Syracuse’s Sterling Hofrichter earns ACC specialist of the week honors again

For the second time in three weeks, Syracuse Orange punter/kicker Sterling Hofrichter has earned ACC specialist of the week honors. The conference announced award winners for week five on Monday, and Hof got the nod after yet another impressive Saturday.

Hofrichter had five punts average 43 yards per, with a net of 42 yards per punt vs. Holy Cross. Four of those wound up inside the 20-yard line, and three were fair catches. Notably, Hof’s the fifth punter in school history to top 10,000 yards punting in his career.

We all know Sterling handles kickoff duties for Syracuse, but some may have forgotten that he was initially supposed to be the Orange’s starting kicker last season before Andre Szmyt emerged (and subsequently won a Lou Groza Award). Though there are no doubts about Szmyt’s status handling field goals, Dino Babers still wound up throwing Hofrichter out there for a 52-yarder vs. Holy Cross... which he managed to nail, further adding to his impressive 2019 season thus far.

On the year, Hofrichter’s won two specialist of the week honors, while averaging 46.53 yards per punt on 30 attempts. On kickoffs, he’s managed 18 touchbacks on 28 tries. He’s also hit one field goal and one extra point. He’s in the top 15 nationally in punting average on the season, with six more attempts than the nearest contender.

Props, as always, to Hofrichter — though hopefully you don’t have to punt as much over the final seven games of this season.