TCU Football Countdown: 37 Days

Punters aren't exactly the players that people cheer for.

More often than not, the punter appears as fans are rolling their eyes in irritation after the offense fails to do its duty. It's not that fans don't like the punter--they just don't like the fact that he's punting.

Still, punters are a necessity. Trevone Boykin isn't going to get every first down. And when you're up 42-3 in the fourth quarter, there's just no point.

That's when it's time to put in No. 37, Ethan Perry, TCU's ever-consistent leg.

A graduate of Smithson Valley High School in Spring Branch, Texas, Perry was ranked No. 1 in the state and No. 6 nationally out of high school. TCU snatched him up and put him to use right away.

During his freshman year in 2012, Perry was thrown into TCU's inaugural season in the Big 12. He averaged 44.5 yards per punt and ranked third in the conference. Not a bad start for his first year, during his team's first year in a big boy conference.

That average would go down over time in the next two seasons, though. He would record an average of 40.3 yards per punt in 2013 and 39.2 yards per punt in 2014, ranking him last in the Big 12. Then again, it's not like TCU punted very much in 2014 anyway.

Regardless of how far the ball flies, however, Perry's biggest asset is reducing the likelihood of his punts being returned. Last season, TCU held opponents to minus 9 punt return yards, becoming the first school to ever record a negative number of punt return yards since the NCAA began recording the statistic. This, of course, also has much to do with the other players on punt return coverage duty, but Perry played his role.

Perry has one more year of punts left in him. And Frog fans admit, we wouldn't want to see him on the field too often next season. But when it is his turn to play, we want to see him be the reliable, solid punter he is.

And that should be enough to cheer about.