LSU Benefits from Derek Helton‘s Booming Punts
Most college football players have been playing since they were young and have always dreamed of making it to this point. LSU punter Derek Helton started playing football in seventh grade but took a three-year hiatus because he didn’t really like the sport.
“In eighth grade I separated myself away from football,” Helton said. “I didn’t have a huge interest. Then when I got to high school I really didn’t like football at all. I didn’t have a passion for it like I did for basketball and baseball.”
In a twist of fate, neither basketball nor baseball got Helton to a Division I school. Football did, and it was a position he never tried until his junior year at Jefferson West High School in Meriden, Kan.
“When I went out for football they made everyone try out for special teams,” Helton said. “They made everyone attempt to kick so they could see who would be the best punter and kicker. I picked up a ball, and it just kind of happened. I kicked it really far and high.”
Using his newfound talent, punting was not the only role Helton played on his high school football team.
“I played tailback my junior year, and I punted as well,” he added. “My senior year I moved to receiver, but I had many more roles. I was a punt returner, kick returner, receiver, cornerback, kicker and punter. It was pretty fun.”
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Although he seemed to be a jack-of-all-trades, no Division I schools came calling for Helton.
“I only got recruited by three junior colleges and one NAIA school, so recruiting really wasn’t a big thing for me,” Helton said. “Fort Scott [Community College] said they needed a punter and I would play. I figured I’d give it a shot because it was something to do and it paid for my school.”
Although the junior college in Fort Scott, Kan. encouraged Helton to focus on just punting, no one taught him technique.
“I never really had coaching about kicking because no one at Fort Scott really knew how to punt,” Helton said. “I started watching film and watched the NFL to see how those guys did it. I kind of learned on my own.”
His focus and hard work drove Helton to compete at two Chris Sailer camps in the summer of 2008.
“I won the competition at the camp in Las Vegas,” Helton said. “After that is when I started getting phone calls, but it was a lot of Division II schools. Then I went to a camp in California and got MVP. Then I really started getting a lot of phone calls.”
This time the phone calls were coming from football powerhouses like Oregon, Kansas, Oklahoma State, Arkansas and, of course, LSU.
“It was a lot of fun because I had never experienced anything like that,” Helton said with a grin. “I’m from such a small town, and I never thought I’d be in this position. I went from not liking football to it being my life.”
LSU was the first to offer a scholarship and Helton committed immediately. His breakout game was against UL-Lafayette in 2009. He had three punts that averaged 44 yards with hang times of 4.5-5.0 seconds. None of the three were returned for any yards.
Helton’s most recent impact came this season against West Virginia, where he continuously kept LSU ahead in field position. He punted five times, headlined by 55 and 51-yard bombs. Three of his punts landed inside WVU’s 20-yard line.
Helton credits his notable hang time and distance to natural ability, but he continues to work on his drop.
“If you have a bad drop you’re not going to have a good punt,” he said. “That’s one thing I work on a lot. I also want to master consistency because that’s who makes it the farthest.”
The opportunity to play football after college is something Helton has now considered. As for any regrets choosing LSU over other interested schools, he says there are none.
“LSU had won the national championship two years before so I knew that’s where I wanted to be,” Helton said. “It just felt like the right choice.”