Hawaii has not one ... but two Australian punters its roster. But not only do the Warriors sport double Aussies, they both are switch-footed, meaning they can kick with either foot.
This means the possibilities are endless for what coach Nick Rolovich’s staff can devise out of this punt formation.
Yep, that’s Hawaii lined up in punt formation...with 2 punters. pic.twitter.com/ZiCUXJsx2u
— The Go Big Redcast (@GoBigRedCast) August 26, 2018
The first time Hawaii broke this out, in 2018’s debut win at Colorado State, they screwed it up. The play clock ran down to zero, and the Warriors had to burn a timeout to avoid a penalty. So we’ll have to wait to see what they actually do with it.
We tried to find other examples of teams going dual-punter.
The only other usage we could find was two Texas high schools who used social media to share the idea a few years earlier.
@SportsSturm @bracketdan Hearing y'all have an infatuation with my "double punter" formation. Here's a pic... pic.twitter.com/aUlYcJuwAw
— Rodney Webb (@Jacket4Life) September 24, 2014
Expect Hawaii to try this again, because Rolovich’s Rainbow Warriors are no strangers to odd punt formations.
The coach who said, “I didn’t come 5,000 miles to punt” to explain going for it in a 2017 game against UMass evidently figures that if you have to line up in a punt formation, you might as well do something weird.
They ran this bizarre one in Rolovich’s first season:
This is bonkers. Hawaii lined up a player seven yards behind its punter and a full 20 yards behind its long snapper on fourth-and-3. Snapper Noah Borden deliberately airmailed the ball over the head of punter Rigoberto Sanchez, and the snap flew to No. 10, receiver Makoa Camanse-Stevens. I have never seen this formation in my life.
The double-barrel punters is just the next evolution.