Joey Johnston: Athletics Senior Writer
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He’s older than the Internet. When he was born, Whitney Houston was America’s top recording artist, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers still dressed in creamsicle orange and USF’s football program was a distant dream.
Bulls’ punter Andrew Stokes, the 30-year-old Aussie, doesn’t take himself seriously, so he might laugh loudest at all the predictable old-guy jokes. In truth, he’s engaging, witty, adventurous and young at heart. Methuselah, he’s not.
Head coach Alex Golesh, who loves the sarcastic give-and-take, said Stokes might be his favorite USF player.
But Stokes is also the player that Golesh NEVER wants to see on the field. Around USF, punt is a four-letter word.
“He’s older than most of our young coaches, most of our graduate assistants and analysts,” Golesh said. “He brings a cool approach because he wants to fit in, but he’s looked at as a father figure. He’s like Papa Bear — so mature, so fun to be around.
“I always joke with him, like, ‘Man, I hope I never see you in a game.’ But if I do, man, we’ve got so much confidence in him.”
Golesh said Stokes’ offseason work has been “phenomenal” and he believes the player is poised for a breakout year in his last season of eligibility.
Stokes, built like a tight end at 6-foot-5, 232 pounds, averaged 40.9 yards per punt last season with 21 of his kicks downed inside the 20-yard line (and NO touchbacks). Still, Golesh and Stokes both termed the season as “inconsistent.” It was OK, but could be much better — and it should be better as Stokes has undergone rigorous physical conditioning, along with some minor tweaks in his technique.
“I think punting is 90-percent mental and 10-percent physical,” Stokes said. “Everything has to be just right — the way you drop the ball, the angle, how big your steps are. There’s a lot that goes into it. If just one of them is off, then all of a sudden, the whole punt can go to waste.”
Stokes, entering his fourth USF season, could be a great weapon, but maybe an underutilized one. Golesh’s aggressiveness was obvious last season. USF’s 46 fourth-down conversion attempts were second-most in the Football Bowl Subdivision (only Baylor with 48 had more), but the Bulls were just 20-for-46 (.435) to rank 98th nationally.
Golesh is unabashedly confident — “I can honestly tell you that every time we went forward on fourth down a year ago, I thought we were going to get it” — but also cognizant of foolishly putting his team in a bad spot.
Plenty of times last season, USF was in no-man’s land — the opponent’s 35-to-40-yard line, fourth-and manageable, maybe on the far fringe of field-goal range. More often than not, analytics suggested that USF was better off going for the first down instead of punting (or attempting a long field goal).
With incumbent John Cannon, highly touted freshman Nico Gramatica and Ty Ippolito competing at field-goal kicker, Golesh said he believes USF will have more range on field-goal attempts. And if Golesh isn’t comfortable with those possibilities or a fourth-down play, he’s confident that Stokes can pin the opponent deep.
“If I ever think, ‘Man, we don’t have a good plan here or I don’t have a great feel for what the defense is doing or defensively we’re playing lights out or the only thing I could do is screw this up … we will punt it,” Golesh said. “And with him (Stokes), we’ll feel good about our chances.”
Stokes has a fascinating story. He played some Australian Rules Football back home in Perth, while managing a hospitality and catering warehouse as his day job. Ever restless and seeking new opportunities, he trained with ProKick Australia, the organization that has placed dozens of punters into college football. His parents were skeptical, but Stokes made it work and found his scholarship opportunity with USF.
“I’m still not sure if my parents know what I’m doing over here,” Stokes said with a laugh. “My mum (mother) watched a couple of games featured on TV back home, but she was up at 2 or 3 in the morning to watch them. And to be honest, there was no point because she didn’t really know what was going on anyway.
“I talked to her the next day and she said, ‘Oh, did you even play?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I did.’ So, she had to rewind and find the punts. She came over for some games and even watching it in person, she still didn’t have any idea of what’s going on. The other families helped her out and tried to explain. I know she had an absolute ball and she’s going to love it again (when both parents return this season).”
Stokes said he understands that a barely used punter can be good news — in that case, the team is probably having offensive success — but he’s ready to help when needed. He’s chasing perfection, a standard he’ll never reach, but it’s all about the striving.
As Golesh likes to say, Stokes wants to be elite.
“He (Golesh) is awesome,” Stokes said. “The Australian culture back home is very sarcastic and you poke fun at each other all the time. So having a coach like that makes football more fun for me. It makes me feel at home.
“I’ll be out there lining up to punt (at practice) and he will come up and just say something in my ear, just to try and throw me off. It’s all in good fun, not only for me, but the entire team. That fun environment allows you to enjoy football and you’re going to get the best out of yourself from that.”
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