No. 42 — P Dillon Kidd

No. 42

... It was a rough first season at Iowa for Dillon Kidd. He won the punter job out of fall camp and that was the highlight. He averaged more than 40 yards a kick just once in his first six games. At Maryland, Kidd found himself in a punter platoon with Connor Kornbrath. Through Maryland, Kidd averaged 38.6 yards on 35 punts (he finished the season ninth in the Big Ten with 38.5 yards an attempt).

Then, the Nebraska game happened. Nebraska's Dermonay Pierson-El returned two punts for touchdowns in a game that the Huskers won, 37-34, in overtime. On his second big return, Pierson-El went 80 yards for a TD and gave Nebraska its first lead of the game.

After allowing a 49-yard return to Pierson-El earlier, Iowa again kicked to him and paid the ultimate price. A star was born for the Huskers and Iowa suffered an excruciating home defeat the day after Thanksgiving.

'Once they kicked it to me again, I was like 'Seriously? Again? OK. All right,'' Pierson-El said. 'I'm thankful for it.'

Special teams coordinator Chris White didn't pull any punches this spring.

'Clearly probably the No. 1 thing that we need to address in this program right now is getting the punter, and the whole punt deal straightened out,' White said. 'We're working hard at it, trust me on that. We'll get it right.'

How many punters are there? ... That might've been part of the problem last season, Iowa had too many punters on the dance floor.

After Kidd signed with Iowa out of El Camino (Calif.) Community College last February, Iowa found itself with two scholarship punters. Connor Kornbrath held the job for the two previous seasons. When the job wiggled away from Kidd, Kornbrath squeezed back in.

This spring, Kidd seemed to have control of the job. And then at the beginning of the summer, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz announced that Kornbrath wouldn't competing this year.

After spring, Kornbrath seemed to be No. 2 behind Kidd and senior kicker Marshall Koehn, who was thrown into the mix out of either desperation or 'what the heck.'

'Connor's probably going to end up taking this year off and going to school,' Ferentz said. 'He's still on scholarship and one of the 85 (scholarship players).'

So, again, how many punters are there? ... Kidd is one. Is Koehn seriously in this? It looks like it.

'I've been getting a few reps every practice,' Koehn said this spring. 'I'm trying to work on it and make the guys better. If I can help the team with punting, it's something I'll try doing.'

We'll get into Koehn later. He is the kicker and points are going to be extremely valuable for this team.

Redshirt freshman Miguel Recinos was No. 3 last spring. He didn't appear to make any serious run to the job. Colten Rastetter will be a walk-on freshman this fall. He averaged 40.2 yards a punt for three seasons at Clayton Ridge High School.

Outlook ... I can't imagine a long leash for Kidd this season. Or maybe not for anyone who wins the job. White stuck with Kidd probably too long last season before throwing Kornbrath in for relief.

Judging by White's tone this spring, 'just getting by' won't be tolerated.

'That's an unacceptable performance, and they (Kidd and Kornbrath) know it,' White said. 'They didn't execute. Talking about preparation, execution, and I've got to find a way to have someone execute better in games. The competition again is the only way to do it.'

So, yes, Kidd has an edge, but it doesn't sound as if this competition is going to end anytime soon.

'We will just take that one into camp,' Ferentz said. 'Right now, if we were playing a game tomorrow, Dillon Kidd would be the starter at that position. Marshall Koehn has entered the race, which he wasn't previously. We will probably reserve judgment on that and let them keep competing. I think we have made some progress. The key thing there is consistency. We are capable, but we aren't consistent.'

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com