Iowa football: Keith Duncan off to historic start in 2019

The Iowa football team has their kickers ladies and gentlemen, and after two seasons on the bench, Keith Duncan is off to a historic start.

Redshirt junior kicker Keith Duncan is no stranger to position battles considering he has been in one annually since he joined the Iowa football team.

In his four years with the Hawkeyes, the North Carolina native is 2 of 4 in winning those battles.

Thankfully, the two straight years of being stuck on the bench behind Miguel Recinos didn’t deter Duncan because he is off to a historic start in his second go at the starting kickers role.

Coming off a 12-point performance against in-state rival Iowa State where he not only went 4 for 4 in field goals but did it in less than ideal weather conditions, Duncan was named the Big Ten’s Special Teams Player of the Week.

A week after Iowa football fans almost rioted because the opposing team’s punter didn’t get this award, a Hawkeye takes it home in week three.

But the performance against Iowa State wasn’t an anomaly for Keith Duncan.

He’s been doing this ever since joining the Iowa football team, and this season he is off to a historic pace. Through three games, Duncan is a perfect 100% on field goals and extra points hitting all 8 of his extra-point attempts and all 8 of his field-goal attempts. That is tied for best in the nation. Collectively, Duncan has scored 32 points for the Hawks in 2019.

If you project that out (and yes we are still just one-quarter of the way through the season and a lot can happen), that would put him at 128 points on the season, which would be an Iowa football kicking record.

One thing to keep in mind though is it may not necessarily come down to how accurate he is as he’s shown in 1.25 seasons as the starting kicker over 4 years that he is pretty accurate (89.5% accuracy), but opportunities.

Against Iowa State, the Iowa football team failed to punch the ball in the endzone four times, which is uncharacteristically low for the Hawks.

Either way, regardless of the possible record, it looks like Keith Duncan doesn’t have to worry about his job for now. With his first-quarter performance, he is absolutely entrenched in that starting kicker role.