Mag Preview: Sky's The Limit
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This story is featured in our newest issue of Blue White Illustrated, mailed to our magazine subscribers and now on newsstands. Be sure to check out our complete issue preview beneath it!
By Matt Herb
A pair of unblocked Indiana defensive linemen were bearing down on Blake Gillikin as he picked up the loose football at Penn State’s 15-yard line. One of them had a fistful of jersey, and it looked as though he was going to make the Nittany Lion freshman pay dearly for mishandling the snap on a first-quarter punt attempt.
But Gillikin somehow managed to stay on his feet just long enough to launch a rugby-style kick downfield – a pretty good kick, too. The ball hung in the air so long that Hoosiers return man Mitchell Paige was forced to call for a fair catch. Instead of starting from Penn State’s red zone, Indiana began from its own 40 and ended up punting the ball right back to the Lions a few plays later.
Gillikin’s punt went into the record books as a 22-yarder, but it was one of the more impressive feats of athleticism in a Penn State season that was full of brilliant moments. Which makes sense, because Gillikin doesn’t regard himself as a one-tool player, the kind of guy whose skill set is limited to a single very specific task. He regards himself as an athlete who can do a lot of things, including flights of improvisation like the one he pulled off in Bloomington.
“I played three sports in high school, and I’ve been in an athletic environment before,” he said. “That’s how I want to express myself to my teammates and to everyone else watching, that I’m an athlete as well as a punter. People don’t necessarily think of specialists as athletes.
“Having an athletic background definitely helps in figuring out what to do quickly in that kind of situation. … It’s all about taking a situation that could really go poorly and making it less poor, less bad. That’s what I’ve tried to do when things like that have come up.”
That makes sense, too. Punters are always being called upon to make the best of bad situations. It’s the nature of the job. The offense has come up short on third down, so now it’s time to surrender possession. That moment against Indiana? It was just a slightly more extreme version of the pain mitigation that Gillikin was doing on a regular basis last season.
And make no mistake, Gillikin mitigated a fair bit of pain. Punting had been one of the Lions’ more vexing problems the previous two seasons, but Gillikin won the starting job in preseason practice and went on to enjoy an impressive debut. He averaged 42.8 yards per attempt to rank third in the Big Ten, with 18 fair catches and 22 punts landing inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.
Gillikin looks back on it now as a learning experience, saying he was “relatively satisfied.” A native of Smyrna, Ga., he had wrapped up his high school career in spectacular fashion. In Westminster’s overtime victory over Blessed Trinity in the Class AAA state championship game, he finished with two punts of more than 60 yards, three field goals, including a 53-yarder, and six kickoffs, none of which were returnable. James Franklin, who was on hand for the game along with special teams coordinator Charles Huff, called it “as impressive a performance as we’ve ever been around.” So Gillikin had some big-game experience when he arrived on campus last summer.
Even so, he was nervous before taking the field for the first time in Penn State’s opener against Kent State. “I definitely had some butterflies,” he admitted. “It’s natural to get nervous before games. But your first collegiate game? That’s a lot different. In high school, you’re not playing in front of 107,000 every week, so that was definitely a big change.”
Gillikin sent his first punt soaring 49 yards to the Golden Flashes’ 18, where return man Nick Holley was forced to signal for a fair catch. The freshman went on to average 47 yards on six attempts. It was an auspicious start.
But there were also a few setbacks last year, including a midseason slump that Gillikin attributes to his unfamiliarity with his new practice regimen. In some practices, he was attempting as many as 40 punts, more than he’d ever done in high school. If he wasn’t feeling good about some aspect of his kicking, he would keep on kicking until he did feel good, a habit that led to fatigue.
But when he got his routine dialed in, doing all the high-intensity workouts on Mondays and Tuesdays and tapering off as game day approached, he began to feel better about his performances. In the Big Ten Championship Game, for instance, Gillikin was rested, ready and confident, in part because he knew he wouldn’t have to deal with any foul weather in Lucas Oil Stadium. The result: a 49-yard average on two attempts.
Gillikin is looking to be even more effective as a sophomore. During winter workouts, he focused on building leg strength. Because he played football, basketball and soccer in high school, he didn’t have a lot of time to devote to strength training, but that’s changed now that he’s focused on one sport. “This off-season is all about getting my leg stronger, getting more explosive for next season,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll see that show up in spring ball.”
Gillikin is already looking forward to one game in particular: Penn State’s visit to Northwestern on Oct. 7. That’s because his twin brother, Tyler, is a redshirt freshman long snapper with the Wildcats. Tyler had been Blake’s long snapper during their sophomore and junior years at Westminster before suffering a wrist injury early in his senior year. He had always wanted to attend Northwestern, and this spring he’s vying for a starting spot. No matter what Tyler’s role happens to be in the fall, Blake said that standing on the sideline opposite his brother is “definitely going to be one of the weirdest things I’ve ever done. I don’t think I’ve ever played on a team against him before.”
While they were being recruited, there was never much talk of the two brothers attending the same school. “At the end of the day, going to college is a new experience that you have to do on your own,” Blake said. “The fact that we went to different schools was weird at first because I hadn’t been away from him for more than two days in my life. But it’s definitely going to be good for us as we grow up and mature.”
From an athletic perspective, that maturation process seems to be going quite well. If Gillikin’s first season was any indication, his career, like one of his punts, is on the way up.
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What's in our March issue of Blue White Illustrated's magazine? Let's take a closer look at some of the feature stories, news and notes, here!
THE RUNDOWN:
FOOTBALL - Looking to make the most of the momentum of their remarkable Rose Bowl run in 2016, the Nittany Lions are determined to aim even higher in 2017. To get to those new heights, they're starting with a mission to perform this spring. We break down the team as it deals with the losses of a few key seniors, while anticipating the rise of younger performers. Five questions, key spring battles and more highlight this section!
PHIL'S CORNER - BWI publisher Phil Grosz is convinced the Nittany Lions are only scratching the surface of their potential on the offensive side of the ball. Following a huge season of success, taking leaps from previous iterations under head coach James Franklin, Phil reveals the keys to bettering that performance in this must-read!
RECRUITING - As always, BWI recruiting analysts Ryan Snyder and Tim Owen have your Penn State football recruiting fix. In this issue, they break down the prospects that were in attendance for the program's junior day in February, while Snyder takes another look at why an early signing period will be a great idea. Additional feature includes a Q&A with Class of 2018 commitment Charlie Katshir, and Up Close and Personal features on Tariq Castro-Fields, Desmond Holmes, C.J. Thorpe and Journey Brown.
Once again, BWI has the best and most insightful features on Penn State recruiting.
HOOPS - BWI men's basketball beat writer Nate Bauer examines the expanding role of Nittany Lion center Mike Watkins and what he'll need to do to remain on the floor to be even bigger next season.
WRESTLING - Wrestling takes center stage in this issue, and the Nittany Lions backed it up over the weekend in St. Louis. BWI's Tim Owen takes you deep inside the names and faces that went on to win national championships - en route to winning yet another team title - in the NCAA Tournament. You will not want to miss this!
If you missed your chance last month, be sure to grab your single-issue copy of our blowout Class of 2017 recruiting issue at the link below.
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And these are just a few of the many stories and features that come with every edition of Blue White Illustrated's magazine, including an inside look at the hockey program, Varsity Views notebook, Scorecard, The Last Word, and more!