Punter Nathan Renfro transferring from Maryland

#1
Hacksaw

Hacksaw

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#1
3-year starting punter for the Terps and a Tennessee boy coming home to finish his college career with the Vols

Averaged 41 yards per punt in 2014 (just 1 yard less than Matt Darr's season average). Nice competition for incoming freshman Townsend, who might need a bit of seasoning before taking over the starting job in 2016.

The Vols added Maryland transfer Nathan Renfro, according to a report from The Tennessean. Renfro was an all-state punter at Brentwood Academy. He played four years at Maryland, averaging more than 41 yards per punt last season. He has one year of eligibility remaining and can play immediately.

UT starting punter Matt Darr graduated last season. The Vols signed Tommy Townsend, a top-rated punter from Florida, for the Class of 2015, but he won’t arrive in camp until the fall. Sophomore Trevor Daniel and junior George Bullock have been handling punting duties.
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#11
#11
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#13
#13
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#16
#16
walkenvol said:
Are you familiar with him beyond the 41 ypp average? Great hang times? Great at pinning the opponent inside the 20?

41 ypp alone doesn't make a "great" punter unless being in the top 81 is considered "great" as it appears to be about the middle of the pack?

FBS Leaders - Punt Average - CBSSports.com College Football Stats
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It's pretty great when you notice that he had 84 punts, which is the most attempts of all people ahead of him. Kansas punter had 83, and Darr had 80.

In fact, it looks like he had more punt attempts than anyone in the NCAA!

This guy is consistent! Nothing to complain about here!
 
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#17
#17
walkenvol said:
Are you familiar with him beyond the 41 ypp average? Great hang times? Great at pinning the opponent inside the 20?

41 ypp alone doesn't make a "great" punter unless being in the top 81 is considered "great" as it appears to be about the middle of the pack?

FBS Leaders - Punt Average - CBSSports.com College Football Stats
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Sorry dude, maybe I should have said

Having a shaky punter can be a game changer (in a bad way). I'll take a 3 year starter to have in my pocket any day. Get lost.
 
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#19
#19
walkenvol said:
Are you familiar with him beyond the 41 ypp average? Great hang times? Great at pinning the opponent inside the 20?

41 ypp alone doesn't make a "great" punter unless being in the top 81 is considered "great" as it appears to be about the middle of the pack?

FBS Leaders - Punt Average - CBSSports.com College Football Stats
Click to expand...

He's a 3-year starter who has 234 career punts for over 9,500 yards in 38 games, while playing in a "Big 5" conference and improving every year -- his average per season went from 39.7 to 40.8 to 41.5 yards. That's experience and consistency. He's an academic all-conference guy who won't count against our scholarship limit. And he's a Tennessee boy who I imagine is coming home to live out a dream. I'm pretty sure this is all good news.
 
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#20
#20
Hacksaw said:
He's a 3-year starter who has 234 career punts for over 9,500 yards in 38 games, while playing in a "Big 5" conference and improving every year -- his average per season went from 39.7 to 40.8 to 41.5 yards. That's experience and consistency. He's an academic all-conference guy who won't count against our scholarship limit. And he's a Tennessee boy who I imagine is coming home to live out a dream. I'm pretty sure this is all good news.
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I agree with all of this, but if a quality walk-on like Renfro was available why did we spend a scholarship to sign Townsend? Remember that we told a 4-star runningback with 4.3 speed (Kendall Bussey) that we didn't have room to sign him. Heaven forbid if something happens to Hurd and/or Kamara, a redshirt scholarship punter isn't going to help us then. I still think the scholarship offers for Townsend and especially Lovingame were ill-advised.
 
#21
#21
Would be nice to redshirt Townsend, let him get another year under his belt and extend his career by a year
 
#22
#22
AboveAllNations said:
I agree with all of this, but if a quality walk-on like Renfro was available why did we spend a scholarship to sign Townsend? Remember that we told a 4-star runningback with 4.3 speed (Kendall Bussey) that we didn't have room to sign him. Heaven forbid if something happens to Hurd and/or Kamara, a redshirt scholarship punter isn't going to help us then. I still think the scholarship offers for Townsend and especially Lovingame were ill-advised.
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Townsend is good and will be a 5-year guy in the program like Darr. He'll be punting for us long after Hurd and Dobbs are gone.

And who knows? Townsend could be our J.K. Scott and Renfro will never see the field. But I will feel much better about this season having a veteran handling those duties. Much less likely that he'll shank a punt due to nerves or inexperience during a critical situation.
 
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#23
#23
I found all of our Kicker's punters rating out of HS at Kohl's Punters National Rating. It was sort of interesting.

Townsend #3 2015
Renfro #8 2011
Medley #12 2014
Daniel #18 2013
Ault #26 2012
Waites # 73 2014
Bullock #84 2012

Their comment at the time on Renfro:

Nathan has a very athletic frame, Good sized athlete, he can create both big hang times and distance on his punts, Very smooth athletic steps, he has all the tools to get it done at the next level, ball jumps off his foot, has drawn interest from multiple D1 schools for good reason
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2011 Punters National Rating System | Kohl
 
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#24
#24
There's also about 20 guys in front of him with 20 attempts or below. He is a nice addition. Go vols
 
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#25
#25
AboveAllNations said:
I agree with all of this, but if a quality walk-on like Renfro was available why did we spend a scholarship to sign Townsend? Remember that we told a 4-star runningback with 4.3 speed (Kendall Bussey) that we didn't have room to sign him. Heaven forbid if something happens to Hurd and/or Kamara, a redshirt scholarship punter isn't going to help us then. I still think the scholarship offers for Townsend and especially Lovingame were ill-advised.
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Pretty sure Bussey's replacement was John Kelly not Townsend. Coach knows what he's doing. Rest easy... Butch knowledge>your assumtions.
 
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