that correlates with how many days remain until kickoff, whether it be a player’s jersey number, a year, a date, a score, etc.
Michigan averaged 39.47 yards per punt last season, which ranked 75th in the country. Graduate Brad Robbins, a sixth round NFL Draft pick to the Cincinnati Bengals this spring, didn’t have his best season, frankly. So while field goal kicking is a concern with Jake Moody, a third-round choice to the San Francisco 49ers, having departed, punting shouldn’t be as big of an issue.
Initially, junior Tommy Doman was the favorite to handle field goals, kickoffs and punts for Michigan this fall. He was doing all three during the spring. But the Wolverines landed James Turner, a Louisville transfer, after spring ball, and also brought in preferred walk-on transfer Hudson Hollenbeck out of Mississippi State. Turner is the expected place kicker, while Hollenbeck could kick off.
That means Doman can focus primarily on punting, and that’s probably the role that suits him best anyway.
As a recruit, Doman was more highly regarded as a punter than he was at kicker, though he was still considered one of the nation’s best at the latter. Kornblue Kicking, led by former Michigan player Brandon Kornblue, rated him the No. 1 punter and No. 2 kicker in the nation. Two others, Kohl’s Kicking and Chris Sailer Kicking, had his punting skills rated above his kicking prowess.
“It kinda depends on what day I’m having,” the Michigan junior said of what he prefers between kicking and punting in an exclusive interview with TheWolverine.com. “Sometimes, I’ll be warming up at Rutgers and hitting 65-yarders, or I’ll be hitting the cover off the ball when it comes to punt.
“I’d probably say punt. I’d say that’s what a lot of people think I’m better at. But I like both a lot. All of them are different, fun things to do.”
Doman learned a lot from Robbins that he can (and has) implemented into his own game as he takes on a much bigger role for Michigan this fall.
“Brad comes out to practice, I think, 45 minutes before practice,” Doman explained. “He lines up his pads nice, his cleats nice, his helmet nice, does the same routine when it comes to having a nice feel of the ball, starts warming up gradually.
“So when it comes to having to perform in a [practice] period, he’s ready to go. The actual preparation so that you don’t have to think about anything else, besides just getting the job done. There’s nothing extra at all.”
Michigan football countdown to kickoff
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