Saturday, Urban Meyer said that most of the camp battles have been decided, although he played coy with the all-important quarterback battle. One of the surprising position battles that remain up in the air is at the placekicker position.
Incumbent sophomore Sean Nuernberger has a fight on his hands with transfer Jack Willoughby, who came in from Duke to be a kickoff specialist and compete for the starting placekicker position. That competition sounds like it’s going well for the 6-foot-2, 210-pound Princeton, N.J., native.
“We’re having a battle at kicker right now,” Meyer said. “That new guy came in, Jack (Willoughby), and he hit two 60-yarders in practice the other day, back-to-back. I’ve never seen that before.”
Nuernberger started last year as a true freshman, taking over for the departed Drew Basil. “Das Boot” was the team’s leading scorer, with 128 points. He was a perfect 89/89 on extra points, but he was inconsistent with his field goals, connecting on 13/20 (65 percent). As a freshman, Nuernberger was a solid 8/10 under 29 yards, but was only 5/10 between 40 and 49 yards. He did not attempt a kick of longer than 50 or in the 30-39 range.
The fourth newcomer to lose his black stripe during fall camp, Willoughby handled kickoffs for Duke last season in all 13 of the Blue Devils’ games and even recovered his own onside kick once. Now he’s got his sights set on sending the ball through the goal posts for points and his bid for the starting spot is making some headway.
"If you (asked) who’s kicking now, I can’t answer that question,” Meyer said.
Should Willoughby win the starting job, he’ll at least be known for something beyond stealing Meyer’s parking space.
