Since coming to Utah State from Arizona two years ago, Steve Mullins has been used in a variety of positions by the Aggies.
He was recruited as a quarterback, but since there were several other signal-callers on campus, the Aggie coaches wanted to find a place for the multi-talented Mullins. So he was tried out at linebacker for awhile and moved to wide receiver last year when Mick Dennehy's staff took over.
However, Mullins has been USU's punter since his freshman season and this year Mullins will put his entire focus into punting.
As a freshman the 6-3, 205-pounder earned Sporting News first-team all-America honors for freshmen after averaging 42.3 yards, which was 29th best in the country. Then last year he picked up right where he left off, ranking 29th in the nation again, while seeing his average drop to 41.4 yards per kick. He did, however, double the number of punts inside the 20-yard line and recorded at least one 50-yard punt in eight games.
After catching one pass for six yards last year, Mullins will focus strictly on punting this year and is hoping that his overall punting game will improve with added practice.
"Now I get to focus on just one aspect of the game," Mullins said. "Last year I only punted 10 minutes a day and had to go work on other things. This should help me out. I get to work on a lot of the details of punting, such as hang time and pinning, so that should help me out."
Mullins said he'll miss playing other positions, but is happy to concentrate on punting.
"I started thinking about it and punting has a big impact on the game, so I feel like I am contributing a lot and that I am still a big part of the team," said Mullins. "I don't really miss getting out there and getting in the mix and hitting people and getting hit so much because it is fun to get off a good punt and your teammates give you a high five."
Mullins also was able to sharpen his skills this summer attending legendary punter Ray Guy's punting camp in July. In fact the national punter of the year award for which Mullins has been nominated, is named after Guy.
"I learned a few pointers, details and mechanics of punting so that should help make me a little more consistent," Mullins said. "He is the best punter of all time so he knows what he is talking about. It also helped seeing other punters from across the country and see what they do and pick up more details.
Aggie coaches have noticed Mullins' improvement this year.
"He has improved on his technique," said assistant coach Carl Franks. "Last year a lot of the times he would step to the side and swing his leg. This year he is more straight up and down. We worked on that a lot in the spring and he went to Ray Guy's camp this summer and learned a lot there."
USU NOTES: Aggie All-American running back/kick returner Emmett White has been selected as one of 43 preseason candidates for the 2001 Doak Walker Award, given annually to the nation's top running back, it was announced on Friday by the Southern Methodist Athletic Forum. The 5-11, 196-pound senior, who led the nation in all-purpose yardage a year ago with a 238.9 per game average for the sixth-best mark in NCAA history, was a third-team All-American as an all-purpose back last year . . . The first media luncheon of the year will be Monday at 11:30 a.m. at Romney Stadium . . . The Aggies will practice once daily this week and wind down as the week progresses before Saturday's game against Utah at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
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