Critical of 2020 showing, Stout and Pinegar hopeful of improvement
Jordan Stout and Jake Pinegar have made one thing clear lately — they know they can perform better than they did in 2020.
Both members of Penn State's field goal kicking duo were unable to capitalize on a 2019 season that established them as an asset to James Franklin and his staff.
"I feel like I have way more potential than how I performed last year," Stout said Tuesday.
Stout's assessment of his performance included more than just his field goal kicking — where he connected on two of his five attempts for the season, with all of those kicks coming from at least 40 years out, and three of them from 50-plus.
Stout also took over Penn State's punting duties last season, to go along with his role as the Nittany Lions' kickoff man.
Stout averaged a net of 38.9 yards per punt in his first season in the role. By comparison, Blake Gillikin averaged a net of 39.9 yards during his final season with Penn State, hovering around the same mark for all four years of his career.
On kickoffs — which Stout said were the aspect of his game he was happiest with last season — he registered touchbacks on 42 of his 50 attempts a season ago, compared to 66 touchbacks on 84 attempts the previous season. However, the average field position on his kicks rose slightly last year, from 24.5 to 25.8.
"I definitely feel like I learned a lot last season," Stout said. "I know how to prepare better for those roles, and then I'm working at field goal a lot more because I wasn't as successful at that as I wanted to be last year as well. I feel like consistency was the issue. I have the leg strength and the speed, I just need to be more consistent.
"If I can get more consistent I feel like that's going to put me to the next level."
To reach that point, Stout is trying to isolate specific aspects of kicking and punting in drills, rather than simply kicking the ball over and over again.
On film, he can spot certain details that can lead to mistakes, like a misplaced plant floor, where he drops the ball for a punt or the swing of his leg.
Pinegar was similarly critical of his 2020 season when he spoke with the media at the beginning of spring practice two weeks ago.
He made 9 of his 13 attempts a season ago after hitting on 11 of his 12 tries in 2019. Notably, he missed both of his field goal attempts in Penn State's overtime loss to Indiana in Week 1. It's not difficult to imagine a different outcome to that game — and maybe even Penn State's season — had those kicks been made.
"I just think it comes down to just me missing kicks," Pinegar said. "There were kicks last season and moments last season that 10 times out of 10 I need to make, I do make, and that didn't happen last year. I've thought about it. There's no real logical explanation. It's not even an excuse. I just didn't make those kicks, and some of them need to be made every single time and that's my job."
Both Stout and Pinegar were noncommittal when asked about the nature of their roles for the upcoming campaign.
Franklin has typically deployed Stout for longer field goals and Pinegar for shorter ones over the last two seasons, but both said it's no certainty that pattern will continue.
"I don't know per se what's set in stone and not," Pinegar said. "Two years ago it was like that, last year was like that. I continue to kick as many field goals as I can. I know Jordan does the same, he's not kicking 55-yarders and 55-yarders only."
"We're both doing really well right now," Stout said. "It's always a competition. Nothing's given at any set time. I perform better I'll probably kick, if he does better, then he'll kick. That's just how it is here."
*******
• Talk about this article inside The Lions Den
• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue-White Illustrated
• Follow us on Twitter: @BWIonRivals, @NateBauerBWI, @RivalsSnyder, @DavidEckert98
• Follow us on Instagram
• Like us on Facebook