Bulls punter draws praise, playful comparison

Posted Sep 28, 2010 by Adam Adkins

Updated Sep 28, 2010 at 05:32 PM

One player who has drawn significant praise in recent days from USF football coach Skip Holtz is Justin Brockhaus-Kann, and that trend continued during Tuesday’s press conference.

Only this time Holtz used a playful comparison in referencing his sophomore punter’s contributions.

“Brockhaus-Kann continues to be Gus the kicking mule,” Holtz said. “He’s just killing the ball right now.”

For those who didn’t catch the reference (I didn’t, but I looked it up), Gus the football-kicking mule was a character in a 1976 Disney movie starring Don Knotts, Ed Asner and Gary Grimes (pro football Hall of Famers Johnny Unitas and Dick Butkus also appear). Gus went from team mascot to team hero after it was discovered he could kick field goals the length of the field.

Whether or not Holtz believes Brockhaus-Kann is ready to star in his own movie remains to be seen, but his penchant for big kicks certianly has been a theme during the first three weeks of the season.

Brockhaus-Kann currently leads the Big East Conference with a 48.1 yard per punt average. Three of his eight punts have traveled 50 yards or further - including a season-long of 57 - and three have come to rest inside the 20 - including a 56-yarder downed inside the 1 in Saturday’s win over Western Kentucky.