Sports Network Article on kicker, John Lunsford
Posted: June 28th, 2015, 1:57 am
LUNSFORD PREFERS TO DIAL LONG DISTANCEhttp://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnf ... 2_2015.htm
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Craig Haley - FCS Executive Director
Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Liberty University place-kicker John Lunsford and punter Trey Turner have a running joke going back and forth.
Lunsford tells Turner he is going to win away his starting job.
Turner tells Lunsford to bring it on.
Maybe Turner should feel a little more uncomfortable with such a prospect. Lunsford could possess the strongest foot in all of college football.
"My goal is to take the punting position," Lunsford said, although Liberty coach Turner Gill may be content with keeping his senior to booming field goals and kickoffs.
As a junior last year, Lunsford kicked the season's longest field goal on all NCAA levels - a 60-yarder - as well as two of the other five longest in Division I.
He helped Liberty win a share of the Big South Conference title and advance to the FCS playoffs for the first time.
"I think we have a lot more higher expectations this year because we did make it to the playoffs for the first time and we have (many key players) coming back," Lunsford said. "So the bar is going to be set really high, especially for our offense."
Opponents may ask for the crossbar to be set higher, or farther back, before they face Lunsford. In addition to his Big South-record 60-yard field goal against Richmond, which was kicked into a slight wind, forced overtime as time expired and tied for the sixth-longest in FCS history, he connected on a 57-yarder against Bryant and a 56-yarder in a playoff win at JMU.
