With UCLA Football’s season on the horizon, it is time to take a look at each position for the Bruins. Up next is the punter position.
UCLA Football will be running out a completely fresh special teams unit in 2020, with both the placekicker and punter being new faces will zero in-game college experience.
Previously we took a look at the kicking position, which will be handled by true freshman Nick Barr-Mira. Now, let’s take a look at the punting position.
The starting punter in 2020 will be Carson Olivas, a redshirt freshman. Olivas enrolled at UCLA in 2019, but did not play in any games in his first season on the sidelines.
This season, he will be thrown into the mix as the starting punter. While many will argue that the punting position is the least-valuable position on the field, having a quality punter certainly goes a long way in college football, as pinning the opposing offense back deep can lead the huge momentum shifts.
Olivas will be tasked with simply doing his job. Having an unreliable punter can be troublesome, especially in an offense-heavy Pac-12 conference. If Olivas can average around 40 yards a kick, he’ll be the perfect fit as the starting punter for the next four seasons.
Between Barr-Mira and Olivas, the Bruins will be looking for quality play from their kickers. If they can get middle-of-the-pack production, the Bruins will be just fine in the special teams area of the game.