Yeah, I asked about it, and it wasn't an April Fool's joke. Reporters were given just over an hour with Jim Tressel on Wednesday, and I worked in a kicker/punter question. Consider it a gift to Tressel, special teams guru.
With Ryan Pretorius gone and Aaron Pettrey back after basically splitting the kicking duties by the end of last year, locking in one guy might be better for the team. I still think the Buckeyes ended up getting that competition backward more often than not during the three seasons Pettrey and Pretorius were at Ohio State together. I understand not wanting to rotate kickers every game, but I think sometimes the hotter kicker was on the sideline for much of the last three years. When Tressel gave Pettrey the longer field goals in the second half of last season, Pettrey might have bee the best kicker anyway. And now as a senior, Pettrey is the guy.
"Aaron Pettrey I think can be an extraordinary kicker,"
Tressel said. "He had a really good offseason. He trimmed down, lost eight or nine pounds and really looks good."
Tressel said Devin Barclay and Ben Buchanan will fight it out to be the backup kicker, though that position should only be needed if Pettrey is hurt. Buchanan, who redshirted after coming in as a pretty big recruit, is right in the punter battle, which we'll get to later.
Of course, Tressel wants more touchdowns and less field goals in the red zone, so the kicker shouldn't matter as much. But I think he's right - Pettrey could be really good. Maybe not Mike Nugent good, but with a huge leg and accuracy that we've seen get better, he should be a real weapon, if needed.
