Thanks to an offense that was among the most balanced in the country last season and a defense that should be elite this year, the Northern Arizona special teams have been largely overlooked. But in 2012, the player who led the Lumberjacks in points was not a wide receiver or a running back; it was kicker/punter Andy Wilder.
Wilder, it should be mentioned, also led the nation in punting with a 46.3-yard average and had 25 punts of 50 yards or longer, with a long of 71 yards. In addition, he went 10 of 13 on field-goal attempts and 38 of 39 on PATs for a total of 68 points.
“I think Andy has a good chance of being a great punter,” said NAU coach Jerome Souers. “He’s better than he was last year. Andy is a great weapon for us due to his consistency.”
It is possible that, despite Wilder's success last year, he will cede some kicking duties to talented youngster Ryan Hawkins. With a year in the program under his belt, Hawkins, a sophomore, has impressed the staff in camp.
“With all of the hard training and multiple kicks during games, we would like to be able to share duties amongst the guys,” said Souers.
NAU also has redshirt freshman Brian Drulias on the roster, while the long snappers will be juniors Andy Bachelier and Hayden Renning, both of whom bring a significant amount of experience to the unit.
Austin Shanks handled the majority of the return duties for the Lumberjacks last season, but with the graduation of the College Football Performance Awards' Punt Returner of the Year, NAU will have to turn elsewhere. Among the candidates to take over the role are Lucky Dozier, Randy Hale Jr., Alex Tolliver, Alex Holmes and Zach Bauman. There is an even longer list of options at kick returner,with Hale, Tolliver, Jesse Brantley,
Casey Jahn, Marcus Alford and Anders Battle all in consideration.
“We’re trying to make use of the depth that we have at all of the positions,” said Souers. “By being able to have multiple resources, this enables us to stay healthy and have more than one individual with game experience.”
