COMMENTARY
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Nick O’Toole punts. Nick O’Toole holds for place kicks. Nick O’Toole sports hipster facial hair made for swigging mead from a mason jar in Portland.
He also fires passes like Aaron Rodgers and gallops like American Pharoah, which makes it hard to comprehend why the West Virginia coaches haven’t fully unleashed such a prodigious skill set.
“I have been asking them for a fake punt, a fake field goal, anything,” O’Toole said Friday. “But they haven’t given me anything.”
Time is running short for the Mountaineers’ most underutilized athlete. He’s a senior now; hence this public appeal. We, the sports media, recognized we were merely a vessel for O’Toole’s self-promotion. We capitulated because the only thing we love more than a free pregame meal is a fake punt. (Don’t give a rip whether it’s successful or not. Just love a coach being creative!)
Last season, when Dana Holgorsen took the unprecedented step of showcasing his punter at Big 12 media days, we thought surely it foreshadowed O’Toole’s big breakthrough. A tuck-and-run package for midfield? A rollout throwback to Josh Lambert? Perhaps a punterooski?
Holgorsen, after all, is the daredevil, and O’Toole a 6-foot-3 secret weapon of mass distraction. Surely some unsuspecting, undisciplined opponent was ripe for the exploiting.
Instead, 2014 only brought more punts (57) and an avalanche of Lambert field-goal attempts (39). Those were 39 missed opportunities to go Lucy on Charlie Brown by yanking the ball away and demoralizing defenses with a gadget-play touchdown. Too bad O’Toole never got the fake call.
If you doubt his readiness, O’Toole shared this dirty secret about punters at practice: After the requisite rounds of kicking and stretching, “all we do is quarterback drills.” Based on my math, he has taken more QB reps than William Crest.
Unlike Crest, however, O’Toole’s game-changing talents aren’t being maximized. (When he declined to specify exactly how fast he is, it was pure savvy—better not to alert opposing coaches. He revealed only that his 40 time “is faster than yours.” Cagey, bro.)
Even if he wasn’t a world-class athlete, O’Toole’s punting has earned him a shot at fake punting. In two seasons he has pinned 46 kicks inside the 20 versus a mere seven touchbacks.
A Ray Guy Award would be swell, but what he really craves is a touchdown. Or even a first down. O’Toole made both of those happen in junior college.
“Go on my highlight tape,” he pleaded. “There’s at least three fakes in there. Go look ‘em up.”
We looked them up. The evidence was compelling:
Seriously, did you watch it? What a treat for those 73 fans in the bleachers. Probably thought they were previewing the first Heisman punter.
Now it’s West Virginia’s chance—nay, duty—to make that happen. (Dana, I swear we’ll wipe the slate clean on those fumbled fair catches if you just let loose O’Toole.)
The gregarious punter tries to couch his frustration in humor, whether he’s joking about keeping snacks in that mega-beard, or goosing Pat McAfee for showing off with a 12-minute flight from Pittsburgh to Morgantown. As Friday’s interview put reporters in stitches, O’Toole grinned into a camera and said, “This is my time to shine.”
But we know the truth. His shine won’t be real until he gets a chance to fake it.