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Landon Foster certainly would seem to have the versatility to be a productive punter and/or kicker at Kentucky based on what he did for Independence High School in Thompson Station, Tenn.
He was a first-team Class AAAAAA kicker by the Tennessee Sports Writers’ Association. He made 11 of 16 field goals as a senior with a long of 49 and averaged 41.3 yards per punt. Fifty of his 56 kickoffs went for touchbacks and four of the others were onside kicks.
He was named his team’s most valuable player and was ranked as the No. 8 kicker in the nation by Scout.com and the No. 12 kicker and the 10th best prospect in the state of Tennessee by SuperPrep.
Foster, who reported to UK this week for summer school, shared these insights about his career and future before arriving in Lexington:
Question: Are you a punter? Are you a placekicker? Are you both?
Foster: “I am definitely approaching it as being a punter. I know Craig Hentrich, punter for the Tennessee Titans, and I have always punted with him and was just joking around until my freshman year, and that’s when I started playing football.
“I kicked and punted because I played soccer and I didn’t really know what I wanted to do until this summer when I started going to camps. I got a couple of scholarship offers for kicking and couple to go punting.
“I remember telling my mom right after the Kentucky camp driving down to Knoxville that I wanted to punt in college. I cancelled all my trips that were looking at me to kick and just focused on punting. That’s what I want to do.
“I can kick as well and that’s what coach Phillips wants me to do — just be there in case. My junior and senior season after Joe (Mansour) leaves, I might fill in at kicker or whatever. But when he (Phillips) calls me, he tells me to make sure I am punting and not worrying about kicking. So punting is my main thing.”
Question: How much has your relationship with Hentrich helped you and how much has he taught you?
Foster: “He has been mentor my whole life. I met him when I was 5 years old. I didn’t think about playing football then, but he’s like an uncle to me. We have been great friends and it has helped me through the college process and obviously kicking. I learned everything I knew from him. It has been great and he’s a great person period. I always look up to him and ask him for advice.”
Question: How does a 5-year-old youngster develop a friendship with a NFL punter?
Foster: “My parents got to know him. I just got to know him through my parents. I played soccer my whole life. He actually didn’t play football until his sophomore year in high school and he always said you should try out. I was going to try out my eighth grade year but I went over to England for 12 days and our middle school coach if you missed two practices, you were not allowed to be on the team and I didn’t play.”
Question: Did playing soccer help you with your punting and kicking?
Foster: “People say that, but it completely different. When you punt a soccer ball, you punt from the side. Punting in football everything has to be precise and right down the middle and in a straight line. Craig says I am a natural punter, which is weird. In soccer I was a goalie and punted, too. It is completely opposite and why I quit soccer after my sophomore year to focus on football. Going back and forth was hard and even kicking a soccer ball is different from kicking a football. You had to keep changing your form back and forth and that got tough.”
Question: Were you strictly a kicker-punter in football or did you play another position as well?
Foster: “My freshman year I played outside linebacker and wid receiver. This year right before our camp during the summer the coaches saw me throw a few balls and tried to get me to play quarterback. I knew I couldn’t learn the playbook in two weeks, so I decided not to do that.”
Question: Did you play other sports growing up?
Foster: “I messed around. I played basketball one or two years. Played baseball a year. Soccer was always my life and I ended up succeeding in that. Then it was time for a new challenge, so I started football. Got successful in that, too.”
He was a first-team Class AAAAAA kicker by the Tennessee Sports Writers’ Association. He made 11 of 16 field goals as a senior with a long of 49 and averaged 41.3 yards per punt. Fifty of his 56 kickoffs went for touchbacks and four of the others were onside kicks.
He was named his team’s most valuable player and was ranked as the No. 8 kicker in the nation by Scout.com and the No. 12 kicker and the 10th best prospect in the state of Tennessee by SuperPrep.
Foster, who reported to UK this week for summer school, shared these insights about his career and future before arriving in Lexington:
Question: Are you a punter? Are you a placekicker? Are you both?
Foster: “I am definitely approaching it as being a punter. I know Craig Hentrich, punter for the Tennessee Titans, and I have always punted with him and was just joking around until my freshman year, and that’s when I started playing football.
“I kicked and punted because I played soccer and I didn’t really know what I wanted to do until this summer when I started going to camps. I got a couple of scholarship offers for kicking and couple to go punting.
“I remember telling my mom right after the Kentucky camp driving down to Knoxville that I wanted to punt in college. I cancelled all my trips that were looking at me to kick and just focused on punting. That’s what I want to do.
“I can kick as well and that’s what coach Phillips wants me to do — just be there in case. My junior and senior season after Joe (Mansour) leaves, I might fill in at kicker or whatever. But when he (Phillips) calls me, he tells me to make sure I am punting and not worrying about kicking. So punting is my main thing.”
Question: How much has your relationship with Hentrich helped you and how much has he taught you?
Foster: “He has been mentor my whole life. I met him when I was 5 years old. I didn’t think about playing football then, but he’s like an uncle to me. We have been great friends and it has helped me through the college process and obviously kicking. I learned everything I knew from him. It has been great and he’s a great person period. I always look up to him and ask him for advice.”
Question: How does a 5-year-old youngster develop a friendship with a NFL punter?
Foster: “My parents got to know him. I just got to know him through my parents. I played soccer my whole life. He actually didn’t play football until his sophomore year in high school and he always said you should try out. I was going to try out my eighth grade year but I went over to England for 12 days and our middle school coach if you missed two practices, you were not allowed to be on the team and I didn’t play.”
Question: Did playing soccer help you with your punting and kicking?
Foster: “People say that, but it completely different. When you punt a soccer ball, you punt from the side. Punting in football everything has to be precise and right down the middle and in a straight line. Craig says I am a natural punter, which is weird. In soccer I was a goalie and punted, too. It is completely opposite and why I quit soccer after my sophomore year to focus on football. Going back and forth was hard and even kicking a soccer ball is different from kicking a football. You had to keep changing your form back and forth and that got tough.”
Question: Were you strictly a kicker-punter in football or did you play another position as well?
Foster: “My freshman year I played outside linebacker and wid receiver. This year right before our camp during the summer the coaches saw me throw a few balls and tried to get me to play quarterback. I knew I couldn’t learn the playbook in two weeks, so I decided not to do that.”
Question: Did you play other sports growing up?
Foster: “I messed around. I played basketball one or two years. Played baseball a year. Soccer was always my life and I ended up succeeding in that. Then it was time for a new challenge, so I started football. Got successful in that, too.”
