Auburn punter Steven Clark has been the highlight of Auburn's special teams unit for the past two seasons. During Auburn's forgettable 3-9 campaign in 2012, Clark was one of the few players that performed at a high level on a consistent basis. In 2011, he was named one of three finalists for the Ray Guy Award, given to the nation's top punter, and a semifinalist in 2012.
Though his 2012 season average of 39.8 yards per punt was not jaw-dropping, Clark specializes in launching sky-high punts that are nearly impossible to return. In fact, opponents managed to return only 5 of his 70 offerings last year and 15 of his 144 career punts going into the 2013 season.
Clark was arguably an even more effective weapon in 2011. He downed a whopping 33 punts inside the opponent's 20-yard line, which led the SEC and was third in the nation. Nine of those punts pinned the opponent inside their own 10-yard line.
But even with gaudy stats like Clark's, the punter still sees room for improvement in his already reputable game, most notably in the distance category.
"I honestly don't even feel like I did the best that I could have last year or the year before necessarily," Clark said. "Even whenever I do go for hang time, I feel like I should at least get 45 yards, so what would happen is I would hit some good ones 45-50, and then I would hit a bad one."
Though Clark was one of the most effective punters in the nation, he spent time in 2012 fretting over his less than spectacular distance average. In an art that requires perfect technique and fundamentals to be successful like punting, this kind of thinking can do more harm than good.
"I don't really worry about average much anymore," Clark said. "I had gotten caught up with that in the past and it's something that really messes with your head trying to worry about all that stuff. You don't do numbers. All you can do is punt and you can prepare yourself as best you can. That's all you really can control."
Clark spent time at kicking guru Jamie Kohl's National Elite Camp in Whitewater, Wisc. this summer to improve his distance by tweaking his technique and trying new methods.
"It's also really great to get around some really great special teams players in college and kind of look and see what other people are doing," Clark said. "We'd mess around with different styles of punts and toy with things and get some ideas and then you get to finish out the rest of the summer messing around, see if you want to implement some new things."
Entering the 2013 season, Clark is hopeful the time and effort he put in during the summer will pay dividends on the field. During fall camp, Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn said he had already noticed Clark's hard work paying off.
"He can place the football," Malzahn said. "He has really worked hard and gotten better at length, and believe it or not, height also."
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