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Armer kicks it into gear

Punting is about the most non-glamorous job on the football field.

About the only time you hear anything about the position is when something goes wrong.

Maybe that’s why former Green Bay Packer Derrek Frost was always in the news.

But former Janesville Parker star and current Western Michigan University punter Ben Armer is making headlines for all the right reasons.

The redshirst freshman and 2007 Parker High graduate will wrap up a record-setting season for the Broncos in the Texas Bowl against Rice on Dec. 30.

The 5-foot-10, 201-pound Armer was named to the Mid-American Conference All-Freshman first team and set a school record with 11 punts over 50 yards. Armer enters the Texas Bowl with a 41.1 punting average, which was second in the MAC and ranks fifth all-time in school history for a season average.

Armer credits the redshirt season a year ago for much of his success.

“That was the best thing I could’ve done,” Armer said of sitting out the 2007 season. “Any time you come into a situation where you are competing for a job, you want to be the guy. And I wanted to be that guy last year as a freshman, but with a senior ahead of me, learning from him and watching him was the best thing for me.

“You don’t have any idea how much faster the college game is until you are actually on the field. That was the biggest adjustment.”

The Broncos didn’t win the MAC title, but they tied a school record with nine wins for the season. It’s only the second bowl game for Western Michigan since 1988, and with a late December game, the team gets an extra three weeks of practice.

“Our biggest goal was to win the MAC championship, but we came up short of that,” Armer said. “The three losses are three games we’d like to have back, but overall, we’re pretty pleased with our season.”

Armer punted 45 times this season for 1,850 yards, and he has been the starter since the opening game at Nebraska.

A trip to Lincoln, Neb., was Armer’s first taste of college football, and the atmosphere of 80,000 red-clad fans overwhelmed the 2006 Associated Press second-team punter. Armer’s first punt as a Bronco went off the side of his foot and, after rolling favorably for a few yards, netted 37 yards.

“It was just awful,” Armer said of his first punt. “But after I came off the field, the coach (Mike) Sabock just looked at me and said ‘get ‘em next time,’ and that helped settle me down. After that, I was fine.”

Armer had a season-long 57-yard punt against Buffalo, and despite a shaky start against Nebraska, he did not allow any punt-return yards in a 47-24 loss to the Cornhuskers.

As a workout fiend in high school, Armer didn’t think he would get any stronger or bigger in college. But a strong in-house training regimen at Western Michigan changed all that.

Armer lifted daily with the linebackers and linemen and noticed immediate results. His legs got even bigger and stronger, and those six-pack abs that men dream about became a reality.

And after being used primarily as a directional punter in high school, Armer now punts according to the scouting report on each team, including the return specialist. Hang time, distance, accuracy, and even making the occasional tackle, are now part of his job.

“I’m pretty happy with the way the season has gone,” Armer said. “You always feel like you can do better, and that’s what I’ll work on in the off-season and at summer camps, but winning nine games and going to a bowl game makes it a lot better.”