PART 6– This is the last segment of the players section of my All Time Joe Paterno Penn State football team. Tomorrow we will post a summary of all of the posts and present a list of greatest games and memories. We will also look at a few names that were missed that we shouldn’t have and also look at some of the greatest players that played against the Nittany Lions.

The Linebacker list was really tough. I thought the kickers would be easy but it didn’t work out that way. As far as the punters it was just splitting hairs.

1^ST TEAM:

Kevin Kelly – 4 year starter as a place kicker. He ranks #1 in total points in a career with 425. Craig Fayak is ranked 2^nd with 282. He ranks #1, tied with Matt Bahr, for most FG’s in a season with 22 and tied for 5^th with Travis Forney with 20, which he did twice. He kicked 4 FG’s in a game against Purdue in 2005 and Northwestern in 2006. Kevin kicked 3 FG’s in his career over 50 yards. With kickers with more than 50 career attempts, Kelly ranks #3 in career FG percentage at 72.9%. His points per year were 99, 96, 110 and 120. He is the Big 10 All Time Kick Leading Scorer.

2^nd TEAM:

Travis Forney – 3 year starter as a place kicker. He ranks #4 on in total points with 258. He along with Kelly are the only kickers with over 100 points in a season with 107. With kickers with more than 50 career attempts Forney ranks #1 in career FG percentage at 74.6%. He is tied for 3^rd with Massimo Manca for FG’s in a season with 21 in 1999 and ranked #5, tied for with Kevin Kelly, with 20 in 1998. Travis is tied with Brian Franco and Massimo Manca with 5 FG’s in a game. He also kicked a 50 yard FG against Minnesota in 1998.

Honorable Mention – Chris Bahr, Matt Bahr – both were 1^st Team All Americans and both had long NFL careers. Chris kicked 6 FG’s of more than 50 yards including 3 of 55 yards and 1 of 52 yards in 1975. For his career Chris’ FG percentage was 55.6% while Matt’s was 63.9%. Both were great players but their statistics don’t match up to Kelly and Forney.

Craig Fayak, Robbie Gould, Massimo Manca, Brett Conway, Nick Gancitano, Herb Menhardt, Brian Franco, Colin Wagner, Ray Tarasi, Ryan Primanti

PUNTER:

1^ST TEAM:

Jeremy Kapinos – 3^rd Team All American (’06). A 4 year starter with tremendous consistency. He averaged 41.7 yards per punt for his career which is ranked 4^th all time (over 100 punts). He averaged 41.9, 41.8, 41.3 and 41.9 yards for each of his seasons. He ranks #1 in career punts with 251. Jeremy only had 2 punts blocked in his career both as a freshman.

2^ND TEAM:

Jeremy Boone – 3 year starter who ranks tied for 1st in career average per punt at 43.1 yards (over 100 punts). He averaged 43.0, 43.0 and 43.3 yards per punt for each season.  His 78 yard punt versus Ohio State in 2004 ranks 2^nd all time.

Honorable Mention:

Ralph Giacomarro, Pat Pidgeon, John Bruno, Doug Helkowski, David Royer, Darrell Kania, Bob Parsons, Brian Masella, George Reynolds