Bears’ elite punter vs. Huskies’ elite returner
Cal punter Dylan Klumph and Washington returner Dante Pettis could test each other in one of the captivating games within the game Saturday, when Cal plays at No. 6 Washington.
The Bears’ punter is one of the best in school history, and the Huskies’ returner might be the best in the sport’s history.
“You get mesmerized watching him on tape,” said Colorado head coach Mike MacIntyre, the first of three consecutive coaches to avoid kicking to Pettis after the slippery senior returner scored in each of Washington’s first three games.
Pettis had touchdown returns of 61 yards against Rutgers, 67 yards against Montana and 77 yards against Fresno State, giving him eight for his career to tie Wes Welker (Texas Tech) and Antonio Perkins (Oklahoma) for the NCAA record.
The nation’s leader in punt-return average at 38.8 yards per attempt, Pettis is the star of one of the nation’s soundest special-teams units.
Since head coach Chris Petersen arrived in 2014, Washington has had five kick returns and eight punt returns for touchdowns. It took the previous 16 years for the Huskies to reach that kickreturn total and the previous 23 seasons to match those punt-return results.
“If you give him space, he’s going to make something happen,” Petersen said of Pettis.
Klumph will be saddled with the responsibility of not giving Pettis any space, and the junior has the ability to do just that.
“If I hang it up high enough, he’ll put his hand in the air,” Klumph said. “I’ll tell you that much.”
Klumph was named the Ray Guy Punter of the Week last year, when he averaged 49.7 yards per punt and pinned Washington inside its 20-yard line four times. His career punting average of 44.6 yards is No. 1 on the school’s all-time list, and his 44.0 average this season ranks seventh on the single-season chart.
“He has the ability to flip the field, which is critical. He’s instrumental in trying to make opposing offenses play on a long field,” Cal specialteams coordinator Charlie Ragle said. “He’s made a lot of strides in homing in and understanding what his job is.
“Now, he just has to make the decision to be great.”
Klumph, a playful personality, riled up the San Diego State team by questioning its winning streak before Cal lost to the Aztecs last season.
This season, he got an earful on the sideline for celebrating a punt against Mississippi by miming a golf swing. The next Saturday, he stood in the middle of the marching band at halftime and acted as though a football was his wind instrument.
“I definitely want to stay loose, but sometimes, I need to do a better job of picking and choosing my timing,” said Klumph, who refers to focusing on his “own square footage.” “I’ve got to work on that, for sure. …
“I’m working on it. I’m learning.”
Cal got Klumph’s attention by bringing in graduate-transfer Steven Coutts, who was a Ray Guy Award candidate at Louisiana, to compete for the job after spring camp. After posting a joke about the competition on social media in August, Klumph said all the right things this week about how it pushed him to be better.
“Wait, Dylan said all of the right things?” senior kicker Matt Anderson joked. “No, he’s good. If anything, it was someone to compete with. It’s something that has elevated Dylan’s game.”
Klumph, who punts about 40 live balls a day, upped his drill, mental and muscle-memory work to hang onto his job.
He was the Bears’ Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance in Cal’s seasonopening win at North Carolina. By Week 2, he also re-established himself as the team’s holder on placekicks.
“I love to have fun as much as the next guy, but there is a demeanor and an approach to the game of football that you have to have,” Ragle said. “I don’t care what position you play. If you want to be great, when you smoke a 50-yard punt, you run off the field, high-five your teammates and act like it’s no big deal. That’s what you do.
“You’re great, and you know it. You don’t have to do anything else. Everybody in the stands knows it, too.”