Kansas State vs Iowa State football: Getting to know the Wildcats special teams
By Brian Spaen
There’s a big advantage for Kansas State on both sides of the field, but the special teams unit is strangely familiar to Iowa State fans. It’s because their situation is nearly identical to what the Cyclones have.
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Starting lineup
- P: Mitch Lochbihler (9, Fr)
- PK: Jack Cantele (3, Jr)
- H: Collin Sexton (23, So)
- LS: Dalton Converse (46, Jr)
- KR: Tyler Lockett (16, Sr)
- PR: Tyler Lockett (16, Sr)
Place kicker Jack Cantele didn’t have many opportunities to kick field goals, but he was efficient. He went 11-of-13 , missing one of his three total FG attempts against Baylor and Kansas State. The other two misses for Kansas State came from then freshman Ian Patterson, who filled in during the final three games of the season.
At punter, there’s a new guy: Mitch Lochbihler. He redshirted during his first year. While at Charlotte Catholic in North Carolina, he averaged 43.8 yards on 26 total punts and a 68.3-yard average on kickoffs with 150 total touchbacks. He only had one punt for 36 yards in the win over Stephen F. Austin, and Patterson will be doing kickoff duties this year.
Tyler Lockett, who already has plenty of expectations at receiver, is slated to be the main guy at kicking and punt return duties. He was the main guy at kick returns last year with 22 returns for an average of 26.5 yards per game. He’ll be taking over punt returns, where he had just two returns for a grand total of four yards. He didn’t take any punt or kick returns in the season opener against Stephen F. Austin, those duties went to Judah Jones and Morgan Burns.