Countdown to 2019 IUFB Kickoff: 94 Days (Haydon Whitehead)
/
Written by T.J. Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)
2019 Countdown - #94
Name – Haydon Whitehead
Position – Punter (Redshirt Senior)
Hometown – Melbourne, Australia (McKinnon Secondary College/Swinburne University)
Height – 6’2”
Weight – 212 pounds
The 2019 Hoosier Huddle Countdown is picking up momentum and we now turn our attention to a player that you hope you rarely have to call on but you hope he’s great when you need him: redshirt senior punter Haydon Whitehead.
The Land Down Under has become a breeding ground for excellent punters. The skillset for the players involved in Australian Rules Football translates well to punting in American football. Haydon Whitehead played Aussie Rules Football for 15 years before turning to Prokick Australia, a prolific factory of punters that churns out Ray Guy award winners (2013-2017!). Whitehead got his first taste of America when he made an official visit to Bloomington in December of 2016. He committed to the Hoosiers and entered school as a redshirt sophomore with three years of eligibility remaining.
The redshirt sophomore took control of the punting job after beating out his competition in camp and had 85 punts (an aside, the 2017 offense left a lot to be desired), averaging 40.7 yards per kick. Whitehead’s redshirt sophomore campaign was pretty good, all things considered. He landed 33 punts inside the 20-yard line and had eight games with at least three punts landed inside the 20. He was honorable mention All-Big Ten and then performed much the same in 2018. Last season, he was only forced to punt 51 times and his average was just slightly down (40 yards per punt). One of the best parts of Whitehead’s punting last season was that opponents rarely were able to do anything with them. The opposition had only 15 returns and averaged just 3.8 yards per attempt.
Haydon Whitehead has been very consistent in his two years as Indiana’s punter. The Hoosiers will be looking for more of that in his senior season. The hope would be that he can continue to make it very difficult for opponents to get anything return wise while also upping his average from around 40.5 yards per punt to 43 yards or so. The punter is a player that you rarely want to see trot onto the field but when he does, it sure is nice to have one you feel confident will get the job done. IU has had that the past two seasons with Whitehead and there is no reason that will change in 2019.
HUTCH’S TRIVIA QUESTION
In honor of the late Terry Hutchens, we are including a daily IUFB trivia question from his book So You Think You Know Indiana University Football. Hutch is dearly missed and this is our way of keeping his memory with us this season. Please leave your answers in the comments section.
What year did construction begin to close the north end zone of Memorial Stadium?
(check back tomorrow for the answer)
Yesterday’s Answer: One