At 6-foot-4 and 238 pounds, NC State freshman football punter A.J. Cole III could pass for a tight end, but the College Park, Georgia native is called on in much different circumstances.

When Cole takes the field, it’s to bail out a stalled offensive drive, but he does so through the strength of his leg, rather than making a clutch first-down catch.

Since inheriting the position in January from former punter Wil Baumann, a four-year starter, Cole has been a bright spot on a special teams unit that’s had its ups and downs replacing graduated players.

“My entire goal is to go out there and help my team win the football game the best way that I can,” Cole said. “I want to put the team in the best position possible and contribute in as many ways as I can.”

To that end, Cole has had to take a reduced role from the one he had during his prep years at Woodward Academy, where he spent time at both defensive end and tight end and covered kicking duties in addition to punting.

“At a certain point I definitely did want to play other positions, but it ended up in a situation where I could play at the highest level of football as a punter, and I just wanted to be in the biggest environment and be around the best quality team I could be around,” he said.

As a senior, he was ranked as high as fourth in the country as a punter by 247sports and fifth as a kicker by Rivals, but the jump to the NCAA division I ranks is a big one. 

“It’s a pretty big difference,” Cole said. “The biggest difference is just the speed of the game. You know the defense is bigger, faster, [there are] stronger guys, so you gotta be able to get the punt off in less time and you’ve got returners back there who can take it to the house at any opportunity on almost every team.”

After an offseason that saw Baumann graduate, the void left behind could have crippled the Wolfpack special teams unit. Instead, Cole is proving more than capable of making the transition.

Thus far, Cole has negated most opportunities for the opposition to make up ground in the special teams game. His punting average of 41.1 does not qualify among the NCAA leaders but is misleading because on half of his 32 punts thus far, he has pinned the other team within their own 20 yard line. Many of these have been “pooch punts,” or high kicks with long hang times that don’t give the returner time to build any momentum before the coverage team can make a stop.

“I could care less about the recognition, about having a great average. Average is a statistic that can be a little bit skewed because if you have a lot of pooch punts your average will be lower and if you have punts shooting out and getting returned it’s still not that impressive. I really don’t care about average; I could care less if I get any respect.” 

Saturday against Clemson was a demonstration of Cole’s ability. In his five punts against the No. 3 Tigers, Cole averaged 50.6 yards per punt with one punt downed inside the opponent’s 20-yard line, one touchback, and a grand total of zero punt return yards. One of his especially high-hanging punts resulted in a crushing hit from junior Dravious Wright on the Clemson punt returner.

Special teams as a whole is a young group, with freshman place kicker Kyle Bambard and redshirt freshman Jackson Maples, who handles kickoffs, joining Cole. With all three getting time on the field, a certain camaraderie has grown.

“We have a different job from a lot of other players,” Cole said. “It’s a little bit of a different group, we have a good time. We try to keep each other’s spirits up, not get too high or too low.”

Bambard and Cole, for example, posted offseason videos on twitter of a few unorthodox feats of kicking prowess that quickly got picked up by Backingthepack, NC State’s SBNation blog.  

Off the field, Cole is pursuing a degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering.

“I love the opportunity I have to get this education,” he said. “The engineering program here is awesome. They’ve got so many connections, resources, great teachers and just awesome people that keep encouraging me. I felt like if I was going to be in a position to get an education I should take as much advantage of it as I could. I love the classes. It’s hard work, there’s no doubt about that, especially during the season. A lot of late nights and early mornings, but it’s definitely worth it and I love it.”