One Wolverine Quietly Having Incredible Season

In his fifth season with the Michigan Wolverines, punter Brad Robbins is setting the pace in several key areas.

In his fifth season with the Michigan Wolverines, punter Brad Robbins is setting the pace in several key areas. 

Though he entered the season with a career average of 43.2 yards on 136 attempts, Robbins has already upped his average to 43.5 yards - now within a yard of the career record (44.3 yards per attempt) held by his former teammate Will Hart (111 attempts).

Among punters with at least one punt per game (five), Robbins' 4.45-second hang time is the best in the country, according to PFFCollege. He is the only punter in the nation above 4.4 seconds, while the average among Big Ten punters who meet the same qualifications is 3.89 seconds. With Robbins directing the special teams unit, no opponent has registered a punt return of 10-plus yards since U-M played Ohio State in the 2017 season (99 punts). So far this year, return attempts gain 2.25 yards on average.

Additionally, eleven of Robbins' 15 punts have been downed, fair caught, or have rolled out of bounds. The other three punts have been returned for a combined total of just nine yards. As a result, Michigan is No. 3 in the nation in net punting (44.88 yards per attempt). The slim difference between U-M's yards per punt (45.7) and net yards per punt has long been Robbins' calling card.