Weapons of Mass Destruction

Anyone that follows Iowa football knows that the biggest weapon standing on the west sidelines in Kinnick Stadium isn't Ricky Stanzi's arm, or the legs of Jewel Hampton.  It's not the hands of Marvin McNutt nor the dreads on the Predator (Adrian Clayborn).  No, the biggest weapon on the Hawkeye sideline is the right leg of punter Ryan Donahue. 

The senior from Evergreen Park, Illinois boomed 61 punts last season for an average of just under 41 yards per attempt.  But the real weapon is not just the distance Donahue puts on the ball, but his ability to pin opponents deep in their own territory with high, hanging punts that stick inside the 20.  Despite the dissapointment of going 3-and-out, the appearance of Donahue on the field brings about cheers of "WMD!" and "Donahue for Heisman!"

As we begin looking ahead to next season, the Iowa kicking game may just have added another WMD to their arsenal.  The name's Mullings, Jonny Mullings.  He's a 22 year old freshman, and is what some would call an international man of mystery. 

The Bristol, England (I feel like ESPN could run with this one...) native grew up loving rugby and not know ing a thing about football.  In 2006, that all changed.  Mullings departed England and spent the year in Ottumwa, Iowa as an exchange student.  While at Ottumwa High School, the football coaches convinced Jonny to give kicking and punting a try after witnessing the youngster messing around with some friends.  Perhaps I should clarify - when I say "messing around with friends," I mean booming punts before practice, one of which travelled over 100 yards. 

Once convinced, Mullings took the job seriously and began regularly netting 70 yards on his punts (all of which came in JV games as he was an exchange student).  Nobody seemed to really notice, perhaps because the kicks weren't in Varsity games, but Mullings had found a new goal.  After the urging of Ottumwa coaches, he decided he wanted to pursue a college career.  He finished his time in Ottumwa and moved to France for 6 months, where he worked as a ski instructor and, no doubt, honed his kicking game in his free time. 

Giving up his "career" in skiing, Mullings moved down under, Canberra, Australia to be exact.  There, Jonny spent time in the Australian Punting, Kicking and Holding Academy (in addition to his day job as a personal trainer), gaining useful knowledge from former college kickers and punters.  Having fully committed to his new goal, Mullings began travelling to the states, attending kicking camps to not only continue to learn the art of kicking, but to also get his name (and leg) in front of scouts. 

Of course, the Iowa staff caught wind of the Brit and began to follow him closely.  Last year, the Hawkeyes made Mullings an offer: come on in 2010, but gray shirt until January of 2011.  Thus, Mullings would pay his own way for the first semester and learn behind the WMD - Donahue - until the role was his for the 2011 season. 

In the meantime, Mullings had posted a few videos around the internet.  Again, perhaps I should clarify.  Mullings posted video of a little workout session in which all his punts had hang time over 5 seconds and travelled at least 70 yards (I think Donahue would be jealous).  The video made him a living legend among hardcore Iowa recruiting types, but has since been taken down as his e-mail inbox was overloaded with e-mails from not only college coaches, but Hawkeye faithful wishing him well. 

While it is still early in Mullings' college career, it appears as if his hard work has paid off sooner rather than later.  Last week the Hawkeye coaching staff retracted their offer of a grayshirt season in 2010 and replaced it with a full scholarship offer.  Lil Jon (I use the term loosely as the kid is 22 years old, stands at 6'4" and weighs in at 215 lbs) will be competing for the kickoff role this season with the hopes of landing the punting job come 2011. 

The punting phenom may still be unknown to most around the country, but my guess it is roughly 107 days until the Big Ten knows exactly who Jonny Mullings is.  The kicking arsenal of the Iowa Hawkeyes just reloaded...