The activity and attention that VU is giving kicking specialist this recruiting period would seem to suggest that there is a possibility that the staff may look to bring in a punter/kicker this recruiting period.
I do know that the staff is high on walk-on Richard Kent, but this seems to be a real good year for specialist.
In the state of Tennessee alone, there seems to be at least 4 legit D1-A punter/kickers in MBA's Andrew Fletcher, Christian Brothers Corey Acosta, Father Ryan's Nick Pollard and John Long at Ooltewah.
There's also several other guys who look like they'll be national special teams recruits like Kyle French, Will Hagerup, Nick Aussieker, Jon Crucieti and Ronnie Doherty that VU has shown interest in. They're going to have another kicker's camp in early June, so something could happen after that [like it did with Ryan Fowler two years ago].
I think they'd ideally like a versatile specialist who could handle all three phases if needed, but I'd have to think with Upson graduating, that punter would probably be the premium need.
VU might not have had the greatest net punting average last year, but there's no doubt that when Upson got protection, VU usually did very well and if you hadn't realized, the team did finish in the Top 10 nationally in punt return yardage defense. So if that was the key to winning, I think that probably makes the value of extending a scholarship to a punter even more worth it.
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