Mobile, Ala. — Standing there at the 30-yard-line without his signature rec specs, one could hardly recognize Michigan State punter Bryce Baringer, as he chatted with Chicago Bears special-teams assistant Carlos Polk.
But, listen to him talk about the craft, and he’s easily identified as the First-Team All-America who led the nation in net average (49.0) during his final season in East Lansing.
Baringer, 23, has had a successful week of Senior Bowl practices, but not because he’s ‘showing what he can do’ in the way other prospects find success during the annual event. He put cleat-to-pigskin 161 times during his career at Michigan State and routinely did it in booming fashion over his last two years.
It’s very clear what he can do.
“I’ve seen it enough. He is great right here,” said Michigan State receiver Reed, who’s also a Senior Bowl teammate with Baringer this week.
“He got a freaking moon boot on him.”
While all the other players in Mobile, Ala. are here to prove they can hang, Baringer is here to get a head start on the next step. As impressive as his was last season, he’s learning the NFL has greater consequences to one of punting’s golden rules: It doesn’t matter how far if it doesn’t go high.
“Media, the fans, they love seeing that giant, huge punt, right? That scares the coordinators,” Baringer said. “If we don’t have guys in coverage to cover a 60-yard ball and he’s got 30 yards of the best athletes in the world to do whatever they want with the football, it gets scary.”
“Going from college to professional, I had three, sometimes four guys, releasing immediately after the snap. I had a long-snapper, and two, sometimes three, gunners. Now, I have two gunners, and half the time they might get viced.”
Of 142 qualified NCAA punters, Baringer ranked 77th in average hangtime (3.76 seconds) last season, per PFF.
A few days of NFL coaching in southern Alabama have Baringer punting like a pro.
According to Thursday’s Senior Bowl practice data (collected by Zebra Technologies), Baringer led 2022 Ray Guy Award-winner Adam Korsak (Rutgers) in average distance (56.4 yards to 55.4), average height (87.2 to 72.9) and average hangtime (4.5 seconds to 4.0).
Baringer talked with reporters after going over the initial results of Polk’s guidance, explaining his slow start to the day was met with a strong finish that incorporated all of the things they’ve been talking about. On the final day of practice, he consistently broke through on what’s seemingly the biggest threat to his NFL future.
“We were just talking about that first ball that I hit today in (the first) period. Everyone was hyped up, we were all maybe a little bit jittery, going … fast, so, just slow it down,” Baringer said. “We all have the chance to be pros here, so let’s act like pros. Let’s not get all jumpy. And then after that, I was rolling.”
“I was talking to Jayden Reed, my guy, and (Michigan receiver) Ronnie Bell, and they’re like, ‘We didn’t return a ball today. … That, to me, is where I kind of win. If they can’t return it, I did my job.”
Part of his interaction with the coaches on staff is done with the goal of demonstrating intangibles, some of which are already told by the trajectory of his college career.
The Waterford native left Illinois as a preferred walk-on after getting redshirted during his true freshman season, content with abandoning his football career to return home as a normal student. He was then contacted for two tryouts — he didn’t make the team either time, but was called on after two Spartan punters went down. He averaged just 32.4 net yards as a redshirt freshman in 2018.
Baringer was cut the following year, invited back the year after that, and has spent the last two seasons developing into what some analysts believe is the finest punting prospect this class has to offer.
After all that, it’s not lost on Baringer how fortunate he is to get such acute attention from NFL staffers, even at an event centered on this kind of coaching.
“I know I gotta start faster, and I’ll work on that for sure, but it felt great. It’s cool,” Baringer said.
“Not a lot of guys get this opportunity to have one-on-ones with coaches that are doing this for a living, so that’s been really awesome.”
Standing there at the 30-yard-line after Thursday’s practice, Bryce Baringer saw it all come together.
nbianchi@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @nolanbianchi