Kansas State’s new starting kicker is a ‘neat little guy’ with a big leg
Alex Barnes couldn’t help but laugh the first time he saw Blake Lynch attempt a field goal at Kansas State football practice.
At 5-foot-5, Lynch is the shortest player on K-State’s roster (by 3 inches) and one of the shortest players in college football. Based purely on his stature, Barnes thought Lynch was out of his element. No way could he keep up with the Wildcats’ other kickers or split the uprights from 40-plus yards.
“I thought, ‘What is this kid doing?’ ” said Barnes, a junior running back. “But he boomed it through.”
That was in 2016, when Lynch arrived at K-State as a walk-on freshman following a standout kicking career at Goddard’s Eisenhower High School. Two years later, the laughter has stopped.
“He really has a boot for being 5-foot-5,” Barnes said. “I have seen him kick it 55 yards before in practice. I have full confidence in him.”
So does Bill Snyder.
On Monday, the K-State football coach announced that Lynch had won the Wildcats’ starting spot at kicker, a job that was contested throughout the offseason following the departure of Matthew McCrane.
“He’s a neat little guy,” Snyder said. “He’s just won the job up to this point in time. He has outperformed the other kickers and he is kind of fun to watch. All of a sudden, he has developed the ability to hit them from a distance. We kept all of them close range initially, just to see if we could get somebody to get it through the poles. He became very effective that way, very consistent. We started backing him up and as (special teams coordinator) Sean (Snyder) backs him up, he keeps getting through.”
Snyder’s lone issue with Lynch: He doesn’t think he’s really 5-5.
“Maybe we are trying to pump him up a little bit,” Snyder joked. “He was standing on a brick wall when we put that one in.”
K-State is expected to take a step back on special teams this season as it looks to replace multi-year starters at kicker (McCrane), punter (Nick Walsh), holder (Mitch Lochbihler), long snapper Drew Scott and returner (Byron Pringle, D.J. Reed). The Wildcats face universal turnover.
They announced projected starters at all of those positions, including Mill Valley product Andrew Hicks at punter, Colby Moore at holder, David Tullis at long snapper and Duke Shelley and Isaiah Zuber at the return positions.
Each of them will likely face a learning curve as they step into new roles. And it will be difficult for Lynch to match McCrane’s accuracy (21 of 26 field goals and all 48 extra points) from last season.
Still, K-State players don’t seem concerned about their new kicker.
“Blake Lynch is the smallest guy on the field, but you would never know it by the way he kicks the ball,” right tackle Dalton Risner said. “He had a tremendous camp. He has got the whole team excited. I have seen him hit kicks in the 50s. He had some windy days, and those 40-yard kicks in the wind are tough, but he has been nailing them every single day.
“I don’t know that he has hit a 60-yarder, but I don’t want to say for sure he hasn’t, because he is out there working for an hour before us. He might have. He’s got range.”
The last time Lynch kicked in live games, he connected on 7 of 11 field goals as a senior at Eisenhower. His long was 51 yards. But he also connected on a field goal during K-State’s spring game and appears ready to take bigger strides as a redshirt sophomore.
So long as his body can handle the Wildcats’ new field-goal celebrations.
“He is fun to watch, because the players love him,” Snyder said. “He will jump up in the air and they will catch him and they will throw him up. That is kind of an enjoyable time.”
This story was originally published August 28, 2018 at 4:23 PM.