Punter Steven Clark focused on keeping opponents at bay

[quietfan 233]

http://www.al.com/sp...punter_ste.html

Push 'em back: Auburn punter Steven Clark focused again on keeping opponents at bay

Published: Tuesday, June 19, 2012, 10:23 AM Updated: Tuesday, June 19, 2012, 5:03 PM

AUBURN, Alabama -- His final punt of the 2011 season was classic Steven Clark, a 47-yarder that that not only landed inside the 20, as almost half his punts did last season, but it was downed all the way back to the Virginia 6.

For the Auburn punter, it was nearly a bull's-eye.

"Those 50-yarders feel great, but I definitely enjoy watching our defense have a long field to play with," Clark says.

The Ray Guy punting award finalist and coaches' All-SEC first-teamer is back for 2012, going through summer workouts and planning to land more of his high floating punts inside the 20. He did it 33 times in 2011, including 11 times inside the 10. Thirty-four of his punts had to be fair-caught. Opponents had only 62 yards of returns all year and Auburn was 15th nationally in net punting. Clark averaged 40.8 yards per punt.

Clark is now working toward more, even after averaging 49 yards a punt in the bowl game.

"I don't really remember where I was. I just keep trying to get better from where I'm at," Clark says. "I've never really happy with how I'm doing, per se. I'm always trying to do things and get it to where I want it to be every single time, which I never do. It's tough."

The summer thought process is this:

"I want to make sure I did the same things I did last year, but with a lot better average," he said "I had a lot of punts last year that landed in the 12 or 14 area, and I would love to get those inside the 10. That would help us out a lot. My way of putting points on the board would be field position and safeties. Those are the only points I'll ever score."

He is definitely one of our strengths this fall!

His philosophy on punting matches mine perfectly: I'd take a short kick that drops on the 5 over a 50-yder that comes out to the 20 any day! Love his philosophy of "my contribution to scoring is safeties or lots of help for the defense to get us the ball back".

[tgr4lfe 220]

Lewis Colbert approves! This was his philosophy & exactly what he feels a great punters job is.

[BeasFan 3]

Just out of curiosity do we have a comprehensive list of the star kickers and punters from AU's past? Even though RBU has always applied to Auburn, I would think we rank pretty high on the Kicker U stats as well.

Steven is well on his way to that list!

As an aside, what's the latest news on John Vaughn http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Vaughn ?

[BeasFan 3]

Just out of curiosity do we have a comprehensive list of the star kickers and punters from AU's past? Even though RBU has always applied to Auburn, I would think we rank pretty high on the Kicker U stats as well.

Steven is well on his way to that list!

As an aside, what's the latest news on John Vaughn http://en.wikipedia....iki/John_Vaughn ?

I would have thought I'd be able to get more than Wikipedia has on this topic, but the best I have been able to do is this list:

2012

Player Class Position

Cody Parkey Junior Placekicker

Steven Clarke Junior Punter

2011

Key losses

K Wes Byrum

P Ryan Shoemaker

Current roster

29 K Chandler Brooks (Sr)

30 P Steven Clarke (So)-projected starter

36 K Cody Parkey (So)-projected starter

2010

Special Teams

PK Wes Byrum

P Ryan Shoemaker

2009

Special Teams

PK Wes Byrum

PK Chandler Brooks

P Clinton Durst

P Ryan Shoemaker

2008

Special Teams

PK Wes Byrum

PK Morgan Hull

P Ryan Shoemaker

P Clinton Durst

2007

Special Teams

PK Ross Gornall

PK Zach Kutch

P Ryan Shoemaker

2006

Special Teams

PK John Vaughn

PK Zach Kutch

P Kody Bliss

P Patrick Martyn

Surely there's some better source that would take us back at least as far as Al Del Greco, right?

Who would be Auburn's best known kicker and punter? Rob Bironas is often shown as being from Georgia Southern in spite of his Auburn years.

[quietfan 233]

Surely there's some better source that would take us back at least as far as Al Del Greco, right?

Who would be Auburn's best known kicker and punter? Rob Bironas is often shown as being from Georgia Southern in spite of his Auburn years.

A couple of names from the distant past:

John "Rat" Riley--All-SEC placekicker in 1968 & 1969

Gardner Jett--kicked the winning point in the "Punt, Bama, Punt" Ironbowl as part of a great career.

[CJ Bas 0]

Surely there's some better source that would take us back at least as far as Al Del Greco, right?

Who would be Auburn's best known kicker and punter? Rob Bironas is often shown as being from Georgia Southern in spite of his Auburn years.

A couple of names from the distant past:

John "Rat" Riley--All-SEC placekicker in 1968 & 1969

Gardner Jett--kicked the winning point in the "Punt, Bama, Punt" Ironbowl as part of a great career.

Rat Riley kicked a good number of FGs over 50 yards. When he was playing, if Auburn got within the 40 yard line they were in scoring range.

Al del Greco comes to mind as being particularly dependable and accurate.

[McWeagle 4]

Terry Daniel and Scott Etheridge were both huge for us in '93.

[BeasFan 3]

If there's a more complete listing of Auburn Lettermen than the one at http://www.lostlette...-sec-directory/ then I haven't been able to locate it. Unfortunately, only names are listed and no references to positions are given. So unless you recognize the kickers and punters by name it's hard to put that list to use for our purpose in this thread.

Do you have a better source to look through? The back issues of the Media Guide would be nicer if they weren't PDF format. Does anybody know how far back they go and if there are non-PDF versions of the rosters and depth charts?

[BeasFan 3]

I managed to find some other sources for kickers and punters, although I'm certain there are many unaccounted for in older years.

The best source so far has been: http://www.fanbase.com/

Others that may have some names to add include:

http://www.auburnfan...com/players.asp

http://en.wikipedia....s_football_team (back to 1957)

http://www.lostlette...n&sort=&seo=yes

Using that fanbase source, here are the identified players at the kicker and punter positions:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2011

http://www.fanbase.com/1-Ellis-Smith

Ellis Smith

Punter

2011

http://www.fanbase.com/Garrett-Harper

Garrett Harper

Punter

2011

http://www.fanbase.com/12-Steven-Clark

Steven Clark

Punter

2011 2010

http://www.fanbase.com/Chandler-Brooks

Chandler Brooks

Kicker

2011 2010 2009

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2010

http://www.fanbase.com/Cody-Parkey

Cody Parkey

Kicker

2010

http://www.fanbase.c...-Ryan-Shoemaker

Ryan Shoemaker

Punter, Kicker

2010 2009 2008 2007 2006

http://www.fanbase.com/Wes-Byrum

Wes Byrum

Kicker

2010 2009 2008 2007

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2009

http://www.fanbase.com/Clinton-Durst

Clinton Durst

Punter

2009 2008

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2009

http://www.fanbase.com/Graham-Sutter

Graham Sutter

Kicker

2009

http://www.fanbase.com/Morgan-Hull

Morgan Hull

Kicker

2009 2008 2007

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2008

http://www.fanbase.com/Patrick-Tatum

Patrick Tatum

Punter

2008 2007

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2007

http://www.fanbase.com/1-Zach-Kutch

Zach Kutch

Kicker

2007 2006 2005

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2006

http://www.fanbase.com/Tyler-DiPace

Tyler DiPace

Kicker

2006

http://www.fanbase.com/Patrick-Martyn

Patrick Martyn

Punter

2006 2005 2004

http://www.fanbase.com/2-Matt-Clark

Matt Clark

Kicker

2006 2005 2004

http://www.fanbase.com/John-Vaughn

John Vaughn

Kicker

2006 2005 2004 2003

2006 All-SEC

http://www.fanbase.com/Kody-Bliss

Kody Bliss

Punter

2006 2005 2004 2003

2005 All-SEC

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2004

http://www.fanbase.com/Phillip-Yost

Phillip Yost

Kicker

2004 2003 2002 2001

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2003

http://www.fanbase.com/Michael-Gibson

Michael Gibson

Punter

2003

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2002

http://www.fanbase.com/Damon-Duval

Damon Duval

Punter, Kicker

2002 2001 2000 1999

2001 All-American 2000 & 2001 All-SEC

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2001

http://www.fanbase.com/Taylor-Mosely

Taylor Mosely

Kicker

2001

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1998

http://www.fanbase.com/Rob-Bironas

Rob Bironas

Kicker

1998

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1997

http://www.fanbase.com/Jaret-Holmes

Jaret Holmes

Punter, Kicker

1997 1996

1996 & 1997 All-SEC

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1995

http://www.fanbase.com/5-Matt-Hawkins

Matt Hawkins

Kicker

1995 1994 1993

1995 All-SEC

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1994

http://www.fanbase.com/Terry-Daniel

Terry Daniel

Punter

1994 1993 1992

1993 All-American 1993 & 1994 All-SEC

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1993

http://www.fanbase.com/Scott-Etheridge

Scott Etheridge

Kicker

1993 1992 1990 1989

1992 All-SEC

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1990

http://www.fanbase.c...Chris-Dickinson

Chris Dickinson

Punter

1990 1989 1988

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1989

http://www.fanbase.com/Win-Lyle

Win Lyle

Kicker

1989 1988 1987

1987 All-SEC

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1988

http://www.fanbase.com/Brian-Shulman

Brian Shulman

Punter

1988 1987 1986

1987 & 1988 All-SEC

http://www.fanbase.c...8-Chris-Johnson

Chris Johnson

Kicker

1988 1987 1985

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1987

http://www.fanbase.com/4-Chris-Knapp

Chris Knapp

Kicker

1987 1986 1985

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1985

http://www.fanbase.com/Lewis-Colbert

Lewis Colbert

Punter

1985 1984 1983 1982

1985 All-SEC

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1984

http://www.fanbase.com/Robert-McGinty

Robert McGinty

Kicker

1984

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1983

http://www.fanbase.com/Scott-Selman

Scott Selman

Punter

1983 1982 1981

http://www.fanbase.com/Al-Del-Greco

Al Del Greco

Kicker

1983 1982 1981 1980

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1982

http://www.fanbase.com/Dave-Blanks

Dave Blanks

Kicker

1982 1981 1980

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1981

http://www.fanbase.com/Alan-Bollinger

Alan Bollinger

Punter

1981 1980

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1979

http://www.fanbase.com/Jorge-Portela

Jorge Portela

Kicker

1979 1978 1977

1977 All-SEC

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1976

http://www.fanbase.com/Neil-ODonoghue

Neil O'Donoghue

Kicker

1976 1975

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1972

http://www.fanbase.com/David-Beverly

David Beverly

Punter

1972 1971 1970

http://www.fanbase.com/Gardner-Jett

Gardner Jett

Kicker

1972 1971 1970

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1969

http://www.fanbase.com/10-John-Riley

John Riley

Kicker

1969 1968 1967

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1964

http://www.fanbase.com/Jon-Kilgore

Jon Kilgore

Punter

1964 1963 1962

++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1963

http://www.fanbase.com/1-Woody-Woodall

Woody Woodalll

Kicker

1963 1962 1961

==========================

[IndianTiger 95]

Thanks for the list. I remember Win Lyle, he was pretty good.