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as a backup to redshirt freshman Chris Gulla, who looks to be 1rst in line to replace Butterworth this coming fall. "I'm going to continue to work on it," said Fick- en, who hadn't punted since high school before picking it back up in recent months. "But obviously, Gulla's the starting punter right now." Penn State spent more time on special teams this spring than it had in the past, a re2ection of the sta3's belief that special teams are as important as o3ense and de- fense. However, Ficken said the biggest change he's seen in the transition from Bill O'Brien's sta3 to Franklin's has been the emphasis on competition. "Everything we do is about being com- petitive – competing with one another, really pushing your teammate to be the best that he can be. You don't want some- one out there who is slacking o3," he said. "So that's the biggest change. Not to say the old sta3 was like that, but [the new one is] extremely forceful about competing to the best of your ability, whether it's a walk-through or a live practice." Ficken said he's eager to set an example for his fellow specialists, and the best way to do that is to continue kicking the way he did this spring. "It's hard to lead if you're not doing your job to the best of your abil- ities," he said. "I feel like with all the ex- perience I have, I de1nitely have an upper hand in that area. I can really show, Hey, this is what needs to be done. You can't just be OK. You need to be great." ■ "Me and Keiser have a great connection," he said. "I think that de1nitely showed in the spring. I think I've picked up right where we were when he went down with the hand injury." A4er it ended, Ficken began poring over tapes of his junior season, during which he broke the school record for most con- secutive makes (15 in a row, a streak that began late in the 2012 season). He also talked periodically to Chicago Bears Pro Bowler Robbie Gould, a Penn State alum with whom he had developed a working relationship. The two specialists spoke on a weekly basis following the 2012 sea- son, with Gould sharing pro tips aimed at re1ning Ficken's technique. They haven't been in contact quite as o4en lately, Ficken said, but they still speak regularly. If there's room for improvement in Fick- en's game, it's on longer kicks; he was 11 of 19 last year from 30 yards and beyond. But unlike the previous o3-season, in which he made major changes to his ap- proach, Ficken didn't do much tinkering this spring. "My big thing," he said, "was to stay consistent, stay healthy, and I think based on the changes I made in between the [2012 and '13] seasons, my form is good. The biggest thing for me is to stick to the fundamentals that I've learned from Robbie and other great kickers and just follow through with that." Ficken also practiced punting this spring, although it's expected that he will serve S P R I N G F O O T B A L L W R A P C harles Hu;, Penn State's new special teams coordinator, gets his inspiration from two sources. The 9rst: legendary Oregon distance runner Steve Prefontaine. The sec- ond: sharks. That's not as random as it sounds. During his heyday in the early 1970s, Prefontaine eschewed tradi- tional notions of distance pacing in favor of what he called the "suicide pace." Said Hu;, admiringly, "From the time the gun went o;, he was sprinting." That's exactly how Hu; expects the players on Penn State's special teams units to approach their assignments. "From the time we come o; the mat, we'll be :ying around," he said. "If we make a mistake, we're going to make it going a hundred miles an hour. We'll be the 9rst fast-paced, no-huddle special teams you've seen. That's how we're going to be. It will be fun and exciting. The fans will love it, the coaches will love it and I'll love it." If all goes to plan, they'll probably love Hu;'s aggressive philosophy, too. That's where the sharks come in. Hu; wants opponents to be in con- stant fear, knowing that the Nittany Lions will be looking to make a big play in the kicking game whenever the opportunity arises. He called it a "nekton mentality." "A nekton is a living organism that can :ow freely through water not af- fected by the current, and it's always attacking," he said. "The most rea- sonable example would be a great white shark. A great white shark will eat and eat and eat until it dies, and it won't say 'I'm full.' That's how we'll be on special teams. We'll attack and attack and attack. Just because we block the punt the 9rst time out doesn't mean we're not coming a

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