STARKVILLE — Jace Christmann’s proliferation was ultimately Tucker Day’s gain.
Christmann’s impressive 2017 season of 12 field goals made and no missed extra points was only made possible by Day’s early struggles, going 2-for-4 on field goals and missing two extra points. While it wasn’t the start to a college football career Day hoped for, it did grant him an opportunity he wanted: focusing on punting.
The transition from punting prospect to starting placekicker and back again, all in the first three weeks of a freshman season, could be enough to derail a player’s development for a season. Day made sure that wouldn’t be the case, and now he’s ready to compete for the starting punter job.
“Punting was put to the side,” Day said. “As far as developing punting training, we kind of focused on kickoffs and field goals and we didn’t really develop the craft of punting.”
The entire placekicking experiment was a byproduct of coincidence. Day was a U.S. Army All-American game selection out of Brentwood (Tennessee) High School, rated as the 10th-best punter in the nation according to 247 Sports. He said his conversations in recruiting with former MSU coach Dan Mullen and his staff were all about punting and kickoffs.
Then, as Day put it, “I was hitting field goals really well at the time.” He caught fire in the preseason as MSU was trying to replace Westin Graves and Mullen wanted to ride the wave.
As that went south, Day didn’t waste time. Christmann took a hold of the placekicker job for good after MSU’s third game, a win over LSU; by the time MSU was preparing for the fifth, against Auburn, Day was talking to Mullen about going back to punter.
He wanted to get back to practicing what he came to MSU to do.
“I was still a field goal guy and a kickoff guy, but punting, that’s when we really homed in on that,” Day said.
From there, Day was once again a dedicated punter. As Logan Cooke finished his career, he dutifully worked on his craft alongside Kody Schexnayder, whom he is now battling for a position.
Special teams coordinator Joey Jones said the battle would not be decided before the second scrimmage, which was Saturday. MSU scrimmages again on Wednesday. Staring down the final days of the position battle, Day feels the days of placekicking are behind him, as are the days lost from working on punting.
“I feel like I’ve picked things back up pretty well. Punting, it’s always been second nature,” Day said. “Once I started doing it again and getting back into the rhythm, I was able to get back into my focus and do what I need to do for the team.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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