Cal Ranked No. 4 in the Nation in ESPN’s Punter U

Too bad there is no ranking of long-snappers because Cal might be No. 1 at that position

Punting is not the sexiest position in football, but somebody has to do it, so you might as well be good at it. And Cal is good at it, or so say ESPN's rankings.

On Monday, ESPN released this year's version of Position U, which ranks the top 10 schools in each of 10 position groups based on the amount of talent that college has produced at a given position.

USC heads the list of Pac-12 schools in these rankings, earning the No. 1 spot for wide receivers, No. 2 for quarterbacks, No. 4 for linebackers, No. 6 for offensive line, No. 8 for defensive line and No. 8 for defensive backs.  But Cal does not rank in the top 10 in quarterbacks, running backs or wide receivers or any of six other categories.

But the Golden Bears do rank No. 4 in one category -- punters.

It's too bad ESPN did not include long snappers in its position groups because Cal might be No. 1 in that category. But more on that later. 

For now let's focus on Punter U, and the punters Cal has produced to earn such a lofty ranking.

Here are the ESPN rankings for punters:

1. Texas A&M

2. Utah

3. Tennessee

4. Cal

5. Cincinnati

6. Georgia Tech

7. Michigan State

8. Ohio State

9. Baylor

10. Florida

ESPN is a bit vague on the formula it used to rank these categories, providing this explanation:

There's no set formula for calculating which school produces the best prospects at each position, which is why a dozen programs can claim to be DBU. But our Stats and Information team put some math behind the boasts. So, what makes a school Position U? It's a combination of college success, draft stock and NFL success. Our formula awards points for all-conference and All-America selections, rewarding the best college performers. It awards points on a sliding scale based on where a player is drafted, rewarding impressive NFL evaluations.

Then, using data from Pro Football Reference, we add more points for production through the first five years of the player's NFL career -- beyond that, credit belongs to the NFL trainers and coaches -- so that the draft busts and the late bloomers all get credit, too. Of course, we also need to account for the transfer portal, which is an increasingly big issue in the rankings. Our plan: Awards won in college belong to the school where it happened. The draft and NFL production get credited to the last school a player played for.

Lastly, success in developing fullbacks in the 1950s doesn't really translate to the modern game, so we had to determine a more precise timeline for inclusion. We set our starting point at 1998, the start of the BCS era, only counting players developed since then.

Starting from 1998 eliminates two of the best punters Cal ever had: the Golden Bears' Scott Tabor, who was The Sporting News' first-team All-America punter in 1987, and Cal's Robbie Keen, who was the American Football Coaches Association first-team All-America punter in 1989.

Ryan Longwell, who spent many years in the NFL as a place-kicker, but had the third-best single-season punting average in Cal history (45.2 yards) in 1996, would not be included either.

It ESPN's starting point had been, say, 1985, the Golden Bears might have been No. 1 among punters.

Nonetheless, Cal has had two punters since then play a long time in the NFL and both were among the few punters to be selected in an NFL draft.

Nick Harris, a consensus first-team All-America punter in 2000, was a fourth-round pick of the Denver Broncos in 2001, and spent 12 years in the NFL, punting for the Bengals, Lions and Jaguars. In 2007, he signed a five-year deal worth $8.55 million, and it included a signing bonus of $2.05 million. His highest annual base salary $1.65 million in 2012.

Harris is now the principal at Berean Christian High School in Walnut Creek, Calif.

The other famous pro punter from Cal is Bryan Anger, who averaged 45.6 yards per punt for the Golden Bears in 2010, when he had five punts of over 70 yards.

Anger was a third-round pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2012 and has been an NFL punter for 12 years in Jacksonville, Tampa Bay and Houston. He was released by the Texans in March 2021, but signed by the Dallas Cowboys in April.

Anger signed a one-year contract with the Cowboys worth more than $2.2 million. It includes a $137,500 signing bonus, $137,500 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $1,212,500.

He was scheduled to earn $3 million in 2019 before he was cut by the Buccaneers, and was in line to earn $2.5 million in 2021 before the Texans released him.

Bryan Anger. Photo by Charles LeClaire, USA TODAY Sports

But let's get back to Long Snapper U, which is where the Golden Bears might rank No. 1.

Cal alum David Binn spent 17 seasons as the San Diego Chargers long-snapper, and he earned over $1 million in several of those seasons.

L.P. Ladouceur played at Cal from 2000 to 2003 and logged some time on the defensive line as well as being the Bears' long-snapper. He spent the past 16 seasons as the Dallas Cowboys long-snapper, and he has played 253 consecutive regular-season games, the longest active streak in the NFL and the sixth-longest streak alltime.  

His contract was not renewed by the Cowboys, so he won't be in Dallas in 2021, but said he has no plans to retire. Ladouceur earned over $1.1 million in each of the past three seasons.

Nick Sundberg is the latest in the line of Cal long-snappers, filling that role for the Bears from 2005 to 2008. He has been the long-snapper for the Washington Football Team for the past 11 seasons, but Washington did not re-sign him for 2021. Sundberg did say he plans to retire, so he might try to latch on with another team. He earned $1.05 million in 2020.

Nick Sundberg. Photo by Mark J. Rebilas, USA TODAY Sports

Other Pac-12 teams did make the ESPN top 10 in other position groups, as follows:

USC: No. 1 wide receivers, No. 2 quarterbacks, No. 4 linebackers, No. 6 offensive line, No. 8 defensive line, No. 8 defensive backs.

Oregon: No. 3 quarterbacks, No. 10 running backs

UCLA: No.  2 place-kickers, No. 10 tight ends

Utah: No. 2 punters, No. 5 place-kickers

Stanford: No. 3 tight ends

UCLA: No. 10 tight ends

This list makes you wonder why USC has won only one conference championship in the past 12 years. I guess that's why Clay Helton annually sits on the hot seat.

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Cover photo of Bryan Anger by Charles LeClaire, USA TODAY Sports

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Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

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