Meet The 2018 Class: Three-Star Kicker Jake Pinegar

With the graduation of Tyler Davis and the transfer of Alex Barbir, it was imperative that the Nittany Lions signed a kicker in the 2018 class. In comes Iowa’s Jake Pinegar, who will compete for the starting job from day one. If his kicking is as sweet as his hair, Penn State might have the first Heisman winner at kicker.

Highlights

Outlook

I’m not going to act like I know what I’m talking about when it comes to kicking highlights, but Pinegar has one of the strongest legs in the nation. He’s also one of the best athletes (for a kicker) in the country, and because of that, has tremendous upside. Kohl’s Kicking pretty much says that Pinegar’s “A ball” is one of the best in the country, but needs to work on his ability to call upon it — i.e., the potential is there, Pinegar just needs to work on being consistent. Now that he’ll be a kicker full-time, the consistency should follow.

As far as where Pinegar stands on the depth chart, Penn State needs Pinegar to be ready. The Nittany Lions’ kicking situation is — in a word — bad. Walk-ons Nick DeAngellis (SR) and Carson Landis (SO) are the only placekickers left in the program, and neither were all that highly-touted. The situation could be helped by Blake Gillikin, who told Mark Brennan of Lions247/Fight On State that he’ll compete for the kicking job, although I don’t think having Gillikin handle punting, placekicking, and kickoffs is optimal. As good as Gillikin is, that’s a lot for one player to shoulder, which is why Pinegar being capable from day one would be — as the kids are saying — “lit, fam.”