Blue White Illustrated

P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> FOURTH DIMENSION P unting is generally viewed as a bad thing. And for the most part, it is. Any drive that doesn't end in points is, to some extent, a failure. But Penn State is one of those teams whose punter has the ability to take the sting out of a stalled drive. In fact, in Blake Gillikin, the Nittany Lions have a special teamer who can have a true e8ect on the outcome of a game. Penn State's victory over then-No. 17 Iowa earlier this month was an excellent example of Gillikin's talent for 7ipping 6eld position. "The two di8erences in that game were Blake's punting, which impacted 6eld po- sition, and us winning the turnover bat- tle," coach James Franklin said a few days later at his weekly news conference. Franklin's comments weren't hyper- bole, either. In a matchup between two of the country's best defenses, points were always going to be hard to come by, so controlling the 6eld position battle was absolutely critical. When his number was called, Gillikin stepped up in a big way. Of his seven punts in Iowa City, 6ve landed inside the Hawkeyes' 20-yard line, and three of those pinned Iowa inside its own 10, tying a career-high. One third-quarter punt traveled 62 yards, and he had a 60-yarder a week later vs. Michigan, his eighth ca- reer boot of 60 or more yards. "Honestly, that was probably the most con6dent and relaxed I've been before any game I've played," Gillikin said. "I took a long look at scripture before the game, actually. … Part of that message and part of the message from the Bible study kind of hit home for me and kind of calmed me down and relaxed me, so I'm trying to do that for the rest of the season as well." Gillikin's career stat page is riddled with program-bests, and he's been the unquestioned starter at his position since he stepped foot on campus. This season, he was voted a captain of the special teams for the second consecutive year. Now with only a handful of regular- season games remaining in his collegiate fore Penn State's high-speed defensive line could get to him and delivered a whole lot of accurate passes down- field. Pickett threw for 372 yards, and the Lions had to bat down a pass in the end zone on the final play to preserve a 17-10 victory. But after an off-week, Penn State re- grouped against Maryland, holding the Terps to 68 passing yards. And a week later against Purdue, the Lions surrendered only 123 yards through the air to one of the top passing teams in the Big Ten. The Boilermakers had been battered by injuries in the weeks leading up to the game and were with- out quarterback Elijah Sindelar and receiver Rondale Moore against Penn State. But those two had missed most of the previous game against Min- nesota, and the Gophers had given up 291 passing yards and 31 points. For Penn State, the season's biggest challenge still awaits. It's in Colum- bus, where first-year Ohio State quar- terback Justin Fields has been shredding opposing defenses on a weekly basis. As of this writing, the Buckeyes were leading the Big Ten in scoring and total offense. It's going to take a total team effort to slow down an Ohio State squad whose average margin of victory through seven games was 41.7 points. Even a total team effort might not be enough. But one of the cornerbacks' strengths this season has been their rapport. "I think me and John have been play- ing well. I think we feed off each other," Castro-Fields said. "He works hard. I try to emulate how he works and approaches practice. I think he's still helping me along the way." Franklin has seen that dynamic in action, and he's hoping that in addi- tion to making each other better, it will impact the rest of the team. "Those two guys are leading by ex- ample in terms of their approach to practice, their approach to games, their demeanor on the sideline, rein- forcing things with Terry in the meet- ing rooms," he said. "They have been really impressive." ■ In football, it's always better to receive than to give. But senior punter Blake Gillikin has taken a bit of the pain out of fourth down, putting opponents in uncomfortable spots in some of Penn State's toughest games | THE GILLIKIN FILE YEAR GP ATT YDS LONG AVG TB FC 120 50+ BLK 2016 14 61 2611 69 42.8 6 18 22 13 0 2017 13 52 2244 57 43.2 3 16 26 14 1 2018 13 64 2813 74 44.0 9 13 20 15 2 2019 7 36 1501 62 41.7 2 11 19 7 1 TOTAL 47 213 9169 74 43.0 20 58 87 49 4

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