Tulsa World: Up close: OSU's Quinn Sharp

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Up close: OSU's Quinn Sharp

OSU’s Beau Johnson (center) celebrates with teammates Noah Franklin and Zac Robinson following his touchdown Saturday in the third quarter of the Cowboys’ win over Rice in Stillwater. STEPHEN HOLMAN / Tulsa World

By MATT BAKER World Sports Writer
Published: 9/23/2009 2:22 AM
Last Modified: 9/23/2009 6:04 AM

STILLWATER — To replace one of the top punters in the country, Oklahoma State turned to one of the top kicking recruits in the nation.

Quinn Sharp has replaced Matt Fodge, who won the Ray Guy Award last year as the nation's top punter. And the redshirt freshman from Mansfield, Texas has filled in well. Sharp is second in the country in punting (50.5 yards per kick). Two of his three punts against Rice traveled at least 50 yards, and the other was downed at the 1-yard line.

"He's been what I would call a pleasant surprise," OSU head coach Mike Gundy said this week. "He's been reliable and has handled things well."

His kickoffs also are near the top nationally. Only Nebraska's Adi Kunalic has more touchbacks than Sharp's nine.

In high school, Sharp was Rivals.com's top kicker and was ranked second in the country by Scout.com. Although many schools pass on offering scholarships to kickers, OSU landed Sharp because they were the first and only team to give him an offer.

"I'm a firm believer that if you've got a special-teams guy that can be a factor for three years, you've got to (offer him a scholarship)," Gundy said.

How cool is it to be a kicker on scholarship?

It is pretty nice. Most people are like, all you do is kick. You've got a full ride for that? But you pay your dues. You do all your work for it, but there's perks to it.

What's the hardest thing about being a

kicker?

Probably the downside. If you mess up, everybody ends up hating you in the long run. You're either the hero or you're the zero, definitely, in the kicker spot. But we do the best we can to try to move on from some bad situations. We try to pick each other up and keep going.

Did you expect to have this much success so early?

Well, you don't ever really know where you're going to be. I wouldn't say I expected to have the numbers I have, but I expected to play good. The numbers I've had are pretty up there

How do you approach a practice?

Usually I start out heavier in the week. I do a lot of punting and kickoff on Monday, Tuesday. We do a big day on Thursday. I don't do any kicking on Friday before the game. We rest up and stuff. Other than that, that's really all I do.

Kickers are always kind of the butt of jokes. Is that a fair assessment on this team?

I can see that in some ways, but I think on our team it's a little different. Our team bonds really well. All of our specialists are real cool with the whole team, and we all get a long pretty good. I'm real good with all the guys on the punt team and kickoff. I talk to them every time we go out there before we do something. It's pretty cool.

What's been key to your success so far?

Motivation, determination to play this year. I redshirted last year. It was a good experience for me, though. I got to travel with the team and learn from Fodge and Dan (Bailey). They helped me out a lot, and they helped me get going.

FAST FACTS

Position: Punter

Class: Freshman

Height: 6-foot-1

Weight: 191

Hometown: Mansfield, Texas

Matt Baker 581-8358
matt.baker@tulsaworld.com By MATT BAKER World Sports Writer

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If you see a comment that violates our terms and conditions, please help us by clicking the "Report this Comment" link next to a comment. That will alert the web staff to review the comment. Thank you. -- Web Editor Jason Collington

	Report Comment Rhymeister, Tokyo, JPN (9/23/2009 6:59:05 PM) Thus far you can easily say Sharp is a very good punter. Keep it up!!!
	Report Comment bigshow1024, Sand Springs (9/24/2009 8:39:11 AM) This is a kid that also runs in the 4.6s. A serious athlete on top of being a fantastic kicker.

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