Punter Recruit Visiting UM For Indiana Game

Will Hagerup, one of the highest ranked punters in the country from Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, may be visiting Ann Arbor this weekend to take in the wares of University of Michigan and its football program.

Hagerup is a prime recruiting target for Michigan to replace its senior punter and Ray Guy finalist, Zoltan Mesko next season. Hagerup may have another good reason to come to the football game in Ann Arbor this coming Saturday. Will’s older brother, sophomore Chris Hagerup, is the starting punter for the Indiana Hoosiers. Chris Hagerup currently has a 42.0 yard average per punt compared to Mesko’s slightly better 42.2 yard punting average.

The Blue Dukes of Whitefish Bay are 3-1 so far this year. From the available team statistics so far, Hagerup has averaged about 33.4 yards per punt.

And They Shuddered In Fear At The Foot of the Great Space Emperor

Michigan enters the 2009 football season with one dandy punter named Zoltan Mesko. Mesko has been named the Playboy All-American punter. He was an All-Big Ten first team punter in 2008. He's also on the Ray Guy award watchlist for the 2009 season.

Now Michigan has had some good punters over the years. But Mesko's career at Michigan has been interesting in that his personal achievements as a punter have kind of been the inverse of the football team's success. Over the last three seasons, Mesko's punting average and net punting average (punt team coverage) have steadily improved. At the same time, Mr. Mesko's stage appearances certainly have shot up as well over this period reflecting Michigan's rather unimpressive 3rd down success rate under recent offensive coordinators Mike Debord (2006 and 2007) and Calvin Magee (2008):

Michigan Punter Zoltan Mesko
Year	Rank	Punts	Yards	Average per Punt	Net Punting Average	3rd Down Conversion %	Record
2006	57th	64	2542	39.72	34.82	40.0%	11-2-0
2007	48th	71	2918	41.1	35.87	43.4%	9-4-0
2008	5th	83	3490	42.05	39.34	27.3%	3-9-0
2009	?	?	?	?	?	?	?

I say unimpressive here because, well, in terms of moving the chains, possessing the football, and keeping opposing defenses on the football field, Michigan has been hovering around 50th place or worse in 3rd down success rate for quite some time now. Michigan football will have "arrived" when this aspect changes considerably.

Now third down success rate doesn't mean teams are torching opponents on third down alone. It's more of a signal as to how successful offenses have been on both 1st and 2nd down during football games. A high 3rd down conversion success rate (i.e. 50%+) likely means that these teams are so potent and effective on 1st and 2nd down, that they're typically facing 3rd and short yardage most of the game. When you think about it for a moment, that's a pretty demoralizing circumstance for opponents to find themselves in.

Nat. Rank	Name	3rd-down Attempts	3rd-down Conversions	Success Rate %	W	L	Offense
1	Tulsa	193	110	56.99	11	3	Spread Option
2	BYU	176	98	55.68	10	3	Pass Spread
3	Texas	173	95	54.91	12	1	Spread
4	Texas Tech	169	92	54.44	11	2	Pass Spread
5	Missouri	163	87	53.37	10	4	Pass Spread
6	Penn St.	173	90	52.02	11	2	Spread
7	Florida	161	83	51.55	13	1	Spread
8	TCU	216	111	51.39	11	2	Spread
9	Oklahoma	197	101	51.27	12	2	Pass Spread
10	Rice	180	92	51.11	10	3	Spread Option

If Michigan's 3rd down success rate does improve this year, then I think Mr. Mesko's punting excellence will probably become even more meaningful for Michigan in the win column, as it has proven to be for the teams noted above.

Now look, I love the idea of Zoltan Mesko, Spacegod and Destroyer of Worlds, heading out onto the Michigan Stadium Fieldturf and "demoralizing opponents" with 45+ yard punts. That's cool enough.

I'm personally very impressed with Zoltan Mesko's work ethic on and off the field (Academic All-American going after his MBA), and his improvement punting over the last 3 years. I really hope he beats his 2008 punting average this fall, takes home the Ray Guy award and spends lots of time with Hugh Hefner at the Playboy mansion when the season is over.

But dammit, he punted the football 83 freaking times for Michigan last year! Eighty-three!!!!

I mean, what if instead we had seen K.C. Lopata kicking half that amount in PATs and field goals?

This fall I want to see Zoltan Mesko on the field a lot less frequently. But when I do see him, I hope he continues to terrify opposing coaches with his omnipotent left leg.

All Hail Zoltan, Space Emperor and Destroyer of Worlds!

Zoltan Mesko: Playboy All-American 2009

Wow! Congratulations are in order for Michigan punter Zoltan Mesko! All Hail!

Mesko is probably going to be Michigan's most explosive defensive weapon this fall.

We wish him all the best during his senior season at Michigan.

And then the punter decleated me

The Michigan Wolverines enter 2009 with arguably the best punter in the Big Ten conference, Zoltan Mesko. Here are Zoltan's 2009 numbers:

2008: 81 punts 42.9 yard average

2007: 71 punts 41.1 yard average

2006: 50 punts 40.6 yard average

Zoltan, Destroyer of Galaxies, appears to be improving every year, and might very well finish his senior year at Michigan as a Big Ten punting leader and a national punting leader once again.

Placekicking and kickoff duty for Michigan is another question. One of the more unsung, yet consistent aspects of Michigan football the last two years has been, believe it or not, PAT/FG kicking.

K.C. Lopata sort of came out of nowhere in 2007 to assume PK duties for the Wolverines. His handiwork never really received much notice by the press. But Lopata was consistent. He demonstrated considerable improvement in his duties between 2007 and 2008.

Career Kicking Stats

Year Game FGM FGA Pct XPM XPA Pct Pts
2007 8 11 12 91.7 28 28 100.0 61

2008 12 10 15 66.7 27 29 93.1 57

Career 20 21 27 77.8 55 57 96.5 118

100% on PATs and 11 of 12 on FGs. Yes, one of the missed FGs cost UM the opportunity to tie Toledo and go into overtime last year. But that final 10-13 loss result can hardly be pinned on Lopata's missed FG alone. The above stats are respectable numbers for a placekicker. Lopata will be missed.

As for 2009, Bryan Wright returns for his senior year at PK for Michigan this fall.
Rich Rodriguez also successfully earned the commitment of Brendan Gibbons of West Palm Beach, Florida, one of the nation's better kickers. Gibbons is 6-0, 210lbs. He is a 3-star and 11th ranked kicker in the country according to Scout.com.

As a kicker Mr. Gibbons doesn't appear to hesitate when the opportunity arises to dish out some embarassing, touchdown-saving punishment:



But uhhh, Brendan, don't believe for a second that you can make this a common practice because that kind of tackling can draw, shall we say either a flag (for helmet to helmet contact) or "unwanted attention" to a specialist like yourself. Attention just like that received by this unlucky punter one Sunday evening in the NFL:

Special teams are an essential part of any successfull college football team. If Zoltan continues his destruction of galaxies, and Gibbons or Wright can pull through on their end of the bargain with PATs and kickoffs, then this only leaves the kickoff return and punt return teams as the main area of focus for Rodriguez. With Michigan's improved team speed and elusiveness, even that coaching focus can be restricted to imploring Wolverine return men tonot fumble that prolate spheroid.