On line -- P Jonny Mullings

There might not be a more important opening on the Iowa football team right now than punter.

With a defense that will be fairly new and an offense led by a first-year starter at QB, the Hawkeyes will need all the help they can get. Of course, field position would go a long way in helping the newness kind of find its way around. So, punter becomes very interesting.

Ryan Donahue spoiled Iowa fans. He graduated with two Iowa records (punts in a season and punt yardage in a season). He went out in style, too, with his best average, 44.6.

The candidates are senior Eric Guthrie and redshirt freshman Jonny Mullings, whose assignment this year is to go from the guy with the interesting story (he's from Australia and came to Iowa City through a stop as an exchange student in Ottumwa) to the guy at punter.

Three most interesting bio items a year in . . . 1) Played one season at Ottumwa after previously playing rugby in the Australian Capital Territory; 2) Earned all-state honors in rugby at Colstons School in England; 3) used as punter at Ottumwa HS in 2009, where he set school record with 85 yard punt rugby punting average of 42.4 yards and 45.1 yards in final two seasons, respectively.

Key quote . . . Kirk Ferentz: "Eric Guthrie, from where he was three years ago [to now], it's unbelievable. He'll probably be like James [quarterback James Vandenberg] with some ups and downs early, but he's shown us he can be a good punter, so we're excited about him.”

Standing after spring . . . The above quote says that Mullings trails in this race. Far from over, though. Guthrie spent four years in the second chair behind Donahue. This is Mullings' second year in America and that means his second real season in American football, the one with the helmets and the Big Ten.

Mullings, who's 23, was originally slated to come in as a grayshirt, but he was switched to a regular scholarship before being redshirted last summer.

Here's a quote from him on the YouTube vid that made him famous (which has since been taken down):

“I wanted to be the best out there and put it out there. I wanted to put out the best video,” Mullings said.

“On the day of the filming, I told myself every punt that's going on this video is going to have above 5-second hangtime. I managed to get that done pretty quick. It didn't take that long. Consistency was pretty good. I put some kickoff footage on that. Distance-wise, I wanted every kick to be more than 70. That was done. I put in a little game film from when I played in Australia.”