Miami Hurricanes P Dylan Joyce feeling confident entering Year 2: “Everything is starting to fall into place”

Sure, it’s nice to look at the eye candy of the Miami Hurricanes’ offense with the likes of QB Cam Ward and a host of playmaking skill position players plus four linemen with starting experience. On the defensive side adding five-plus transfers that are expected to start (three linemen and two DBs) also has expectations ratcheted up.

So it’s pretty easy to overlook another key area of the game.

But punter Dylan Joyce could make as big a difference in wins and losses each week as anyone else on this team. Winning the field position battle in tight games is of paramount important, and those hidden yards can translate into points scored or allowed.

Joyce is looking to build on a strong freshman year in which he punted 43 times, averaging a solid 43.8 yards per attempt (38th best in the nation for punters with 10 or more attempts). Fifteen were inside the 20, and seven went 50+ yards.

“I’m a lot more confident having last year under my belt,” Joyce said. “Just training camp now taking it day by day. Feeling really confident in myself and my abilities this year. I think we’re going to have a good year.”

Prior to arriving at Miami, Joyce played Australian Rules Football in his native Australia and is a product of Prokick Australia. That set him up for success.

Last year, per Pro Football Focus, he earned a solid 79.1 punt grade with 18 of his attempts fair caught. But hangtime average was 3.79 seconds, which was barely in the nation’s top 100. To that end he’s trying to master spiral punts.

“Still working them, it’s a process,” Joyce said. “Doing the rollouts, that just comes natural to me, grew up doing that. Still working the process of the spirals. Getting better day by day.”

He says tracking his distance and hang time that “it’s all coming together – I’m feeling really good, everything is starting to fall into place.”

A final thought from Joyce?

He says a key is “looking after my body.”

“It’s a long season, so knowing when to ease up a little bit and go hard (is key),” Joyce said.

The post Miami Hurricanes P Dylan Joyce feeling confident entering Year 2: “Everything is starting to fall into place” appeared first on On3.