The 2019 Penn State Nittany Lions: Special teams

Penn State kicker Jake Pinegar had an up-and-down freshman season, but the coaching staff believes he’ll be a more consistent factor as a sophomore. ABBY DREY/CENTRE DAILY TIMES VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

Over the next several days, Times Shamrock Penn State football beat writer Donnie Collins will break down the Nittany Lions’ roster, position by position, predicting the depth chart for the Nittany Lions’ opener against Idaho on Aug. 31 along the way.

Today we continue with the special teams.

The contenders

No.	Player	HT	WT	ELIG
42	Austin Sullivan (SN)	6’2”	237	Fr
49	Cade Pollard (P)	5’11”	225	rFr
90	Rafael Checa (K)	6’2”	201	So
91	Chris Stoll (SN)	6’2”	245	rSo
92	Jake Pinegar (K)	6’2”	195	So
93	Blake Gillikin (P/K)	6’2”	196	Sr
94	Joe Calcagno (SN)	6’0”	279	rSo
95	Vlad Hilling (K)	5’10”	226	rFr
97	Carson Landis (K/P)	6’2”	205	rSo
98	Bradley King (P)	6’2”	199	So
98	Jordan Stout (K/P)	6’3”	205	rSo
98	Dan Vasey (SN)	6’4”	252	rSo
99	Justin Tobin	6’2”	208	rJr

 

The 2018 results

 

Punting	No.	AVG	I20	BLK
Gillikin	64	44	20	2
Field goals	M-A	40-49	LONG	BLK
Pinegar	16 for 24	5 for 11	49	0
Kickoffs	No.	AVG	TB	OOB
Pinegar	3	61.3	0	0
Checa	79	59.5	37	6
Tobin	2	49.5	0	0
Kick returns	No.	AVG	TD	LONG
Hamler	20	26.2	0	67
Punt returns	No.	AVG	TD	LONG
Hamler	14	6.9	0	32
Dotson	1	-2	0	0

 

The names to know

Last year, Penn State opened the season with a slew of unknown kickers competing for the starting role, and most of them are back this year, albeit a little better known.

The incumbent starter is sophomore Jake Pinegar, who had big moments and poor ones in his rookie campaign in 2018. He had a bit of a rough first half of the season, but he wound down the regular campaign hitting 11 of his last 13 attempts. However, he struggled in the Citrus Bowl against Kentucky, missing two of his three attempts, and new special teams coach Joe Lorig insists consistency will determine the starters this time around.

Pinegar had some intriguing competition last year, even though he was able to hold the job from start to finish. Rafael Checa has a strong leg and emerged as the kickoff man, and the coaching staff praised the leg strength of fellow freshman Vlad Hilling, as well.

Punter Blake Gillikin is back for his senior season, and he’s the unquestioned starter. Gillikin is an All-American candidate who still averaged 44 yards per punt in what was an unquestioned down year mostly due to injuries he battled through.

The return game is up in the air as Lorig sorts out his own plan for the special teams group. There are plenty of candidates to step in as kick and punt returners, with K.J. Hamler, Jahan Dotson, every backup running back and, yes, even linebacker Micah Parsons being named as potential candidates to get some time at the position. Outside of one punt return from Dotson, Hamler is, however, the only returning player with any collegiate experience returning kicks.

Sophomore Chris Stoll has the inside track to the long snapping job, but he’ll get pushed by Wallenpaupack’s Dan Vasey — the brother of Kyle Vasey, Penn State’s long snapper in 2017 and 2018 — and freshman Austin Sullivan.

What’s new

The offseason was dominated by the transfer portal, and there’s no question, the biggest benefit the portal provided to Penn State is Jordan Stout.

As a freshman at Virginia Tech in 2018, Stout had one of the more impressive seasons in the nation as a kickoff man. He was the fourth-best kicker in the nation when it came to touchback percentage, as 84.5 percent of his kickoffs forced opponents to start at their own 25.

That said, Stout’s versatility excites his new coaches as much as the old numbers.

“He’s a very good kickoff guy…but he’s also a really viable guy on field goals,” Lorig said. “He was in a head-to-head competition (at Virginia Tech) and he’s also a really good punter.”

If he can prove to be a more consistent option than Pinegar on field goals, he can easily win that job.

The forecast

FG
Starter	Jake Pinegar
Backup	Jordan Stout
KO
Starter	Jordan Stout
Backup	Rafael Checa
P
Starter	Blake Gillikin
Backup	Jordan Stout
KOR
Starter	K.J. Hamler
Starter	Journey Brown
PR
Starter	K.J. Hamler
Backup	Jahan Dotson

 

There’s a lot to break down here, but essentially, this is what you need to know: Gillikin is the punter, Pinegar is (most likely) going to continue to develop on field goals and Stout will carve out some kind of a niche in the kicking game. The return game, for as much talk as there is about some of the incoming freshmen and Parsons perhaps contributing, will essentially come down to one question: How much can Hamler contribute and not get burned out, as he arguably did last year when his production slowed dramatically on kick and punt returns last season? Penn State is going to watch his snap count closely in his sophomore season.