Buckeyes Still Searching For A Starting Punter

Two Australians and a Canadian walk into a bar.

Ohio State wasn’t supposed to have a punting competition this year but last year’s starter Jesse Mirco decided to jump into the transfer portal after last season ended.

You can’t necessarily blame a punter for transferring from Ohio State. Some people don’t want to get dressed up every Saturday in the fall and hardly ever get to do anything.

Despite that, the Buckeyes do have three players battling to replace Mirco.

“Yeah, we have not decided on the punter yet,” Ryan Day said last week. “All three of those guys are continuing to work. We do have to make a decision here pretty quick. I will say that all three of them have been solid.”

Anthony Venneri, a Canadian native who transferred in from Buffalo, is the most experienced of the candidates. He has been a two-year starter for the Bulls, averaging 43 yards per punt as a freshman and 44 yards per punt as a sophomore. Redshirt freshman Joe McGuire walked on to the team last year. He is an Australia-native, as is true freshman Nick McLarty, who was a late edition to the 2024 signing class.

When it comes to a competition, experience is always nice, but results are nicer.

“The first thing we want them to do is be able to get the ball off and under one nine,” Day said. “The second thing we want is them with over four-second hang time. And then the third thing is we want that ball to land somewhere between 40 and 44 yards. So if they can do those three things consistently, then we feel like they can be a starter for us. They all haven’t done it consistently. They’ve all shown they can and they are getting better.”

What has Day seen from each of the candidates so far in preseason practice?

“Anthony just got here, but he’s been able to jump in because he’s had some experience,” Day said on Thursday. “Nick, this is kind of new to him, but you can see the talent. And Joe has been around enough that he understands how we do things. And he’s the elder statesman there. 

“So all three of them are going to continue to work. We had another punt period today that was live other than bringing the returner to the ground. We’ll take a look at that and see how that was. But they all can do both the rugby style and the pocket punting, so that’s good. But we’re not going to name somebody just yet.”

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