Popham Pops Up in Pregame Ceremony
Shane Popham either did or did not punt for the final time at BB&T Field yesterday against Clemson. If he did, he’d like to have his last one back, the one that carried 18 yards and out of bounds three yards short of midfield. But there were plenty this season that Shane would like to do over. For the day he punted seven times for an average of 30 yards a punt. With a per game average of 35.9 yards, he’ll have to be the second coming of Ryan Plackemeier in the finale at Vanderbilt to avoid ending up last in the league in that category.
The hardness of my head was proven once again two weeks ago when my infamous face plant ultimately hurt nothing more than my looks and my feelings. But there are times I suspect my heart is too soft to be really good at what I’m hired to do. I get to know the coaches and players on a personal level and being a person who, in general, likes people, I end up liking them.
I’ve gotten to know Shane over his years, and I was pleased to meet his father Greg before a game last season. I enjoyed writing the story of how he came as a walk-on knowing he had only a limited time to prove himself worthy of the scholarship he would need to remain. He succeeded, and has been the regular punter the last three seasons. And he was pretty solid last season, when the Deacons’ net yards per punt ranked seventh in the ACC. But this season he has struggled as badly as most of his teammates, only in a more visible, conspicuous you might say, role. It doesn’t get much worse than when a coach eschews going for fourth and short and the punter ends up shanking the ball out of bounds. It’s almost enough to make a cheerleader boo.
But it’s a shame when any player becomes the personification of all that has gone wrong by pretty much everybody. In Shane’s defense, he has been hampered by nagging injuries to both knees, which one would have to suspect are pretty essential for a punter. And truth be told, Popham has been Wake’s regular punter for three years because no one has been able to beat him out.
“We’ve got to punt the ball better,’’ Coach Jim Grobe said. “We’re just not punting the ball very good right now. Shane’s had problems. I think he’s had surgery on both knees. He’s had some injury issues. And that’s tough, when you think about the amount of pressure they put on their legs.
“We’ll give Shane an opportunity to come back in the winter and get stronger and get in shape and all those kinds of things, try to get his legs in shape and let him have a good spring. And we’re still in the market for a punter right now. If you find a guy like Plack, you hit a home run. If you find a guy like Sam (Swank), who can kick and punt, I don’t know what that would be – a grand slam I guess. But we want to be competitive.
“I think one of the things that has happened to us here is there’s just not a lot of competition in that room. We need more punters, more kickers. It’s not a recruiting pitch. And I think we’ve got to do a better job covering punts and protecting and all those type things. It’s never just the punter or just the kicker. We’re asking our punter a lot of times, because of pressure, to one-step punt, and that’s a problem. That’s not easy. It’s much easier if you can three-step it. You’re going to have a better average. So we’re asking our punter to do some things that make it a little tougher on him to have the kind of average he would like to have.’‘
So I was intrigued when I found out late last week that Popham, along with Ryan Britt, would be one of two juniors taking part in the pregame ceremony honoring the seniors. The implication seemed obvious, that Popham and Britt will not be back for their redshirt senior seasons. I asked Coach Grobe about it in the post-game.
“We give the kids the option,’’ Grobe said. “Pop knows we’re looking to bring in another punter in this recruiting class and there could be a situation where we’re out of scholarships because of that. But we typically aren’t. I can’t remember when I’ve come back too many times without room on the other end. And he knows he’s got to improve. He’s got to improve. He’s not the only one. I’ve been doing this for years now, if we feel we’ve got to move in another direction, or if we feel like you’re not competitive to play.
“We’ve had kids in the past who had a chance to get on the field, but they needed to have a good winter and they needed to have a good spring. And of course we’ve got to have room on the other end.’‘