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If you compare the Deacons' depth chart from last season to now, the kicking game is one of the few areas where there is a large amount of continuity. While the punting unit should be familiar to Wake fans because of their over-usage during the the last few years, there is a place kicker on the way that could shake things up once August rolls around.
Punters
Australian Alex Kinal, made popular by our very own BJohnston's Kinal Kount, has been a very busy man the past two seasons. Through two campaigns he has an astounding 182 punts, which is only 103 from an ACC record and 151 away from an NCAA record. Clearly he is on pace to carve his name into the record books with two seasons of eligibility remaining. There is hope that this torrid pace will slow down with a new offensive scheme in place going forward though. In his 86 punts last season, Kinal averaged 39.7 yards per punt with a net of 36.3, good for 81st in the FBS ranks. While there is obviously some room for improvement in those stats, I do not expect the Kinal's job will be in danger.
The backup punter is likely RS freshman Mike Weaver from NY, who will also be competing for PK duties behind Chad Hedlund.
Place Kickers
RS Junior Chad Hedlund returns as Wake's PK after converting 8/12 FGs in the 2013 season and 11/15 for his career. I, too, was surprised to learn that Wake only attempted 12 field goals all last season. Hedlund was also 26/26 on XPs, another sure sign that the NFL and NCAA should do something to make the extra point less guaranteed. Clicking the "free" button on NFL blitz was much less time consuming. Hedlund was also in charge of kickoffs last season, landing 9 touchbacks in 46 kickoffs.
As I mentioned above, Weaver is the only other PK currently on the roster but doesn't appear ready at this point to challenge Hedlund for the starting job. One player that could mix the order up a bit is incoming freshman Adam Centers from Coppell, Texas. Centers is rated by ESPN and 247 as the 3rd and 19th best kicker in the class of 2014, respectively. With a long of 52 during his HS season, it will be interesting to see if Centers can challenge for the starting job either on the FG team or kickoffs.
Long Snapper
Finally, I have to give some love to the Demon Deacon senior long snapper Logan Feimster, who hails from the same hometown as I, Statesville, NC. The hope for a long snapper is that you never hear about them, because if you do it is usually for bad reasons. Luckily, over the past 3 seasons we have heard nothing from Feimster and, given the amount of punts Wake has attempted, that is pretty impressive. We hope for more of the same as he goes into his final season.