Football without the foot? Super Football Conf.’s Top Punters
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As football fans we often get caught up in big plays, touchdowns, sacks, interceptions, and big hits. However, an under appreciated aspect of the game that can totally change a game’s outcome is field position. Nobody affects the game-within-a-game known…
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Continue ReadingAs football fans we often get caught up in big plays, touchdowns, sacks, interceptions, and big hits. However, an under appreciated aspect of the game that can totally change a game’s outcome is field position. Nobody affects the game-within-a-game known as field position like a punter can.
Today we cover a handful of punters from North Jersey’s Super Football Conference. These are the boys with the golden boots who hit bombs, pinning their opponent deep, and get a defense ready to attack.
There are few punters that match the size of Terrell Wilfong Terrell Wilfong 6’5″ | 180 lbs | WR West Orange | 2025 State NJ . A mountain of a man, this West Orange Mountaineer is 6’5″ 180lb. In addition to handling punting duties, Wilfong plays WR and DB.
Wilfong has a few advantages as a punter. First, he is so tall that it is unlikely any puts go over his head. Additionally, because he plays receiver he has soft hands and is equally unlikely to mishandle a snap. Long strides allow him to take just two steps before getting the ball away. This helps limit the returning team’s rush. With all his leg in it, his best kick was about 50 yards with about 5 seconds hang time.
With former teammate Saboor Kerriem off to Illinois this fall, I expect Wilfong to take up the timeshare at WR vacated by Kerriem’s graduation this fall.
Walk quietly and carry a big… foot? At Pope John they have a 5’10” K/P who lets his left foot do his talking for him. Jack Morgese Jack Morgese 5’10” | 165 lbs | P Pope John | 2024 NJ did a bit of everything with that left foot of his, kicking off 27 times with 9 touchbacks; going 13/17 and 3/6, respectively, on PAT and FG; and punting 32 times for 1183 yards (37 yard average), while downing 6 inside the 20 yard line and having a long of 40 yards.
We see that Morgese is athletic to the point where he can easily nab bad snaps in just about any direction. Upon watching his film, I see that he has a three step step-and-kick release. I recorded his longest punt, with a bounce and a roll, to be 55 yards with a hang time of 4 seconds. The best thing about his game is that Morgese tends to get returners moving backwards when he punts it.
Morgese is one of those kickers through-and-through. Highlights, Twitter, and everything in between are focused on kicking. I am sure colleges will take a close look at him given that he handles all aspects of kicking, and his kicking coaches will vouch for him to play at the next level.
The Fort Lee Bridgemen have a punter that bridges poor starting field position for opposing offenses to his staunch defense. At 5’8″ 225lbs, Josh Afraimov is not your typical punter. In fact, Afraimov also wrestles for Fort Lee too!
In limited clips we see that Afraimov consistently gets roughly 35-38 yards on his punts. This equates to about a 3 second hang time on his punts at well. What Afraimov is able to do better than most punters, likely due to his physical nature as a wrestler, is absorb contact. He does a nice job of getting kicks away despite defenders all gunning for him, even if he sustains the most vicious of hits.
Afraimov seems like the type of prospect that is capable of doing whatever he puts his mind to. With deceptive athleticism, I expect Afraimov to impact the game in more ways this year for Fort Lee.
Highlights
Nick Hinds Nick Hinds 5’11” | 185 lbs | P Lincoln | 2024 NJ proved to do many things for the Lincoln Lions last season, many things in which he did exceedingly well given the circumstances. As if playing QB, RB, DB, and LB was not enough, Hinds also served as the team’s punter too.
At 5’11” and 185lbs, Hinds completed 13 of 31 passes for 258 yards and 3 TDs to 5 Ints. He ran 38 times for 109 yards and 1 TD and made 28 tackles and 1 Int. Hinds also scored once on a two-point play.
Obviously a key part of what the Lions do, Hinds is a player who helps in a number of ways. We want more film on him in all aspects of what he does.
The Dumont Huskies feature a K/P of their own that is also a dual-sport athlete (baseball). Ethan Chiaramonte Ethan Chiaramonte P Dumont | 2024 NJ ‘s stats were a little inconsistent, as most sources cite no more than three games worth of statistics.
Chiaramonte was credited with 2 punts for 79 yards; however, both were downed inside the 20 yard line. He was 2/2 in FGA and 17/19 on PATs.
Given the rate at which he is able to down punts within the 20 yard line and his success during PAT/FG situations, Chiaramonte is for sure a specialist we want to keep on our radar going into 2023.