Duke Football: 3 takeaways from win over NIU in Quick Lane Bowl
By Zach Bigalke
3. Losing Austin Parker hurt both the kicking and punting games
After taking over punting duties at Duke last year as a redshirt freshman, Austin Parker added the placekicking duties to his repertoire in 2017. He was absent from the Quick Lane Bowl, however, and will not be back with the Blue Devils. On December 8, multipurpose kicker/punter Austin Parker was dismissed from Duke University for violating university academic policy.
Clarification in the Austin Parker situation. He's kicked out of school for the spring semester for violating university academic policy. Like all students, a process is available to return to school later in 2018. But he's gone from the football team. That door is closed.
— Stephen Wiseman (@stevewisemanNC) December 8, 2017
That made him unavailable to serve as the main leg for the Blue Devils, and makes him ineligible to return to the football team. The loss of Parker seriously hurt Duke’s special teams effectiveness. In 2017, Parker averaged 42 yards per punt. On Tuesday in Detroit, new punter William Holmquist averaged just 35.4 yards on his five punts. That allowed Northern Illinois to flip the field position and keep themselves in the contest.
Losing Parker also hurt on kicking duties. Holmquist also took over the kicking duties for Parker, and he missed one of his four extra-point attempts for the Blue Devils. The miss left the Blue Devils chasing a two-point conversion unsuccessfully on their next touchdown. Holmquist settled in and at least connected on his ensuing chances, hitting another extra-point try between the uprights and adding a short field goal.
Even though Holmquist acquitted himself well, losing Austin Parker to academic ineligibility still took away a critical special-teams weapon for the Blue Devils. It ultimately didn’t cost Duke the win on Tuesday, but it could be something to watch in 2018 and beyond.