In a week where the Hawkeyes were barely able to squeak past a supposedly inferior Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team, it has been hard to come away with many positives. Josey Jewell looked good again and Desmond King had one of the best weeks of his career thus far on defense, while the running backs appeared to get back on track with over 160 yards on the ground and a touchdown.
As we’ve noted here at The Pants, however, Iowa punter Ron Coluzzi had a damn good game. We even went as far as to start hyping him up for a major award that recognizes the best player in the country?
Well it's only 7-0 at half. Will the offense maintain momentum after halftime? Can the defense stay stout? WILL RON COLUZZI WIN THE HEISMAN?
— BlackHeartGoldPants (@BHGP) September 24, 2016
Well, it might not be the Heisman Trophy, but the Big Ten Conference also took note of the great day had by the kick-off man and punter, as they honored him as the Special Teams Player of the Week. It’s probably not exactly an award the Hawkeyes are happy that they earned (if your punter is getting recognized for anything, you probably did something wrong), but Coluzzi sure did earn it after his performance against Rutgers. How did he do, exactly?
- 7 (SEVEN!!!) punts and three kickoffs. I’m surprised his leg is still attached to his body.
- Out of his seven punts, four of them pinned the Scarlet Knights inside their 20-yard line. Not too shabby. All three of his kickoffs went for touchbacks as well.
- He kicked a season-long 55-yarder at the beginning of the game and averaged 42 yards per punt. That’s good!!
- Most importantly, and impressively, is that none of his kicks were returnable. As previously stated, all of his kickoffs went for touchbacks and 6/7 of his punts were unreturnable. The seventh punt? Rutgers attempted a return and gained exactly ZERO yards. Janarion Grant went out with an injury, but Coluzzi wasn’t going to let him do his thing in the return game. Happy thoughts.
Coluzzi is the first Iowa special teamer to win Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week honors since, well, Marshall Koehn almost exactly a year ago. You might remember Koehn sort of kicked a 57-yard field goal as time expired to hold off the Pittsburgh Panthers at home last season?
Well, congratulations Ron Coluzzi. May you never get an opportunity to win this award again (because, you know, it’d be nice if you didn’t have to punt so dang much).