BOWLING GREEN — If there is an area in which Bowling Green football’s starters are unclear, it’s special teams.
All-American place-kicker Nate Needham, punter Matt Naranjo, and long snapper James Carolan are not coming back through the Doyt Perry Stadium tunnels, and new special teams coordinator Alex Bayer has the tall task of replacing an entire special teams unit heading into the 2022 season.
The next benchmark in that process was achieved during Saturday’s spring game.
“Very proud of how those guys performed this spring,” Bayer said. “It was kind of a unique situation. I told every one of those guys that they’re all going to get an equal shot as far as being the starter. And I wanted that competition, and wanted those guys to compete against each other and see who our guys are going to be.”
Bowling Green’s roster currently has five place-kickers and two punters, with two of their kickers also carrying punter designations.
Senior Mason Lawler has the most tenure of all of the Falcons’ specialists after being the team’s kickoff specialist each of the last two seasons. St. Francis de Sales graduate Spencer Straka joined the Falcons’ football camp in the offseason after playing three seasons on BGSU’s men’s soccer team. Sophomore Jack Sauder did not play in the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
“It’s a kicking battle, and it’s going to continue to be a kicking battle,” head coach Scot Loeffler said after the spring game. “I think we’ve got an idea of who our punter’s going to be. I think Mason will definitely kick off, at the place-kicking position, I couldn’t tell you. I’m not sure, yet.”
Senior Owen Rozanc transferred after a successful stint at West Liberty University, and he is in the mix to be the team’s primary place-kicker. Redshirt freshman Alan Anaya carries designations as place-kicker and punter.
“Leaving spring, the competition’s still on,” Bayer said. “You look at our stats across the board on kicking, punting, field goals, it was about two, three guys at each position that it’s about even. Maybe a bit more higher or lower with each guy. But the competition is going to go on into the summer and into the fall until we decide who is going to start at each of those positions.”
Punters on the roster include redshirt freshman Jarrad Kerekes and true freshman Sami Sir. Bayer said Lawler is testing out as a punter, as well.
“Sami I think got better every day in camp,” Bayer said of the Australian. “His deal was, he’s trained for the last couple of years as far as punting, but this is the first time that he’s really had people rushing at him in his face, and he’s got to catch it, snap it, get it off in time. The first couple days he punted was a little bit of a transition, but he’s taken a lot of big steps and has gotten so much better.
“Jarrad’s got a very strong leg, but he’s got a lot of things mechanically that we got to clean up. That’s another position group that’s wide open.”
Lawler recorded one punt for 48 yards last season. Nobody outside of Needham attempted a field goal.
Redshirt freshman George Carlson is the only long snapper on the Falcons’ roster, but that is likely to change before fall camp breaks as recruiting continues. Walk-on Macguire Moss de-committed from BGSU in the spring.
“George had a good spring,” Bayer said. “He was a little inconsistent at times, but I think that was the nature of him getting a lot of reps, he was the only guy going. But overall he impressed us with some of the things he could do. Made a tackle in the spring game on a punt, so we’re happy with where he’s at.”
First Published April 25, 2022, 7:44 p.m.
