On the football field, he has one job. And El Dorado’s Dave Carruth puts in the work to make sure he performs that job at a high level.
Actually, this season Carruth will have two jobs. The senior will add place kicking to the punting chores he handled last year. El Dorado coach Steven Jones expects Carruth to be a valuable weapon in the Wildcats’ special teams this season.
“Dave is a collegiate prospect at punter,” said Jones. “He is one of the hardest workers I have ever had an opportunity to coach. He puts in a ton of time working technique and fundamentals on kicking.”
Carruth averaged 31.8 yards per punt last season and had four punts downed inside the 20. His longest punt was 55 yards. His average yards per punt was damaged when the protection allowed three punts to be blocked at midseason.
Carruth said he’s excited to double his workload as the team’s kicker this season and will also be a candidate for kickoffs.
“At first I was a little worried about taking on the kicking duties. But then I started working every day to get better and improve,” Carruth said. “Before the summer started, the longest field goal I had made while practicing was only 40 yards and I was using a tee like most high school kickers do. But over the course of my training so far, I have been able to hit a couple field goals from 50 yards without a tee like college and NFL kickers.
“As far as punting goes, I have been able to increase my hangtime by half a second or more. I’m ready to take on any challenge that comes my way.”
Kickers are, notoriously, a different breed. They dwell on the smallest details of their craft, often obsessing with things such as the laces on the ball, the speed of the snap, the holder’s spin.
For Carruth, the drop on his punts is a primary focus. One of his drills includes walking a mile on the track while repeatedly doing punt drops with the football.
“When it comes to punting and kicking the football, lots of people underestimate the difficulty that’s really behind it. Anyone who knows anything about punting a football will tell you that the drop is the most important part of it. So that’s why it’s crucial to practice it,” Carruth explained.
“I’ve learned a lot by training with a local, Justin Geurin, former kicker for the Wildcats and several guys who played Division I and NFL football through Kohl’s Kicking Camps. By training with all of those guys, I learned lots of different drills to help improve my technique. I came up with one drill on my own that I do every single day in the morning before practice and on the weekends and that’s going to the track and walking a mile doing nothing but my drops to make sure they’re the same every time. If the drop is off by just a hair, then it could mess up the whole punt.”
When a player has just one job, they tend to get a little nit-picky about it. No matter how many physical drills one can dream up, on Friday night, most of the job is done between the ears.
“My key to success this season will be to have a strong mentality and confidence,” said Carruth. “While it’s important to be physically prepared, it’s far more important to be mentally prepared for any and all situations. When I’m practicing, I put myself in game-like situations to prepare myself because you never know what’s going to happen. I take the saying ‘you play how you practice’ very seriously.”
Carruth said he went to local parks to punt and kick during the quarantine since the stadium has been closed.
“It’s been very important to me that I don’t use this time as a break because I know that I have the potential to be a good player and I don’t want to put that to waste,” he said. “I’ve been lifting weights and eating better to help build muscle and get a stronger kicking leg.”
Carruth plans to play a role in a more successful football season for the Wildcats. He also hopes to secure a future as a college kicker.
“I was recently invited to the 2020 Kohl’s Kicking Camps National Scholarship Camp in Tennessee and I’m very thankful for this opportunity,” he said. “Kohl’s is the biggest kicking camp in the nation and this camp I will be going to is comprised of the top punters, kickers, and long snappers in the nation. While at this camp, the top performers there will be chosen to play in the Under Armour All-American Game. The Kohl’s staff will video my performance while I’m there and keep track of my stats. Kohl’s has connections to every college in the nation so they will send out my stats from the camp to all the different colleges.
So, this is very big for my recruiting process.
“This season my goal is not only to perform well for recruiting purposes, but mainly to help my team in all situations on the field and know that I always gave my all for them.”