CEDAR FALLS – As a punter, Sam Kuhter admitted he realizes, and understands, that probably the only person that wants to see him play is his mother.

But the redshirt junior punter for the Northern Iowa football team has answered every time he’s been called upon. It started a year ago inside Jack Trice Stadium against Iowa State in the 2015 season opener. Senior Logan Bieghler punted 11 times for UNI, and on the 11th time he punted, Trever Ryen returned the punt 81 yards for a touchdown.

Kuhter was called upon to handle the duties of the Panther’s 12th punt of the night. The South Tama County product boomed a 58-yarder on his first career punt from the UNI 34-yard line down to the Cyclone 8-yard line. The hang time Kuhter achieved allowed the Panther coverage team enough time to properly contain Ryen, who returned the punt only two yards to the 10-yard line.

“It really was just jumping at an opportunity there at Iowa State,” Kuhter said. “I wasn’t really expecting it. It was late in the game. There was like 58 seconds left. I just went out there and jumped at the opportunity. After that, it was a pretty heated battle there in practice the next week. Then (head coach Mark) Farley said he was going to make the decision on Saturday against Eastern Washington.”

Kuhter never looked back.

From that point on, Kuhter handled every UNI for the rest of the 2015 season, and the job will remain his when the fifth-ranked Panthers return to Jack Trice Stadium this Saturday to begin the 2016 campaign. Kuhter said it was just a matter of the coaching staff getting a look at him in a game. They had seen his work in practice, but the staff needed to see how he handled real, live action.

“He sent me out there for the first one, and it went on from there,” Kuhter said. “Took it over as the season went on.

“I hadn’t punted up to that point in my career yet. The next week was seeing more of how (I do) in a game situation, going throughout the process of the week. Prepping for a game and watching film. Then game day, it was how I reacted to all the nervousness and how that played out to how I performed in the game. It worked out really well.”

Second-team All-Missouri Valley Football Conference honors awaited Kuhter at the end of 2015. He finished the season with an average of 42.7 yards per punt. Kuhter landed 26 of his 75 punts inside the 20-yard line, and 15 of his boots went for 50 yards or more. Against Eastern Washington on Sept. 12, his first start as UNI’s punter, Kuhter pinned four of his six punts inside the 20.

Kuhter’s best day of the season came on Oct. 31 against South Dakota. Punting five times against the Coyotes, he averaged 52.4 yards a kick, breaking the UNI record for punting average in a game, and had a career-best 68-yard punt in the contest. All the success happened, despite not having any special team coaches on staff.

“I’m excited for him, because Kuhter, he can hit a bomb,” Farley said. “He’s athletic. Now he has the comfort of having game experience as well.

“They kind of teach themselves. They have to train themselves for three hours out there and teach themselves.”

The third generation UNI student and accounting major has been tabbed as punter for the 2016 Preseason All-MVFC Team.

Kuhter will also take on more responsibility with the Panther special teams in 2016 as he takes over holding on placekick duties for the departed Bieghler. Kuhter has had to work with multiple kickers in his new role, as there has been an open competition in fall camp between senior Matt Easley and sophomore Austin Errthum. Kuhter said it’s been an experience holding for the two kickers, seeing how Easley is right-footed, while Errthum is left-footed.

It’s made Kuhter learn two different ways to hold the football during the competition, from which side he lines up on, to which hand he holds the ball with while it’s being kicked. A holder should hold the football with the hand closest to the kicker. If a holder uses his front hand to hold the ball, the one closest to the kicker will likely be in the way between the kicker and the football, and could be what gets kicked instead of the ball, possibly resulting in injury. Which hand Kuhter holds with depends on which kicker he’s holding for.

“We just have to take turns on the reps,” Kuhter said. “We have one lefty and one righty. They’re both very good kickers. They both easily could start for us. I just have to work both sides just as much as I do the other side.”

Needless to say, with Kuhter now involved in plays that may result in points going up on the scoreboard rather than just plays of giving the football to the other team, more people should be happy to see Kuhter on the field in 2016 than just his mother.

“I’m not going to treat anything differently than I did last year in any of those games,” Kuhter said. “You still have to go out and perform. Special teams is one-third of the game. If that one-third of the game is off, then the whole team is going to struggle.”