Penn State endured some blatant struggles on special teams over the last few seasons. Specifically, the punt game was a huge issue. Shanked punts that went straight out of bounds, short punts, and popped-up punts became all too common. However, things changed dramatically with the arrival of true freshman Blake Gillikin.
No offense to Chris Gulla and Daniel Pasquariello, but they simply were not getting the job done. Head coach James Franklin knew something needed to be done, so he went out and used a scholarship on a very talented recruit.
It’s not often that punters get rated by recruiting services, but Gillikin was the exception.