ISU punter Downing shakes off nerves in first game

AMES - Walking around the sidelines just minutes before he made his first career start at Iowa State, Colin Downing's nervousness was alive and well.

The freshman punter really started to feel the nerves on the bus ride to the stadium, which carried over into his demeanor on the sideline before Iowa State's season opener against North Dakota State.

But as he was walking around the Cyclones' bench, Downing looked up into the stands and noticed former ISU punter Kirby Van Der Kamp sitting in the fifth row. The two exchanged a wave and mutual recognition, which also served as a symbolic passing of the torch.

'That was a little reassuring,” Downing said.

The Whitefish Bay, Wis., native made the most of his ISU debut, averaging 45.7 yards on six punts - three of which were at least 50 yards. Coach Paul Rhoads said he was surprised with how well Downing performed in his first game.

Rhoads said Downing 'certainly hasn't arrived yet,” though. On his third punt, Downing mishandled the snap and had to punt with more urgency than normal. The kick was 46 yards, and that's when Rhoads felt he found his rhythm.

'He panicked and he truly punted a ball for the first time,” Rhoads said. 'He hit it out of panic, and after that I told him, ‘Now you know you can go punt it. Now lets just fundamentally execute and go punt the ball.' After that he was lights out.”

Downing admitted he still was nervous throughout the game, but most of that occurred on the sideline. He said when he was on the field, it was almost as if we was punting in fall camp and was able to focus on the task at hand instead of the thousands of fans in the stands.

Even though he was pleased with his punting average against North Dakota State, Downing isn't satisfied.

'It was just one game. Everyone has a good game and mine just happened to be my first game, which makes a lot of people think, ‘Oh he's going to be great,'” Downing said. 'I've still got to play the rest of the year and we'll see how it goes.”

Through ups and downs at camp - where he punted better some days than others - Downing always tried to keep a level head. He credited his teammates and coaches calming him down and reassuring him of his capabilities.

It was adrenaline, Downing said, that loosened him up on game day and propelled him to the kind of start he had hoped for. He also recognizes the legacy Van Der Kamp left after four years as Iowa State's punter, and now Downing is ready to write his own chapter as a punter.

'I'm not going to try to be Kirby, I'm going to be my own guy,” Downing said, 'but it's definitely something to shoot for, strive for and it's something I'm working on every day.”

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