Clearly, Iowa has one of the best punt games in all of college football, thanks to punter Rhys Dakin. He has been phenomenal for Iowa this season, a team that has had to punt a lot due to the lack of offense for the Hawkeyes.
The true freshman out of Australia has had 42 punts this season, averaging 44.8 yards a punt, with his longest being 61 yards. He was crucial in the first half against Northwestern before the Hawkeyes made the switch to Brendan Sullivan, pinning the Wildcats within their own 10 yard-line almost every time, giving the Iowa defense the ability to get big stop after big stop.
Clearly head coach Kirk Ferentz knows how to recruit special teams because this kid is something special. However, apparently, Kirk Ferentz thinks about weird things in the shower as he shared in his Tuesday press conference, and one of those things is apparently punting.
"Rhys, I was thinking about that in the shower this morning… I don’t know why, I think of weird things in the shower all the time," Ferentz said in his Tuesday press conference. "But I was thinking about what he was doing and some other options we might have had as a punter, and you never know."
Apparently, Ferentz is even confused with how his mind works, but the punting this season has been nothing short of special, so clearly, it is on his mind a lot. Dakin has been able to help this team out, especially when the offense has been stuttering, by pinning opponents deep for the defense to either get turnovers in opponent territory or get a stop to force a punt that gives the offense good field position.
Even as a freshman, Dakin has shown great poise and maturity, especially in the big moments in games, but most importantly, even when he doesn't have a great punt, he knows how to forget it and moves onto the next.
"I think the thing I’ve been most impressed with him is just his maturity and his ability to really practice well, which for young guys is not usually that easy, but he’s really serious out there on the field," Ferentz said.
With the offense having some new life behind quarterback Brendan Sullivan, Dakin's duties might not be as crucial to games, but he is always ready to come in and make a play when he is needed most.