Vols’ Daniel vows to kick ‘terrible punter’ to curb
Trevor Daniel can pinpoint the moment he realized he could become a quality Division I punter.
Having spent the early part of his Tennessee career learning from incumbent starter Matt Darr, an academic conflict gave Daniel a chance to showcase his progress.
“My sophomore year, Darr had to go to class. I punted for practice and I was hitting them really good and Coach (Butch) Jones said, ‘You keep this up and you can be the guy,’” Daniel said. “That is what gave me confidence.”
Daniel has risen from a walk-on who was “so bad” to a scholarship player who regularly provides the Vols with great field position.
The redshirt senior ranked third in the SEC and 11th nationally last season at 44.6 yard per punt. Daniel booted 21 kicks of at least 50 yards and pinned opponents inside the 20yard line 28 times.
In the midst of his third spring as UT’s full-time starter, Daniel is being vigilant about avoiding a letdown.
“I’ve kind of caught myself, I wouldn’t say being complacent, but not pushing myself like I should be,” Daniel said last Thursday after practice. “When there’s not as much competition to win the job, you can get kind of complacent, but I’m still trying to get better each and every day.”
The improvement doesn’t involve a dramatic overhaul, just minor tweaks to improve hang time and consistency.
“If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. I am just trying to keep doing what I do,” said Daniel, who was awarded a scholarship before the 2015 season. “I am not really wanting to change it too much because I don’t want to throw myself off or mess it up for the team. So I am just going to keep doing what I am doing.”
Despite his success last season, Daniel did not receive All-SEC recognition. The Dickson native was edged out by Alabama’s JK Scott and Florida’s Johnny Townsend.
“It didn’t bother me at all,” Daniel said. “I just want to play for Tennessee. I love it.”
As a returning veteran, the only real stress Daniel says he feels this spring doesn’t involve using his foot.
“These days it’s just holding,” he said. “I just starting holding today. I had to hold for (placekicker Aaron) Medley and I was kind of nervous. Other than that, punting-wise I am comfortable. I feel like Coach Jones trusts me to do my job.”
The arrival of new UT strength and conditioning coach Rock Gullickson has changed the way Daniel and the kickers train with more position-specific workouts employed.
“He focuses on what specialists need like legs, not just workouts that don’t really helps us,” the 6foot-1, 248-pound Daniel said. “We’re doing more flexibility stuff.”
Having studied the history, Daniel is aware of the lineage of great punters that have excelled at UT and beyond. Darr (Miami Dolphins), Britton Colquitt (Cleveland Browns) and Dustin Colquitt (Chiefs) are the UT punting alums currently on NFL rosters.
“It’s pretty awesome. We talk about that all the time. ‘Punter U’ everybody calls it,” Daniel said. “So I feel like I got some big shoes to fill, hopefully in the NFL.”
Like Darr did for him, Daniel is helping prepare the next in line at UT.
“The specialists are always working together,” Daniel said. “I’ve been trying to help out Grayson Linde, the (redshirt) freshman punter, as best I can and he’s improving so that makes me feel better.”
Although his job is secure, Daniel doesn’t want to take a chance at things changing. He remembers calling his mom and dad on Aug. 26, 2015, to tell them he’d been awarded a scholarship and hearing the excitement in their voice from what his hard work had achieved.
“I want to help this team out as best as I can. My goal every day is to just keep getting better. Don’t decline,” Daniel said. “I don’t want to get in a slump and turn into a terrible punter.”