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Name: Brad Robbins
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 203 lbs.
High school: Westerville (OH) South
Position: Punter
Class: Fifth year senior
Jersey number: #91
Last year: I ranked Robbins #64 and said he would be a backup punter (LINK). He punted 23 times for 1,041 yards (45.3 yards/punt) and put 8 of them inside the 20-yard line.
TTB Rating: 70
If you talk about an up-and-down career at Michigan, Robbins should be in the conversation. He was Honorable Mention All-Big Ten in 2017 before an injury caused him to miss 2018, when walk-on Will Hart stepped in and looked outstanding. But then Hart's play fell off, allowing Robbins to take back over the job. Hart went from looking like an All-American to looking very pedestrian (and has since transferred to San Jose State), while Robbins went from looking pedestrian to looking like an All-Big Ten player, leading the conference in punting average.
With Hart out of the picture in 2021, Robbins is even more important than he was, since the Wolverines have no proven or experienced backup. He's the only full-time punter listed in the roster. Backups include fifth year senior transfer Rhett Andersen from Hampden-Sydney - who has been a placekicker his entire college career - and true freshman Tommy Doman, who averaged 44.8 yards on punts as a high school senior. Doman is the best bet to be the backup, but you never know how a freshman will respond to the pressure of playing in the Big Ten.
Prediction: Starting punter
It feels like our kickers/punters have been very hard to predict in recent years.
ReplyDeleteOur SpTms guys have been like the team: up & down, no consistency. That's coaching
ReplyDeleteMay he never see the field, meaning Michigan never has to punt! :-)
ReplyDeleteI went back to 2019 and saw that Alabama only punted 33 times in 13 games. That got me wondering about a punting metric that would accurately reflect how potent an offense is. It can't just be fewest punts, because a team could turn the ball over on fumbles and downs a lot and punt infrequently. Punt attempts + turnovers lost + loss on downs = low number?
The flip-side of this is what percent of possessions a team realizes a score. Or average scoring per possession, and the closer that number is to 7 the more potent the offense.
I like punters, but I realize statistics like a large number of punts isn't a good thing. It's like some years ago a Michigan kick returner broke some record for yards returning. But it wasn't a good thing: it was because Michigan's opponents were scoring a lot and kicking off a lot.