Punting is a science.

Back in the golden days of football, coaches called on a heavyset player with a big butt and brutal force at the punting position to muscle his weight into a kick. Today’s punters rely much more on technique, precision and athleticism for their success.

Bowling Green punter Pat Fleming is tall and slender, and when he envisions the perfect punt, he goes through the perfect technique.

“It all starts with the snap,” Fleming said. “The snap heads straight in my hands. I catch the ball and fully extend my arms outwardly. I take my steps and drop the ball, making sure the ball is parallel to the ground with little movement.

“A good drop is like that home run pitch you can see coming. When I hit the ball, it will come off my foot slightly to the right and I’ll get a perfect spiral. It’s a bomb.”

The red-shirt junior is one of the top returning punters in the MAC. Dave Zastudil, who led the MAC in punting all four years for Ohio and was picked by Baltimore in the fourth round of this year’s NFL draft, gave Fleming some encouraging advice.

“He told me that he expects me to be the best punter in the MAC,” Fleming said. “It meant a lot coming from him, especially since he just came up to me after the game and said something like that.”

Last year, Fleming averaged 40.1 yards per punt on 54 kicks. This number is skewed, though, because many of his punts were tactical kicks designed to pin the Falcons’ opponents deep into their own territory. Fleming led the MAC in this category, pinning BG’s opponents inside the 20-yard line 20 times last season.

BG coach Urban Meyer referred to Fleming as a weapon because he gives the Falcon defense great field position. Only eight times in the Falcons’ 11 games did the opposing team start on BG’s side of the field. Fleming is considered such an asset to last year’s team that the Ottawa, Ontario native was named the Special Teams Player of the Year, beating out the MAC?s top punt returner, Robert Redd.

“When I see Pat, I see an extremely competitive man who wants to be the best at his position,” Meyer said.

“I want to be the best punter in the MAC,” Fleming said. “My goals for next year are only to get better. Ideally, I guess, the best situation would be if I didn’t punt at all though.”

Fleming came out of Canada as a solid defensive back and punter, but he got little exposure from coaches in the States. He talked to Pittsburgh, Kent State and Bowling Green, positioning himself at both positions, but the best offer he got was as a recruited walk-on with the Falcons.

“Pat is a competitive guy,” his father Sam Fleming said. “It’s hard to read his emotions. He’s so competitive because he wants his team to do well.”

But Fleming had to prove himself to former Falcon coach Gary Blackney before he could stay on the team and make an impact. During the spring game of his freshman year, Fleming gave a good showing, outkicking his fellow punter teammates on scholarship. During the game, he also played as a defensive back and made two tackles. Blackney convinced Fleming to stick with kicking.

Fleming, who admitted at first he missed being a defensive back, stuck with kicking and is content with being a punter. He hopes that with one more solid year, that Fleming may end up in the pros.

“Being a punter has its perks, but at the same time, you might lose some of the respect from the other players because you are not seen as an athlete,” Fleming said. “The better you do, though, the more people look up to you.”

And a lot of people are looking up to Fleming.

“He’s a great kid and he’s got a bright future ahead of him,” Meyer said.