Joe McGuire wasn’t bothered when Ohio State brought in two new players to compete for the Buckeyes’ starting punter job this offseason.
When Jesse Mirco transferred to Vanderbilt for his final season of college football, McGuire initially looked like the clear choice to succeed Mirco as punter. As the only returning punter on Ohio State’s roster from last season, McGuire’s only competition for the punting job when spring began came from fellow walk-ons Hadi Jawad and Austin Snyder, neither of whom was viewed as a serious contender.
Ohio State held a three-way competition for the punting job in preseason camp, however, after signing Nick McLarty as a scholarship player and adding Anthony Venneri, the starting punter at Buffalo for the last two years, as a walk-on through the transfer portal. McGuire understood the decision to bring them in and approached the competition as an opportunity to get better.
“I was the only punter here at the time, really, so I was expecting it,” McGuire said. “And if that's what they think makes the team better, then great. Because at the end of the day, we just want to win. And if that's what they want to give us the best chance to win, then so be it. As they say here, iron sharpens iron. So having good competition is good for all three of us, I think.”
Going into the Buckeyes’ first game week of the season, it appeared as though McGuire had lost the punting job to McLarty, who was named Ohio State’s starting punter by Ryan Day just nine days before the season opener. But after McGuire had what Day described as a “much better week of practice” than McLarty leading up to last week’s season opener against Akron, Day called an audible and told McGuire that he would be the Buckeyes’ starting punter instead.
McGuire never stopped preparing for the possibility that he would be called upon to punt in the first game or any game, so it didn’t take him long to refocus himself on being the starter.
“I was pretty excited,” McGuire said Wednesday when asked how he reacted when he received the news from Day. “I mean, I've been training pretty hard so that no matter when my number's called, I'm ready. You never know what could happen in a game. So I work to always be ready for the occasion. So yeah, I was excited initially, and then I just sort of thought, ‘All right, I got to get myself ready and perform.’”
McGuire is no stranger to being in a stadium full of 100,000 people. His father, Eddie McGuire, is the former president of the Collingwood Football Club, one of several Australian football teams that play at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which holds more than 100,000 people. Still, Joe McGuire said he hadn’t experienced anything quite like punting in Ohio Stadium for the first time last Saturday.
“The pitch is a lot smaller, the ground's a lot smaller (in American football), so the crowd's a lot more on top of you,” said McGuire, who did not punt in any games last season as a freshman. “So that's a big difference, but yeah, it's unbelievable. And especially here, every single person is supporting the Buckeyes, whereas back home it's sort of a 50/50 split, so it's pretty nice.”
McGuire did his job effectively in his first game as Ohio State’s punter, averaging 44.7 yards per punt on three punts, none of which were returned.
“Good start. The numbers were good,” Day said. “We're looking for over 4.0 (seconds) hang time and anywhere from 40-44 yards; if it goes over that, we need closer to like 5.0 hang time. So I think we were right in that area. Some things we need to clean up, just on the punt team in general, but I thought the coverage was solid and decent start.”
Ohio State kicker Jayden Fielding wasn’t surprised that McGuire stepped up when called upon.
“Me and Joe are good friends on and off the field, so I always knew he was ready,” Fielding said. “He always had that look in his eye. He's a very competitive guy. He came in last year kind of late, proved to us that he was serious about it, he was real. He's just a competitor at the end of the day. I mean, he goes out there and he does his job very well, and he deserves everything he's gotten so far. He's worked for it.”
“I've been training pretty hard so that no matter when my number's called, I'm ready. You never know what could happen in a game. So I work to always be ready for the occasion.”– Joe McGuire on his preparation to punt
McGuire only began punting three or four years ago, he said, but trained in the same ProKick Australia program that has developed hundreds of collegiate punters from The Land Down Under, including Mirco and fellow former Ohio State punter Cameron Johnston.
McGuire grew up playing cricket and Australian rules football, but decided to try punting at the recommendation of a friend.
“One of my friends actually just came to me and said, ‘Mate, you've got a solid leg, why don't you try this out?’ And I did, not expecting anything, and then Chappie (ProKick Australia coach Nathan Chapman) basically just said to me like, ‘Yeah, you should come and join us,’” McGuire said.
McGuire, who is listed at 6-foot-2 and 212 pounds, said he had to put on “about 20 kilos” – roughly 44 pounds – to get big enough to play American football. Once he got the hang of punting, though, McGuire decided he wanted to try playing college football.
When Ohio State offered him the opportunity to join the Buckeyes as a preferred walk-on last offseason, it was one he couldn’t pass up.
“I've visited America a few times, and I've got some friends and family that have been here a lot, and just seeing how big it is, and I love the sport as well. So yeah, I thought I might as well give it a try. I worked pretty hard with ProKick and (coaches) Nathan Chapman, John Smith and Tim Gleeson back home for a few years, and then luckily I got good enough,” McGuire said. “Obviously I knew a lot about the Buckeyes, and then they sort of said, ‘Yeah, we think you could go here.’ And I was over the moon. It was fantastic.”
McGuire said he still talks to Mirco almost every day even though Mirco is now at Vanderbilt and said Mirco has been “a great mentor” to him.
“It was invaluable having him around and following him for a year, I think, was the best thing that I could have done,” McGuire said.
McGuire said he also had the opportunity to train this summer with Johnston, who is now entering his eighth NFL season after signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers this offseason.
“He’s been unreal,” McGuire said of Johnston.
Despite his strong debut, it’s uncertain whether McGuire will remain Ohio State’s punter all season. McLarty, who is also from Melbourne, has the strongest leg among the Buckeyes’ punters at 6-foot-7 and 255 pounds. Day indicated after Saturday’s game that the door remains open for McLarty to become the Buckeyes’ top punter if his consistency in practice improves.
“If Nick can continue to grow and build and learn, then we'll get him in there because he does have a lot of potential and a big leg,” Day said. “Joe right now is a little more consistent.”
In the meantime, McGuire can firm up his standing atop the punting depth chart by continuing to punt the ball well consistently as he did in his first game on the job. And he’ll continue to focus on making sure he’s ready whenever the Buckeyes call on him.
“We've put in an unbelievable amount of hard work in the offseason, as is what expected here, so by the time you step out game day, you expect to be ready,” McGuire said. “And just whatever comes, I'll be ready for it.”
