Why Jesse Mirco transferred from Ohio State to Vanderbilt: ‘Looking for a new opportunity’

Punter Jesse Mirco said he was looking for a fresh start when he transferred from Ohio State to Vanderbilt after the 2023 football season.

In an interview with the “Any Given Sunday Australia” podcast, Mirco, an Australia native, detailed his reasoning for leaving Columbus, a decision, he said, that revolved around him having the best opportunity to play at the next level.

“I was just looking for a new opportunity, somewhere I can kick some more spiral, traditional stuff, which at my old school, we were a lot of rollout,” Mirco said. “Which again going forward, I have goals to play in the NFL and see how that goes, give it a chance.”

Mirco was a three-year starter at Ohio State where he recorded 130 punts on an average of 43.9 yards per kick. He recorded eight punts in the Buckeyes’ Cotton Bowl loss to Missouri, but exceeded four punts in a game only one other time in 2023: Ohio State’s Oct. 21 win against Penn State.

While Mirco is a past Ray Guy Award semifinalist, an accolade given to the top punter in college football, Mirco said Ohio State capped his potential to show what he could do.

Dec 29, 2023; Arlington, Texas, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes punter Jesse Mirco (29) high fives teammates after a punt during the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic at AT&T Stadium. Ohio State lost 14-3.

“It’s tough to get recognized, I guess, as a punter a lot of the time, especially at somewhere like Ohio State where we didn’t punt a whole lot over the past few years,” Mirco said. “And when you do a lot of pooch punting and stuff like that, it’s obviously never going to be a spot where you stuff the numbers and kick the ball as far as you can because obviously it’s not the objective most of the time.”

Mirco called Ohio State “awesome” and a “massive program” that is “unlike anything I have experienced before. He called entering Ohio Stadium for the…


Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/why-jesse-mirco-transferred-ohio-172431243.html

Author : The Columbus Dispatch

Publish date : 2024-04-12 17:24:31

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