How a Former Soccer Player Has Eased Pitt’s 4th Down Concerns

Caleb Junko believes that inside every kicker, there’s just a boy who once thought to himself, “Hey, I think I could boot that ball pretty far…”

Junko was once that boy himself. He spent his first two years at Hudson High School in Akron, Ohio playing soccer. He grew up a Pitt fan, attending games all throughout his youth with his grandfather Bob, but he wasn’t really all that into football.

He just liked to come down onto the field at what-was-then Heinz Field after games, grabbing a cup of Powerade and hanging out with the players.

It wasn’t until the summer before his junior year at Hudson that he actually started to think about being a football player — and it was only because he thought he could do what he was watching a few classmates do.

“I was just out there after soccer practice one day and the football team had a bunch of linebackers and wide receivers punting and kicking,” Junko said Tuesday after practice. “And I was like, ‘I think I could do a pretty good job with that,’ so I went over to the coach, never talked to him, and was like, ‘Hey, can I try this?’

“I just set the ball, it turned out to be like a 55-yard field goal and put it right down the middle. He was like, ‘Hey, you wanna play for us?’ And I was like, ‘Sure.’ Just kinda hopped right into it.”

So, Junko joined the football team. Well, actually, he started to kick footballs and soccer balls after school. When soccer practice ended, and his teammates filed back into the locker room, Junko stayed out and just kicked. Field goals, punts, kickoffs. All by himself.

“I wouldn’t say I really got a coach,” Junko said. “I’m kinda self-taught a little bit. I went to some of those Kohl’s kicking camps and just kinda did my own thing.”

But Junko learned a lot from his grandfather, of course. Bob taught Caleb hard work, dedication and a love of Pitt football, of course. Kirk Christodoulou, once Junko arrived as a walk-on in 2021, taught him what it means to be a punter. Christodoulou fine-tuned Junko’s game a bit.

Junko didn’t see the field as a first-year player in 2021, and he was the third string (and least-used) punter last season. But in just 12 attempts last season, he averaged 48.7 yards per attempt. He also pinned the opponent inside the 20 four times and booted the ball 50 yards or more three times.

Sam Vander Haar and Cam Guess were still ahead of him on the depth chart, though. Even with the season-long struggles forcing a rotation. It’s not hyperbole to say punting cost Pitt last season. It was a disaster. Vander Haar, Pitt’s main starter last season, averaged just over 38 yards per punt.

It’s a stark contrast to Junko’s play this season, emerging as one of the most consistent players on the roster through the early going. He hasn’t just been one of the better punters in the ACC, he’s been one of the better punters in college football. It’s just an 11 punt sample size, three games’ worth, but his 48.5 yards per boot is good for second in the ACC and fifth in college football.

Instead of worrying whether or not the punter will even get the kickoff, now the Pitt coaching staff has a weapon that is able to flip the field with a single kick.

“It feels great personally,” Junko said. “I mean, when you look at last year, it was kind of a stressful situation when it hit fourth down. And now more than ever, I hope that coaches can just relax when they see me out there. And I feel more comfortable than ever back there. With the gunners, DC, everyone who’s blocking for me, it’s just a super smooth operation. I wouldn’t be able to do it if it wasn’t for them.”

And there’s certainly been a lot of work put in over the last nine months. Pitt brought in Elon transfer Jeff Yurk last December to compete with Junko and Vander Haar. It turned into a competition between Junko and Yurk after Vander Haar entered the transfer portal, and after Junko’s stellar offseason, Yurk hit the transfer portal himself.

Junko’s consistency and the way he can boom punts separated him from the pack — and earned him a scholarship just a few days before the season kicked off.

Junko didn’t play a whole bunch last season, and he certainly had his ups (booting a Bowl-record 85-yard punt against UCLA in the Sun Bowl) and downs (running an unscripted onside kick against Rhode Island), but the tough moments allowed him to hit the ground running this season. He felt prepared for his moment.

“It’s just time,” Andre Powell said Tuesday after practice. “He hadn’t punted much, and the more he punts and the more he gets comfortable back there, the better he’ll be.”

“Our gunners can really run, and when you protect the punter and he can get the ball high up in the air, then there are no punts to cover, you know? And that’s our goal. Fix it to where there are no punts to cover. We’re trying to create fair catches. So, the effort has been fantastic.”

According to PFF, Junko has just four punts returned for 20 yards — which equates to a 36% return percentage. And he’s pinned opponents inside the 20-yard line twice, but that number could be doubled if not for shoddy gunner work over the first couple of weeks.

Junko has a very big leg, with a long of 59 yards this season and a hang time of just over four seconds per punt, and he’s still getting better. He’s exactly what Pitt needed.