Wait, hold on, this thing is still going? I could have sworn Matty dropped off the face of the earth and just stopped doing this...
I would not blame you if you thought this was the case during the last month and a half since the first part of this series came out. In all honesty, I did plan on coming back to it pretty quickly after part 1 dropped, but then University work got in the way - dissertations, who would do one of those anyway? - and then after that was all over I then became a GM. How fun. But here we are again to talk about punting. If you didn't catch my first article in this series you can find it here. It's okay, you can tell how tired I was writing it, but it makes enough sense for me to say it is alright. So, if you are a rebel and are reading this without the context of reading the first part earlier, what is this all about? Well, it's pretty simple all things considered, but let's just run through it one more time:
This series of articles aims to determine which Kicker/Punter had the greatest punting season in the history of the NSFL so far. Of course any of you who know anything about the specialisms of the K/P position, know that most either fit into the power archetype or the accuracy archetype, and because of this we need stats that help encapsulate the positives of both to provide a picture of who is the most dominant all-around punter in league history. How do we do that? Well for power punters I have carried over a stat I used for a DSFL punting article I did way back when in the Average Distance From the Goal Line (ADFGL) stat - which, of course, measures how much of the field kickers actually have to kick. Using that, we can determine how much of the field these power punters use to accumulate their high averages, in the form of the Total Field Used (TFU) stat. To help out accuracy punters, I use the percentages of punts that find their way inside of the 20, punts that find their way inside of the 5, and the percentage of punts that are touchbacks, to determine how well these punters can place their kicks overall. What I generally look for in a good punter is solid stats in both the power and accuracy stakes, which is tough to do - but when done, makes for an absolutely sensational punting season.
I don't want to get too bogged down discussing all the stats all over again, so let's get into the meat and potatoes of the article, beginning with the title. This part of the series is called 'The Hall Years' - and for good reason at that. Over the 5 seasons we are covering in today's article (Seasons 6-10), 5 punters would win an award for their year of punting dominance. 3 of these 5 different punters are enshrined in the NSFL Hall of Fame - which is enough for me to classify this as the 'Hall Years'. Now, let's get this started by discussing the punting champion of Season 6; a man with a great name, but not one of the Hall of Fame players listed above...
Season 6 - Peg Leg - Yeti | New Orleans
Punts: 103
Average Punt: 46.8
ADFGL: 66.01942
TFU (%): 70.888 - 9th
Inside 20 (%): 21.3
Inside 5 (%): 0.97
Touchbacks (%): 27.2
Yes, you read that right. I did not realise this either at the time of writing my first article (I suck at researching, I know), but Peg Leg actually spent the first 5 weeks of the season as part of the Colorado Yeti. It is a fact that might be lost in time considering who ended up taking his place in the Yeti system as a punter, but it really did happen. And what makes it even weirder was that Peg Leg was not long traded before this. Back when the Secondline were the Legion, Peg Leg was involved in this trade that saw him move away from the Legion to join the Colorado Yeti, as part of a considerably large movement of players. All of 2 months later, the renamed Secondline took him back in this trade for a 4th rounder. Talk about interesting. It was understandable from the Yeti's perspective; their team was flat out horrible (0-14), and they had a young kicker who we will talk more about later already doing the kicking duties. Why not make him the full time punter too by offloading Peg Leg? It just makes sense, and for the long term helped them out.
In the short term meanwhile, the Secondline got themselves the man who would turn out to be the Punter of the Year. Now, is this an indictment of the level of punting that was around this year? Maybe. Sure, he punted a lot - expected when he played for 2 teams that totalled 2 wins on the season - so his overall yardage stats were through the roof. But his rate stats are altogether unimpressive. His TFU number hearkens back to the first 2 seasons of the league where punters had not yet reached their stride. And that makes sense when you look at his kicking stats - 85 kick power and 82 kick accuracy by seasons end would not realistically cut it for a Punter of the Year these days. But back then, with the lower level of competition at the position, it was much more likely to happen. He was surprisingly good at getting the ball inside the 20, but that was likely much more to do with the fact he couldn't make the ball go far enough for a touchback. This is reflected in the Inside 5 percentage, which totals to 0.97% - in case you don't want to extrapolate it out, that is 1 punt of his in 103 attempts that landed within the 5. This punt within the 5 was also his lone punt within the 10 yard line. Overall it just seems that, in an area of the game that was seeing drastic improvements over time before now, this was an anomaly of sorts. The kind of punting performance that would struggle to win again you would think.
Season 7 - Iyah Blewitt (2) - Sabercats
Punts: 111
Average Punt: 48.9
ADFGL: 67.05455
TFU (%): 72.926 - 8th
Inside 20 (%): 6.3
Inside 5 (%): 0.9
Touchbacks (%): 37.8
...Did I say that a punting performance like that would struggle to win again? I forgot to read down a bit I guess. Welcome to Season 7, and to Iyah Blewitt's 2nd triumph in the Punter of the Year sweepstakes. The Sabercats team that Blewitt was a part of were not exactly the best - the 5-9 record is proof of that - and that meant Blewitt got a lot of action this season on the punting side with 111 punts taken. His 48.9 average yards per punt were by far and away the best in the league that season, so it was no surprise that he was given the Punter of the Year award for this year in reality. But the advanced stats are not exactly friendly to him looking back. And to be honest, the eye test wasn't particularly friendly either.
When I talk about this eye test, I find there is one game that is scarier to look at than the rest; Week 5 against the Colorado Yeti. The Sabercats won this game, and ultimately didn't need a lot of punts to do so - as Blewitt only punted the ball 5 times. Those 5 times were ultimately not... the best. The distances Blewitt punted from were: the 35, the 60, the 60 again, the 32, and the 62. All of these punts ended with touchbacks. Having a 100% touchback game without punting only once or twice is quite a novel thing; and while it helps your average distance stats out, it definitely does not look good with the advanced statistics. At the end of the day, Blewitt's 2nd Punter of the Year season comes out worse than that of Peg Leg's - and makes me look ultimately silly for thinking that it couldn't go further down that that of Season 6. Luckily, there would soon be something of a return to form at the K/P position, with the next 3 seasons' plaudits all being won by legends of the NSFL K/P sphere. Let's see how they stack up against each other, starting off with the winner of Season 8's Punter of the Year...
Season 8 - Turk Turkleton (3) - Hawks
Punts: 93
Average Punt: 46.6
ADFGL: 63.43478
TFU (%): 73.461 - 7th
Inside 20 (%): 19.3
Inside 5 (%): 7.5
Touchbacks (%): 35.5
Turkleton is back for one more award win in the punting category. Although, something is different about this win compared to his last 2. That being, the style with which he won it. With his first 2 wins in Season 4 and Season 5, the average yardage of Turkleton's punts stood at 48.7 and 50.9 respectively. It is unquestioned that he was definitely one of the greatest outright power punters that existed at that time - being the only one up until this point in history to ever break the 50 yard average over an entire season. But in the years between Season 5 and this win in Season 8, Turkleton changed their archetype to that of an accurate Kicker/Punter. By doing so, this win relied a lot more on the placement of punts over outright distance. Turkleton only averaged a punt distance of 46.6 yards this year, however he also finished 18 punts inside of the 20 - enough of a victory their to earn this win over up-and-comer McCormick. How does this translate into the advanced stats? Well, he performs somewhat well in the TFU metric considering the change, and he ultimately shines in the inside 5 statistic; landing 7.5% of your punts inside the 5 yard line is by no means an easy feat. What may weaken Turkleton's 3rd win however is his touchbacks. As an accurate kicker, you cannot have only one percent less in terms of touchbacks than you did during your hayday as a power punter. Ultimately, this is what will likely hold this season back from being any more than just a very strong season from a famously good punter. However, as said before, it definitely signalled a return to form for the Punter of the Year award, and the battle for Season 9 would get very interesting indeed.
Season 9 (shared) - Dean Jackson - Outlaws
Punts: 84
Average Punt: 47.4
ADFGL: 62.69048
TFU (%): 75.61 - 6th
Inside 20 (%): 20.24
Inside 5 (%): 8.3
Touchbacks (%): 35.5
The first of our completely new recipients to earn this shared Punter of the Year award in Season 9 is - from what I can tell - the first K/P to have won the Punter of the Year award having nearly maxed out the Balanced K/P archetype. For those who do not know much about K/P archetypes, Power gives you 100 Kicker Power and only 90 Kick Accuracy. Accurate kickers can do the exact opposite. Balanced kickers can go to 95 on both, but no further. It is an interesting archetype, and one that definitely seemed to work in Jackson's favour over his career. Here in season 9, it was only enough to share the plaudits with another Hall of Famer in McCormick. Let's start off with the biggest extremes that come from Jackson's first season at the top of the mountain; the inside 5's and the touchbacks. 35.5% of your punts ending in touchbacks is not ideal - as already discussed in the form of Turkleton's 3rd season as Punter of the Year. Now Jackson averaged an extra yard of distance on his punts while also having half a yard less on average to work with, which showed in the TFU stat and ultimately helps his case for this season over that of Turkleton. What also helps his case is the Inside 5 punts... 8.3%. That is flat out insane. To put that into perspective, that is a higher percentage than Blewitt had in Season 7 for punts inside the 20. That is currently by far and away the best Inside 5 score we have seen, and definitely has a chance of putting this season high in the rankings when all is said and done. Is it good enough on its own to be the best however? Well, we've got a long way to go, so nothing is certain yet. Hell, it isn't even the only punting performance from this season, so let's go and assess the other winner of this award in Season 9...
Season 9 (shared) - Micycle McCormick - Yeti
Punts: 86
Punt Average: 48.3
ADFGL: 63.255814
TFU (%): 76.357 - 4th
Inside 20 (%): 17.4
Inside 5 (%): 2.3
Touchbacks (%): 39.5
Who else would step up to the plate to challenge a future Hall of Fame K/P than another Hall of Fame K/P (but also QB eventually)? If you remember back during the Peg Leg section of this article when I discussed how the Yeti traded for Peg Leg just to trade him back during Season 6 because they already had someone just as good coming up... well, now you're looking at him. McCormick was the man who replaced Peg Leg and, while he would have to wait behind other kickers in the award races for a while, Season 9 would be his first time to truly shine in a tough race with Jackson. What made this race even more interesting was that McCormick, too, was a balanced kicker - meaning technically they were both the first near maxed out balanced K/Ps to win the Punter of the Year award. Will I change what I said in the Jackson analysis section? No. But still, it's just funny to consider.
What is very interesting to note is just how different their stats were given that both were very balanced in their builds. Jackson as we saw took the form of a much more accurate player, while McCormick here seems a lot more built for power... even though their stats were altogether very similar on paper. McCormick had extra space on the field to work with over Jackson but still added extra distance on top of that extra available yardage, so credit to him for that. Their Inside 20 stats are quite close - but Jackson undoubtedly wins in the other accuracy stats. No other kicker in this time-frame is touching the Inside 5 stat of Dean Jackson this year, and McCormick's touchbacks are slightly worse, although neither player is optimal in this area. Ultimately, this award was deserved by both for different reasons, and I can understand the voters' reasons for splitting up the award for this season. We would get a single winner in Season 10 however, as one of these K/P would stand above the other clear enough for the voters to agree that he had to win.
Season 10 - Micycle McCormick (2) - Yeti
Punts: 97
Punt Average: 50.3
ADFGL: 63.86597938
TFU (%): 78.759 - 2nd
Inside 20 (%): 14.4
Inside 5 (%): 6.1
Touchbacks (%): 42.3
The final season of this part, and boy is it a good one. Infinite - the user behind McCormick and now Yeti QB Wolfie McDummy if you weren't aware - posted here wondering how McCormick's Season 10 would fit in and now we get to find out. Let's start off by reminding everyone that this is a balanced archetype K/P - 95 Kick Power and 95 Kick Accuracy. It's important to remember this because these do not look like the stats of a balanced K/P. If you gave these stats to a random person in the community (who hasn't read this obviously so they don't know the answer) and asked them if this was a power kicker or a kicker good at both sides, they would tell you power 99 times out of 100. Because these stats... are insane. Together, Jackson and McCormick averaged in season 9 a punt distance of 47.85. 50.3 is outrageous. Up to this point in history, it is the 2nd greatest average distance by a punter behind only Turkleton, but at least Turkleton was expected to do so then as a power kicker. Being 2nd in the TFU stat, as a balanced K/P, is no mean feat and should definitely be celebrated.
However... let's talk about the efficiency stats. Inside 20's were down for McCormick in season 10 compared to season 9, but Inside 5's were up towards Jackson levels, so ultimately I would say this is a decently good trade-off. All still looking good so far. But then... my god, the touchbacks. This is the part of the stats that screams power kicker, because that is akin to Ronaldo and Turkleton in the past. It is the 3rd highest touchback percentage up to this point in history and, like the punt distance, that is insane for a balanced K/P. This could ultimately be the stat that hurts him massively come the end of this series, but that is just the name of the game - if you're punting the ball that far on average, you are going to have a lot of touchbacks. We will have to see how the rest of the punting history shakes out to truly see how this will affect the end result, but it is safe to say Season 10 McCormick is definitely special for quite a few reasons.
Part 2 Conclusion and Leaderboards
And so that brings to an end Part 2 of our quest to find the best punting season in NSFL season. This was a fun one to do research for, as we're getting into the time when famous names took up the majority of the awards talk - therein, we're now comparing Hall of Fame resumes where almost everyone is really good at what they are attempting to do. Next time around will be looking at Seasons 11-15 - a time-frame ultimately dominated by 2 different players. Hence the name for that section: The DJ-KF Convergence. Hopefully you will join me for that as well, whenever it comes out... maybe it'll be soon, maybe it'll not be soon. You'll just have to wait and see.
Here are the current top 5 leaderboards in every tracked stat:
Total Field Usage
1st - Turkleton (2) - 79.839%
2nd - McCormick (2) - 78.759%
3rd - Ronaldo - 78.061%
4th - McCormick (1) - 76.357%
5th - Turkleton (1) - 75.804%
Inside 20 (%)
1st - Peg Leg - 21.3%
2nd - Harris - 20.8%
3rd - Jackson - 20.24%
4th - Blewitt (1) - 20%
5th - Turkleton (3) - 19.3%
Inside 5 (%)
1st - Jackson - 8.3%
2nd - Ronaldo - 7.69%
3rd - Turkleton (3) - 7.5%
4th - Turkleton (2) - 6.85%
5th - McCormick (2) - 6.1%
Touchbacks (%)
1st - Harris - 22.5%
2nd - Peg Leg - 27.2%
2nd - Darkapple - 29.1%
3rd - Blewitt - 30%
4th (tied) - Turkleton (3) - 35.5%
4th (tied) - Jackson - 35.5%
I would not blame you if you thought this was the case during the last month and a half since the first part of this series came out. In all honesty, I did plan on coming back to it pretty quickly after part 1 dropped, but then University work got in the way - dissertations, who would do one of those anyway? - and then after that was all over I then became a GM. How fun. But here we are again to talk about punting. If you didn't catch my first article in this series you can find it here. It's okay, you can tell how tired I was writing it, but it makes enough sense for me to say it is alright. So, if you are a rebel and are reading this without the context of reading the first part earlier, what is this all about? Well, it's pretty simple all things considered, but let's just run through it one more time:
This series of articles aims to determine which Kicker/Punter had the greatest punting season in the history of the NSFL so far. Of course any of you who know anything about the specialisms of the K/P position, know that most either fit into the power archetype or the accuracy archetype, and because of this we need stats that help encapsulate the positives of both to provide a picture of who is the most dominant all-around punter in league history. How do we do that? Well for power punters I have carried over a stat I used for a DSFL punting article I did way back when in the Average Distance From the Goal Line (ADFGL) stat - which, of course, measures how much of the field kickers actually have to kick. Using that, we can determine how much of the field these power punters use to accumulate their high averages, in the form of the Total Field Used (TFU) stat. To help out accuracy punters, I use the percentages of punts that find their way inside of the 20, punts that find their way inside of the 5, and the percentage of punts that are touchbacks, to determine how well these punters can place their kicks overall. What I generally look for in a good punter is solid stats in both the power and accuracy stakes, which is tough to do - but when done, makes for an absolutely sensational punting season.
I don't want to get too bogged down discussing all the stats all over again, so let's get into the meat and potatoes of the article, beginning with the title. This part of the series is called 'The Hall Years' - and for good reason at that. Over the 5 seasons we are covering in today's article (Seasons 6-10), 5 punters would win an award for their year of punting dominance. 3 of these 5 different punters are enshrined in the NSFL Hall of Fame - which is enough for me to classify this as the 'Hall Years'. Now, let's get this started by discussing the punting champion of Season 6; a man with a great name, but not one of the Hall of Fame players listed above...
Season 6 - Peg Leg - Yeti | New Orleans
Punts: 103
Average Punt: 46.8
ADFGL: 66.01942
TFU (%): 70.888 - 9th
Inside 20 (%): 21.3
Inside 5 (%): 0.97
Touchbacks (%): 27.2
Yes, you read that right. I did not realise this either at the time of writing my first article (I suck at researching, I know), but Peg Leg actually spent the first 5 weeks of the season as part of the Colorado Yeti. It is a fact that might be lost in time considering who ended up taking his place in the Yeti system as a punter, but it really did happen. And what makes it even weirder was that Peg Leg was not long traded before this. Back when the Secondline were the Legion, Peg Leg was involved in this trade that saw him move away from the Legion to join the Colorado Yeti, as part of a considerably large movement of players. All of 2 months later, the renamed Secondline took him back in this trade for a 4th rounder. Talk about interesting. It was understandable from the Yeti's perspective; their team was flat out horrible (0-14), and they had a young kicker who we will talk more about later already doing the kicking duties. Why not make him the full time punter too by offloading Peg Leg? It just makes sense, and for the long term helped them out.
In the short term meanwhile, the Secondline got themselves the man who would turn out to be the Punter of the Year. Now, is this an indictment of the level of punting that was around this year? Maybe. Sure, he punted a lot - expected when he played for 2 teams that totalled 2 wins on the season - so his overall yardage stats were through the roof. But his rate stats are altogether unimpressive. His TFU number hearkens back to the first 2 seasons of the league where punters had not yet reached their stride. And that makes sense when you look at his kicking stats - 85 kick power and 82 kick accuracy by seasons end would not realistically cut it for a Punter of the Year these days. But back then, with the lower level of competition at the position, it was much more likely to happen. He was surprisingly good at getting the ball inside the 20, but that was likely much more to do with the fact he couldn't make the ball go far enough for a touchback. This is reflected in the Inside 5 percentage, which totals to 0.97% - in case you don't want to extrapolate it out, that is 1 punt of his in 103 attempts that landed within the 5. This punt within the 5 was also his lone punt within the 10 yard line. Overall it just seems that, in an area of the game that was seeing drastic improvements over time before now, this was an anomaly of sorts. The kind of punting performance that would struggle to win again you would think.
Season 7 - Iyah Blewitt (2) - Sabercats
Punts: 111
Average Punt: 48.9
ADFGL: 67.05455
TFU (%): 72.926 - 8th
Inside 20 (%): 6.3
Inside 5 (%): 0.9
Touchbacks (%): 37.8
...Did I say that a punting performance like that would struggle to win again? I forgot to read down a bit I guess. Welcome to Season 7, and to Iyah Blewitt's 2nd triumph in the Punter of the Year sweepstakes. The Sabercats team that Blewitt was a part of were not exactly the best - the 5-9 record is proof of that - and that meant Blewitt got a lot of action this season on the punting side with 111 punts taken. His 48.9 average yards per punt were by far and away the best in the league that season, so it was no surprise that he was given the Punter of the Year award for this year in reality. But the advanced stats are not exactly friendly to him looking back. And to be honest, the eye test wasn't particularly friendly either.
When I talk about this eye test, I find there is one game that is scarier to look at than the rest; Week 5 against the Colorado Yeti. The Sabercats won this game, and ultimately didn't need a lot of punts to do so - as Blewitt only punted the ball 5 times. Those 5 times were ultimately not... the best. The distances Blewitt punted from were: the 35, the 60, the 60 again, the 32, and the 62. All of these punts ended with touchbacks. Having a 100% touchback game without punting only once or twice is quite a novel thing; and while it helps your average distance stats out, it definitely does not look good with the advanced statistics. At the end of the day, Blewitt's 2nd Punter of the Year season comes out worse than that of Peg Leg's - and makes me look ultimately silly for thinking that it couldn't go further down that that of Season 6. Luckily, there would soon be something of a return to form at the K/P position, with the next 3 seasons' plaudits all being won by legends of the NSFL K/P sphere. Let's see how they stack up against each other, starting off with the winner of Season 8's Punter of the Year...
Season 8 - Turk Turkleton (3) - Hawks
Punts: 93
Average Punt: 46.6
ADFGL: 63.43478
TFU (%): 73.461 - 7th
Inside 20 (%): 19.3
Inside 5 (%): 7.5
Touchbacks (%): 35.5
Turkleton is back for one more award win in the punting category. Although, something is different about this win compared to his last 2. That being, the style with which he won it. With his first 2 wins in Season 4 and Season 5, the average yardage of Turkleton's punts stood at 48.7 and 50.9 respectively. It is unquestioned that he was definitely one of the greatest outright power punters that existed at that time - being the only one up until this point in history to ever break the 50 yard average over an entire season. But in the years between Season 5 and this win in Season 8, Turkleton changed their archetype to that of an accurate Kicker/Punter. By doing so, this win relied a lot more on the placement of punts over outright distance. Turkleton only averaged a punt distance of 46.6 yards this year, however he also finished 18 punts inside of the 20 - enough of a victory their to earn this win over up-and-comer McCormick. How does this translate into the advanced stats? Well, he performs somewhat well in the TFU metric considering the change, and he ultimately shines in the inside 5 statistic; landing 7.5% of your punts inside the 5 yard line is by no means an easy feat. What may weaken Turkleton's 3rd win however is his touchbacks. As an accurate kicker, you cannot have only one percent less in terms of touchbacks than you did during your hayday as a power punter. Ultimately, this is what will likely hold this season back from being any more than just a very strong season from a famously good punter. However, as said before, it definitely signalled a return to form for the Punter of the Year award, and the battle for Season 9 would get very interesting indeed.
Season 9 (shared) - Dean Jackson - Outlaws
Punts: 84
Average Punt: 47.4
ADFGL: 62.69048
TFU (%): 75.61 - 6th
Inside 20 (%): 20.24
Inside 5 (%): 8.3
Touchbacks (%): 35.5
The first of our completely new recipients to earn this shared Punter of the Year award in Season 9 is - from what I can tell - the first K/P to have won the Punter of the Year award having nearly maxed out the Balanced K/P archetype. For those who do not know much about K/P archetypes, Power gives you 100 Kicker Power and only 90 Kick Accuracy. Accurate kickers can do the exact opposite. Balanced kickers can go to 95 on both, but no further. It is an interesting archetype, and one that definitely seemed to work in Jackson's favour over his career. Here in season 9, it was only enough to share the plaudits with another Hall of Famer in McCormick. Let's start off with the biggest extremes that come from Jackson's first season at the top of the mountain; the inside 5's and the touchbacks. 35.5% of your punts ending in touchbacks is not ideal - as already discussed in the form of Turkleton's 3rd season as Punter of the Year. Now Jackson averaged an extra yard of distance on his punts while also having half a yard less on average to work with, which showed in the TFU stat and ultimately helps his case for this season over that of Turkleton. What also helps his case is the Inside 5 punts... 8.3%. That is flat out insane. To put that into perspective, that is a higher percentage than Blewitt had in Season 7 for punts inside the 20. That is currently by far and away the best Inside 5 score we have seen, and definitely has a chance of putting this season high in the rankings when all is said and done. Is it good enough on its own to be the best however? Well, we've got a long way to go, so nothing is certain yet. Hell, it isn't even the only punting performance from this season, so let's go and assess the other winner of this award in Season 9...
Season 9 (shared) - Micycle McCormick - Yeti
Punts: 86
Punt Average: 48.3
ADFGL: 63.255814
TFU (%): 76.357 - 4th
Inside 20 (%): 17.4
Inside 5 (%): 2.3
Touchbacks (%): 39.5
Who else would step up to the plate to challenge a future Hall of Fame K/P than another Hall of Fame K/P (but also QB eventually)? If you remember back during the Peg Leg section of this article when I discussed how the Yeti traded for Peg Leg just to trade him back during Season 6 because they already had someone just as good coming up... well, now you're looking at him. McCormick was the man who replaced Peg Leg and, while he would have to wait behind other kickers in the award races for a while, Season 9 would be his first time to truly shine in a tough race with Jackson. What made this race even more interesting was that McCormick, too, was a balanced kicker - meaning technically they were both the first near maxed out balanced K/Ps to win the Punter of the Year award. Will I change what I said in the Jackson analysis section? No. But still, it's just funny to consider.
What is very interesting to note is just how different their stats were given that both were very balanced in their builds. Jackson as we saw took the form of a much more accurate player, while McCormick here seems a lot more built for power... even though their stats were altogether very similar on paper. McCormick had extra space on the field to work with over Jackson but still added extra distance on top of that extra available yardage, so credit to him for that. Their Inside 20 stats are quite close - but Jackson undoubtedly wins in the other accuracy stats. No other kicker in this time-frame is touching the Inside 5 stat of Dean Jackson this year, and McCormick's touchbacks are slightly worse, although neither player is optimal in this area. Ultimately, this award was deserved by both for different reasons, and I can understand the voters' reasons for splitting up the award for this season. We would get a single winner in Season 10 however, as one of these K/P would stand above the other clear enough for the voters to agree that he had to win.
Season 10 - Micycle McCormick (2) - Yeti
Punts: 97
Punt Average: 50.3
ADFGL: 63.86597938
TFU (%): 78.759 - 2nd
Inside 20 (%): 14.4
Inside 5 (%): 6.1
Touchbacks (%): 42.3
The final season of this part, and boy is it a good one. Infinite - the user behind McCormick and now Yeti QB Wolfie McDummy if you weren't aware - posted here wondering how McCormick's Season 10 would fit in and now we get to find out. Let's start off by reminding everyone that this is a balanced archetype K/P - 95 Kick Power and 95 Kick Accuracy. It's important to remember this because these do not look like the stats of a balanced K/P. If you gave these stats to a random person in the community (who hasn't read this obviously so they don't know the answer) and asked them if this was a power kicker or a kicker good at both sides, they would tell you power 99 times out of 100. Because these stats... are insane. Together, Jackson and McCormick averaged in season 9 a punt distance of 47.85. 50.3 is outrageous. Up to this point in history, it is the 2nd greatest average distance by a punter behind only Turkleton, but at least Turkleton was expected to do so then as a power kicker. Being 2nd in the TFU stat, as a balanced K/P, is no mean feat and should definitely be celebrated.
However... let's talk about the efficiency stats. Inside 20's were down for McCormick in season 10 compared to season 9, but Inside 5's were up towards Jackson levels, so ultimately I would say this is a decently good trade-off. All still looking good so far. But then... my god, the touchbacks. This is the part of the stats that screams power kicker, because that is akin to Ronaldo and Turkleton in the past. It is the 3rd highest touchback percentage up to this point in history and, like the punt distance, that is insane for a balanced K/P. This could ultimately be the stat that hurts him massively come the end of this series, but that is just the name of the game - if you're punting the ball that far on average, you are going to have a lot of touchbacks. We will have to see how the rest of the punting history shakes out to truly see how this will affect the end result, but it is safe to say Season 10 McCormick is definitely special for quite a few reasons.
Part 2 Conclusion and Leaderboards
And so that brings to an end Part 2 of our quest to find the best punting season in NSFL season. This was a fun one to do research for, as we're getting into the time when famous names took up the majority of the awards talk - therein, we're now comparing Hall of Fame resumes where almost everyone is really good at what they are attempting to do. Next time around will be looking at Seasons 11-15 - a time-frame ultimately dominated by 2 different players. Hence the name for that section: The DJ-KF Convergence. Hopefully you will join me for that as well, whenever it comes out... maybe it'll be soon, maybe it'll not be soon. You'll just have to wait and see.
Here are the current top 5 leaderboards in every tracked stat:
Total Field Usage
1st - Turkleton (2) - 79.839%
2nd - McCormick (2) - 78.759%
3rd - Ronaldo - 78.061%
4th - McCormick (1) - 76.357%
5th - Turkleton (1) - 75.804%
Inside 20 (%)
1st - Peg Leg - 21.3%
2nd - Harris - 20.8%
3rd - Jackson - 20.24%
4th - Blewitt (1) - 20%
5th - Turkleton (3) - 19.3%
Inside 5 (%)
1st - Jackson - 8.3%
2nd - Ronaldo - 7.69%
3rd - Turkleton (3) - 7.5%
4th - Turkleton (2) - 6.85%
5th - McCormick (2) - 6.1%
Touchbacks (%)
1st - Harris - 22.5%
2nd - Peg Leg - 27.2%
2nd - Darkapple - 29.1%
3rd - Blewitt - 30%
4th (tied) - Turkleton (3) - 35.5%
4th (tied) - Jackson - 35.5%
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