Huskers go overseas to land Australian punter Daniel Cerni
Nebraska has had its fair share of inconsistencies in the punting game the last four seasons, and it's hoping someone nearly 9,000 miles from Lincoln can help solve them.
Sydney, Australia, punter Daniel Cerni of the Prokick Australia announced his commitment to the Huskers via Twitter on Monday.
Nebraska's new senior special teams analyst, Jonathan Rutledge, is no stranger to the Prokick Australia. Before coming to NU, he coached Arryn Siposs of Prokick at Auburn in 2018 and 2019. Siposs recently signed a free-agent deal with the Detroit Lions in April. It's assumed Rutledge's connection to Siposs and Prokick played a big factor in the Huskers landing Cerni.
Cerni will take one of NU's two remaining scholarships for the 2020 recruiting class. The other spot is presumably being held for a transfer wide receiver.
There has been a string of Prokick Australia punters who have recently accepted scholarships in the Big Ten Conference this week alone. Cerni joins Mark Vassett (2021), who committed to Michigan State on Friday, and Jesse Mirco (2021), who committed to Ohio State on Wednesday.
Vassett hopes to follow in the footsteps of former Buckeye and current Philadelphia Eagle punter Cameron Johnston, another Prokick Australia product.
Meanwhile, Mirco is the second Prokick Australia punter MSU has added in recent years, joining Jack Bouwmeester, who signed with the Spartans in 2019.
Coincidently, the signing of Bouwmeester is what led to current NU punter William Przystup leaving East Lansing for Lincoln. Przystup was in line to be the Spartans' starting punter in 2019 before the signing of Bouwmeester. A similar situation will happen in Lincoln with the commitment of Cerni.
In all, Prokick Australia has produced five Ray Guy Award winners, 17 All-Americans and over 75 punters on scholarship since it's inception in 2007.
Other notable products of Prokick Australia are Mitch Wishnowsky (San Francisco 49ers/Utah), Michael Dickson (Seattle Seahawks/Texas) and Jordan Berry (Pittsburgh Steelers/Eastern Kentucky). Wishnowsky captured the Ray Guy Award as college football's best punter back in 2016 and punted for the 49ers this past year in the Super Bowl.
Cerni should help NU's hangtime issues on punts as well. In 2019, the Huskers averaged just 3.68 seconds of hangtime on their punts, and the highest average they've had the last four seasons was 4.06 seconds in 2017.
On nine punts Cerni posted on a YouTube reel with Wishnowsky, he averaged 4.85 seconds of hangtime and easily booted balls 50-plus yards. He had three punts with at least 5-second hangtimes, with a high of 5.27 seconds and a low of 4.41 seconds.
To put that in perspective, top NFL hangtime averages range between 5.4 to 5.5 seconds according to PFF. The college game is a little different, though, as low directional rugby-style punts are a big part of the game.
Cerni has displayed the ability to do both - punt directionally with a rugby-style and kick conventionally with over 5 seconds of hangtime.
A good barometer would be Siposs, who averaged 4.24 seconds on 61 attempts at Auburn in 2019. That mark was fifth-best in the country according to PFF. At 3.68 seconds, NU ranked 91st in that same category.
Over 12 contests last season, Nebraska's game-to-game hangtime average was anywhere between 3.25 and 4.03 seconds. The highest average came at Colorado and the lowest vs. Wisconsin, per PFF.
The addition of Cerni puts the Huskers back to 81 players on scholarship. Wide receiver JD Spielman could easily bring the Huskers down to 80 if he does not return in 2020.
