He might not be the most popular player among fans when he steps on the field, but Oregon Ducks punter Bailey Ettridge has quietly been one of the most consistent performers this season, amid some of the Ducks’ struggles on offense.
The sophomore punted six times for 289 yards (48.2 average) in Saturday’s 17-15 loss to No. 12 UCLA, including one that traveled 67 yards before rolling out of bounds at the Bruins’ 2-yard line.
The Ray Guy Award named Ettridge its Punter of the Week for his efforts.
With a 48.24-yard season average entering the Ducks’ Week 7 showdown against Nebraska, the Lara, Australia, native is just 0.17 yards shy of eclipsing Ross James’ Oregon single-season record of 48.41 set in 2023.
The sophomore met with the press on Tuesday to discuss the Ducks’ recent struggles, his veteran perspective and his decade-long career as a welder prior to football.
On Meeting Expectations
“I think I’m kicking at how I expected to kick and how the coaches expected me to kick. So just going out there and just trying to do my job. Obviously, the offense struggled a little bit last week, so I was just trying to do as much as I could to get us back in. I think that’s the expectation of me: to go out there and do what I did in previous weeks before that.”
Handling Adversity
“I think it’s been great. The team’s super connected. I think they keep their composure whether we’re winning or losing. I don’t think we’re getting too down in the dumps after what happened last week and against Oklahoma (State). I think we’ve handled it pretty well. Back out to work this week to try and fix a few things and hopefully bounce back.”
Chasing Oregon’s Record
No, I wasn’t aware of that. I know I can do better than what I’m currently doing. I’m not happy with a few of the punts on the weekend. I think I can definitely kick it further and have better hang time, better placement, all that sort of stuff. So the yardage per kick doesn’t really faze me. I just know I need to be better each week and keep continuing to grow.”
The Art of the Rolling Punt
“Sometimes it’s luck. One of them, the second one that was able to roll for 15 extra yards, was a bit of luck. But the first one, I hit it pretty well and hit it with great direction."
"So the returner sort of wasn’t able to get there in time, and then he kind of let it roll, and I guess the direction I was kicking in, it continued to roll down there, which was pretty lucky. It was right at the two-yard line it went out at. So I mean, I was happy with that. But it’s just a mixture of a bit of luck and then also how I’m placing the ball with the type of kick I’m doing.”
Special Teams’ Growth
“I think one area since fall camp would, well, for me personally it’s just my kick placement and hang time. I think I definitely improved on that, but obviously there’s work to be done there."
"And then the coverage team, they do an amazing job as soon as I kick it they’re getting down to the ball and making tackles for no gain. The returners aren’t able to get any yards on the gain. So, I think the coverage team’s been really well. So as far as improvement, I think everybody at every position can get better each week. I don’t really know the specifics on where we can improve but I think everybody can go even better each week.
Football vs. Welding
“The rewarding thing about welding, maybe when you finish a big job like a residential house, a renovation, finishing that and getting to leave a job and see the work you’ve done or just creating something in a workshop that has taken a few weeks and you get to see it go out."
"That’s probably the most rewarding thing. As far as teammates asking me about it, yeah, I’ll get some comments and questions, you know, at practice when we’re watching the guys in the construction site across the field there. Yeah, just trying to explain to them that I was a welder for 10 years and now I’m kicking a ball.”
Inspecting the Welds on the Construction Site
I can’t see it close up, but I see them out there, and I just wonder how they’re going out there. I’ve seen a few of them have to cut their welds out and redo it. So that makes me think maybe there’s some quality issues going on. No, I’m joking (laughter). Yeah, it’s funny watching them weld. I used to do that every day.
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