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With 39 days left until kickoff, we highlight the player who will be doing that…kicking.
Senior kicker Ben Freehill enters his last season of collegiate eligibility as (I feel like I keep saying this) one of the last players to use the COVID season exemption.
The transfer from Oklahoma State will spend his fourth season in West Lafayette after redshirting in 2019, essentially granting him two red shirt years.
Freehill, out of Gibson City, Illinois, was sorely missed in several games last season after suffering a leg injury. Kicking accuracy dropped off in the four games he missed, but in eight games, the transfer was 21 for 22 in PAT’s and 6 of 11 in field goal attempts.
Note: the Boilers kicked an oddly low amount of field goals last season and a lot of his attempts were pretty far out.
The 23-year-old first appeared on field at Ross-Ade primarily as a kickoff specialist before taking over placekicking last season.
Freehill’s presence will be needed in 2024 with an offense finding its footing (I am hilarious) in the second year of fresh-faced head coach Ryan Walters and offensive coordinator Graham Harrell’s offense.
I feel like there were a lot of situations last year when the Boilermakers were faced with decisions of punting versus attempting a field goal in no man’s land, and with a lot of the core offensive contributors returning I expect Freehill to be utilized a decent bit more than in 2023, not even considering games missed due to injury.
The senior’s career long field goal is 44 yards, but I’m calling a 51-yarder this year.