Adam Korsak is a punting artist with a scientist’s approach.
It’s a thing of beauty to watch frustrated returners give up as Korsak’s balls roll dead over and over, but appreciation really sets in when the former Rutgers punter explains his calculations.
If the average team nets 38 yards per punt and he averages 45.25 — as he did setting the NCAA single-season net punting record in 2021 — then he just bought his team an extra 507 yards of field position over the course of 70 punts.
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Week 17
“How many of these balls are returnable? That’s essentially how I think about punting and not necessarily how it’s traditionally thought about,” Korsak told The Post. “You can really find some hidden yardage that’s not only above-average, it’s well above-average. I didn’t really care about kicking a certain way to appease an uneducated eye in the stands. I punted to put my team in the best position possible.” Korsak is regarded as one of the top punters available in this week’s NFL draft. Thirteen punters have been selected in the last five drafts, and the bias against Australian-style punters like Korsak is fading away as the 49ers, Seahawks and other teams use directional punting and mix in rollouts as a weapon on special teams. “I’m never going to be one to punt those massive balls down the middle, and I don’t want to be,” Korsak said. “It takes phenomenal leg strength, but if I hit a ball and it just out-kicks the coverage, you might get 5 yards on the return. Then the next one we might drop you for -1 yards, then the next one you get a fair catch, then 11 yards. Eventually, it’s going to spit out for a touchdown because those returners are so dynamic. I don’t want to play that game. It’s essentially Russian Roulette.” A one-time team-voted MVP and one of two three-time captains in the history of the nation’s oldest FBS program, Korsak grew up playing Australian rules football and credits it for his legendary precision. He is a product of the popular developmental program Prokick Australia but never seriously thought about the NFL until Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano planted the seed upon arrival in 2019. “My dad showed me movies like ‘Any Given Sunday’ and ‘The Program’ and he bought me the Madden ’06 game with Donovan McNabb on the cover,” Korsak said. “That is initially where I got introduced to American football.” The 2022 Ray Guy Award winner punted 349 times (145 inside the 20-yard line) for a total of 15,318 yards — both NCAA career records — without having one blocked or returned for a touchdown. He had a streak of 150 straight without a touchback. He allowed 31 returns for a total of 63 yards on 195 punts from 2020-22. American football analyst Charles Davis described Korsak as a “unicorn” who “can do it all” while The Athletic’s draft expert Dane Brugler has the Australian mocked to go to the Eagles in the seventh round. “To pass the ball [in Australia] you have to punt it, and you have to be pretty accurate kicking it to your guys and not their guys,” Korsak said. “How that translates into American football is … you can kick a lower driving ball to the corners and make that returner turn sideways and run. I think I can see it creeping into the NFL in the next couple years just based on the efficiency of it and net yardage.” Upon requests from the scouts and coaches at the Senior Bowl and NFL Scouting Combine, Korsak showed an ability to punt more traditionally. His first punt at the Senior Bowl travelled 45 yards and was downed at the 1-yard line. “He has to find the right situation — it won’t be all of them,” one NFL special teams coach said. “Let him do what he does well and don’t ask him to hit for hang time.” The only difference from college to the NFL, as Korsak sees it, is the rules on where the punter releases the ball from inside the formation. His primary skill — “punting without ego” — and his trademark “gentle bounce” remain unchanged. “I wasn’t going to go, ‘I’m doing these punts because I want to do what I want to do.’ I was at those events to compete and enjoy the process,” said Korsak, who has had a “handful” of private workouts with undisclosed teams. “Now that we are getting to the end, it’s 100 percent that I’ve found that teams are willing to adapt.” This article first appeared on The New York Postand was reproduced with permission.
