In the sport of American Football, the punter is the equivalent of the "cleaner," the guy killers send in to hide the evidence of a dead body. You don't necessarily want to see him involved, but if he does need to be out there, you hope to God he does his job well and erases any evidence of your mess. In Anthony Santella, the Illini have finally found their Winston Wolf.Santella has been dominant this season. He is third in the nation in punting average at 47.9 yards per punt, and six of his punts have landed inside the 20-yard line. If not for the greasy hands of his coverage team, he would have had at least one more punt downed inside the 2-yard line last Saturday at Penn St. Santella's stellar performance was rewarded today when he was named to the Rivals.com Mid-Season All-America squad. That's well-deserved recognition.
As you well know, the all-time leader in Illini punting history is current Jets standout, Steve Weatherford. Steve finished his Illini career with a 43.5 average, including three of the top four best single-season punting averages in Illini history, his best being 45.4 in 2004. Anthony's current average would top that by over two yards per punt. He has some work to do catch Steve's career record - Anthony currently sits at 40.4 on his career - but if he keeps up his current pace, he will at least be known as one of the top 2 punters in Illini history.
No doubt he'll bring that big boot to East Lansing on Saturday.
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