BearcatReport.com - Rogers ready for increased workload

August 13, 2009

Scott Springer
BearcatReport.com Staff Writer

The good news is Kevin Huber's still in town. The bad news is he's no longer a Bearcat, having been drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 5th round.

While UC's lost punters before, they've never lost one that had the impact of Kevin Huber who arguably should have at least one Ray Guy Award in his trophy case (he was a finalist, but deserved the award in '07 in my opinion). Losing a guy that averaged over 45 yards per kick in his career (nearly 47 in '07) is tough. Especially, one that had tremendous hang time and could pin the opponent deep in their own territory.

Needless to say, punting is a concern for Brian Kelly this season. That's why Patrick O'Donnell out of Palm Beach Central HS in Florida was recruited. That's why Michael Cooke out of Elder is still around. That's why Danny Milligan of St. Xavier has booted a few off and on in practice. And, that's why kicker Jake Rogers is lining up taking long snaps and giving it "the ol' college try".

While O'Donnell appears to be the "leg of the future" and has experience punting and kicking, he's lacking some consistency at the moment. Because of that, Rogers out of Warsaw, Indiana is the favorite to pull "double-duty"

The natural assumption is that he probably did this before in high school, right?

"Nope, only kicking and kick-off," Rogers told me the other day. "I really didn't start working on punting until about last spring. With my kicking coach, I started working on it a lot more. Over the past few years I kind of did it here and there, but I never really fully worked on it."

As of April, that all changed when he punted and kicked all month. He did so knowing that O'Donnell was on the way come August. But, the more he did it, the better he became.

Now, being a three-time all league pick in soccer at Warsaw (career leader in goals) you'd think that came into play. Well, not really. Unless you're the goaltender, you obviously don't drop the ball and kick it.

Throw that train of thought out the window too. "I was a forward," Rogers said.

All things considered, for a guy that just started punting four months ago, he has a realistic chance at doing it at the Division I level.

"Yeah, I worked really hard during the offseason and cut a lot of weight so I could get faster leg speed," Rogers said. "I think it's paid off."

For now, Rogers is listed on the depth chart as the punter. Brian Kelly reiterated those thoughts at Big East Media Day. Most importantly, Rogers feels comfortable with it.

"Yeah, I really think I can handle all three (kicking, kickoffs, punting)," he said.

However, August can be a long month and it's not unusual for competitions to "heat up" as the month goes on. In Jake's case, the freshman from Florida (Patrick O'Donnell) looks like a carbon copy of Rogers from a distance. O'Donnell is listed at 6-5 and 210, but looks closer to Rogers' size of 6-3 and 205 to me. Regardless of his size, you can see why he was picked-the kid can "boom the ball".

"Yeah, he does," Rogers agreed. "He's got a strong leg and he's definitely going to be good here in a few years when he gets more work in."

(Spoken like a true veteran not willing to hand over the job quite yet-although Rogers has been in O'Donnell's shoes before.)

"It's the same situation that I was in with Kevin Lovell," Rogers said. "I came in as a freshman and I kind of learned from him a lot more in that year that I redshirted. That's what Pat's going to do-learn a lot."

That insinuates that as a junior, Rogers is expecting O'Donnell to watch him for a couple years. In year three, Rogers appears more confident than I've seen him before.

"A lot of people ask me, 'Can you handle all three?'," Rogers said. "It's a lot easier because I'm out there a lot more. It's easier on the nerves. If I'm out there punting and I go hit a punt and then I go hit a field goal, I have no reason to be nervous because I've already been out there."

Again, as Rogers speaks, he almost appears resigned to handling all three chores, despite that practice is in it's early stages.

"Yeah, definitely," Rogers said. "I mean, there's obviously still competition for punting, but field goal and kickoff-no. I'm ready to do all three and I think that's what the coaches want to do."

As always...stay tuned.

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