Well, he’ll make it cool for the average fan – a lot of us are already punting fans. But Oklahoma’s Michael Turk is not only one of the country’s best punters, he is one of football’s most interesting men.
He made news at the 2020 Combine when he hit 25 reps on the bench and broke the record for punters and more than some of the NFL’s freaks:
After not getting drafted, he was allowed to return to college and is back in the draft this year.
In 2022, he was college’s top graded punter. Against Kansas State, kicking from his own 40 yardline, he put a ball 80 yards through the endzone and into the stands. Keep the sound on below as IsaacPunts explains where the ball landed:
On the field he may have the country’s most powerful leg. Off the field, he may be football’s most interesting man.
He has over 230,000 YouTube subscribers which is must see punting – go subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/@Hangtime37
Here he hit a 75 yard field goal with a punt.
He punted a home run out of Oklahoma’s softball stadium.
He played every D1 sport at Oklahoma in 24 hours.
He chronicled his mission over weeks to knock a ball stuck in the OU rafters free with a punt. He punted helium-filled balls to settle that age-old question. He filled balls with soda I’m not sure why. He chronicled punting a ball out of the Oklahoma football stadium. He did the penny trade challenge around OU’s campus and turned it into $55.
He challenged his fiance and All-American OU shortstop Grace Lyons to see if he could punt balls of all sizes – ping pong balls, oranges, softballs, yoga balls – further than she could hit them. It came down to the wire… below are some highlights.
He’s not just fun to follow, he can mash
If you’ve read my punter content before, you know how much hangtime means – a lot of college guys may have the distance, but NFL return units will feast when given some return room. So of course Turk, who goes by “Hangtime” on Instagram and YouTube, is going to be my guy in 2022.
- In 2021, he averaged 51.2 yards and a 4.20 hangtime, among the best in that class
- In 2022 with the punter-hating ball, he averaged 46.6 yards and a 4.18 hangtime and was the nation’s top-rated punter
- In the Shrine Bowl, he upped his stats to 49.2 yards and a 4.39 average hangtime, with a 67 yarder and 3 of 5 punts inside the 20 yardline
After an all-time great punting class in 2022, this class is another good one and Turk is right there with the top punters. Below shows college distance and hangtime and Turk is there with only Jordan Stout last year further to the top-right than him.
For the second year in a row like a lunatic, I charted every punt from the top punters in this class. Turk is going to be drafted early:
Overall punting stats
His hangtime, second only to Michigan’s Brad Robbins, limited returners to a 2.9 average return. Only Adam Korsak was better. And Turk put 22 of his 63 punts over 60 yards. He can boot.
Open-field punting
On his 55 open-field punts (punts from behind mid-field), on average he punted from his own 42 yardline and netted 47.5 yards, eating up over 80% of the field position, best in this class. He put 14 of his open field punts inside the 10 yardline and 3 inside the 5 yardline, including this beauty.
Short-field punting
Most think punting is dying but when you look at usage, it’s really short-field punting that is dying. But it’s still important to get the ball inside the 10 yardline when teams do it.
Here, Turk is often overlooked because he is known for his leg. But on short-field punts (punts from inside the 50 yardline), he gained 69% of field position, second best in this class behind Adam Korsak who is absolutely elite on short-field punts. Turk forced opponents to average a start at the 14 yardline.
Punting from deep
One area where many punters suffer is when they are backed up deep in their own territory. And it’s where a punter can really dig their team out of a hole… or hand the opponent some easy points.
From punts inside his own 10 yardline, Turk made use of his leg and averaged 52 yards on four punts, forcing the opposing team to start in their own territory on each one, almost 10 yards better than the rest of this class. Against Iowa State this year, 3 of Turk’s 6 punts were from deep in his own territory, averaging 51 yards including this 61 yarder:
Taking his skills to the NFL
Turk is going to be drafted and go high. For the teams that are looking for a punter – the Patriots, Rams, Bengals, Packers, Cardinals, and hopefully Eagles – this year’s punters will probably start being taken by pick 140-150.
Wherever Turk goes, he is going to be a hit, on and off the field. And I expect him to make his punting mark on the city. And on YouTube:
New England: Turk’s already punted a ball out of Oklahoma’s softball stadium, could he challenge the 37-foot tall Green Monster at Fenway and put a ball over it…?
Cincinnati: Spend a day at King’s Island seeing which rides he could put a ball over… or try to put a ball over the Cincinnati Museum Center.
Los Angeles: A ton of possibilities here, I’d love to see Turk punt a ball off the HOLLYWOOD sign and see which zip code it lands in… or put one over the Hollywood Bowl.
Green Bay: He and Grace could set aside the balls and compete kicking and hitting blocks of cheese.
Philly: Another big market, there would be plenty of options… could he kick a ball from Pat’s Steaks to Geno’s? Or put one to the top of the Art Museum steps? Or one across the Schuykyll River? We already had our athlete-couple royalty in Zach and Julie Ertz, he and Grace could follow.
Thanks to IsaacPunts, another must-follow for any punting fan, and of course, Hangtime himself for a lot of this content.
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