There are at least two things Wil Lutz can’t do well: play video games and keep his shoes organized.
Other than those bizarrely random things, Lutz is handling a lot of special-teams duties and doing them well for Georgia State as it prepares to play South Alabama on Saturday.
Lutz started the season as the Panthers’ kicker. He then assumed the punting duties in the wake of Trent Miles’ dissatisfaction with Matt Hubbard’s performance against Washington.
“He’s been very, very consistent,” coach Trent Miles said.
Lutz is 5-for-5 in field goals and 21-for-21 in point-after attempts. He has averaged 38.8 yards per punt and rushed one time for 26 yards.
Not bad for a guy who didn’t play football until his sophomore year at Northgate High in Newnan.
Mostly a soccer player, his older brother talked him into trying out for football as his backup.
“I’d never kicked before that,” Lutz said.
Striking the ball came naturally. Becoming good was frustrating.
Lutz said he would try to bend the football like as he would a soccer ball. As a result, he wouldn’t follow through or his body would fall away, robbing him of distance and accuracy.
He found some coaches who improved his fundamentals, and Lutz said he would practice by kicking 15-20 balls after soccer practice.
He also improved his flexibility so that he could lengthen his follow-through. When punting, he can now get his foot above his head. In high school, his foot usually couldn’t get higher than his waist.
He became a starter his junior season and handled mostly the placekicking and field-goal duties. He punted in the first game and was wiped out on his first kick. The regular punter returned for the next game, and Lutz gladly relinquished that duty.
He took over all the duties again his senior year. He also gave up soccer to focus exclusively on kicking footballs. He said that’s when he started to receive offers from colleges to play football.
He walked on to Georgia State and earned a scholarship.
Now, if Lutz can just improve his video-game and shoe-organizational skills.
Back-up quarterback Ben McLane was Lutz’s roommate and said he isn’t good at video games. He’s so bad, that McLane once beat him in college football playing Utah State to Lutz’s Alabama. McLane said Lutz is a good guy and was a good roommate, other than leaving his shoes scattered all over the apartment. Being a kicker, they would rarely match. In games, Lutz wears a yellow cleat on his kicking foot and a black-and-white cleat on his plant foot.
Because he’s a kicker and often has to fill the drudgery of practice, Lutz and fellow roommate Hubbard became good at inventing things to pass the time in the apartment. From that came apartment putt-putt. Cups were holes. Anything could be used as a putter. McLane said Lutz was OK at that.
Perhaps Lutz had more important things to worry about.
Earlier this year he became the school’s leader in point-after attempts (43), and points by kicking (115). He has punted for the past two games. Because of his soccer background, Lutz is capable of performing the rugby-style running punt that is useful for the directional punting Miles prefers. On his first attempt this season, Lutz kept running and picked up a first down. Hubbard isn’t done. Miles said he wants to work him back into the duties that he performed well enough last year to be named all-conference.
Lutz, Hubbard, kicker Evan Pantels and long-snapper Daniel Zeigler often coach each other, providing bits of advice when needed.
“Hubbard tells me what to correct,” Lutz said. “He’s helping me be more consistent. I’m helping him get the nose down and get the distance back.”
Lutz doesn’t know if he will continue punting. Hubbard was booming punts into the corners during practice earlier this week. Even if Lutz no longer punts, he will be ready to go if called upon.
“Punting is next-man-up situation,” Lutz said. “Hubbard is getting it back and hitting the ball well. I don’t know what will happen this week, but if I’m up I’ll punt.”
