SENIOR YEAR 'HAS FLOWN BY'

By Jerry Hill

Even with the nine months he spent rehabbing the torn ACL he suffered last season, the last four years have "completely flown by" for Baylor senior punter Drew Galitz.

"I'm just kind of taking it all in more and more every day," he said. "And then, each game, just kind of looking back on it like, 'Wow, I actually had the opportunity to play here.' It's completely flown by, but it's that way every year, honestly."

One of 20 seniors who will be recognized before Saturday's 11 a.m. matchup at McLane Stadium between the Bears (5-5, 3-4) and TCU (4-6, 2-5), Galitz had his junior season end in an abrupt and shocking way on Sept. 30, 2017.

On the opening kickoff of the Week 5 game at Kansas State, Galitz heard his right knee pop when he landed wrong on the follow-through as the ball sailed into the end zone for a touchback.

Since you "don't ever get an injury" as a kicker or punter, Galitz was just thinking his leg "was a little tight or something. I had no idea." After jogging off the field, he explained what had happened to the trainers, and was in disbelief as they told him that he had probably torn his ACL.

"I was like, 'You've got to be kidding me?' I really had no idea."

If it had happened the week before in the game against Oklahoma, Galitz would have been eligible for a medical redshirt. But, because it happened in the fifth game – even though no time had gone off the clock – his appeal for a redshirt season was denied by the NCAA.

"That was just unfortunate," head coach Matt Rhule said. "But, everything happens for a reason, and I think he's in a really good place right now. Sometimes, that obstacle becomes the way, so he's made a step as a result."

Instead of being mad or frustrated, Galitz took the same approach and attacked rehab with a passion to be better than ever. In a surgery performed by Dallas Cowboys team physician Daniel Cooper, the patellar tendon from his left knee was removed and used to repair the torn ACL in his right knee.

"It's kind of weird, but if you take the patellar tendon from the same leg you tear, you kind of lose power," Galitz said. "If you did it from left to right, I wouldn't lose any power."

That's certainly been the case. While his season average has dipped slightly to 42.8, he boomed a season-long 62-yarder against Oklahoma State; earned Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week honors after averaging 45.6 with all five kicks inside the 20 against Kansas; and has averaged 62.5 yards on his kickoffs with 32 touchbacks on 53 kicks.

"Drew, as a senior, to battle back from what he battled back from to being the tremendous kickoff artist that he is and punting the football, I think it takes a lot of pressure off of those teams," Rhule said. "It allows us to try to use those weapons."

A soccer player since he was 3 years old, Drew didn't play football until the seventh grade, when his mother acquiesced, "as long as I was just the kicker and punter," he said. "I also ended up playing a little running back, too."

Introduced to renowned kicking coach Rocky Willingham at a TCU football camp, Galitz said his kicking took off after that.

"I was more of a kicker than a punter, just because I played soccer and I always had somewhat of a pretty big leg in soccer. So, that kind of translated over to kicking," he said.

Willingham, who also worked with former Baylor All-American punter Daniel Sepulveda, continued to train Galitz as he made the rounds at kicking camps to get noticed. At a Kohl's Kicking Camp, he booted a 71-yard field goal, with the video going viral.

"I knew I could probably do it," he said. "I didn't know if I was actually going to be able to do it. I did, so that's kind of cool."

Originally headed to Miami, Galitz decommitted and switched to Baylor, because "it's a lot closer to home, the Big 12, a freaking power house," referring to the Bears' back-to-back conference championships in 2013-14.

"My dad was like, 'If you go to Miami, I'm not going to be able to come to all your games,"' he said. "So, I was like, 'OK, well, I'm going to Baylor.'''

Continuing a lineage of four-year punters that included Sepulveda, Derek Epperson and Spencer Roth, Galitz took over the punting duties as a freshman and averaged 40.7 yards with 11 kicks inside the 20, earning honorable mention All-Big 12 honors for a 10-3 team.

The next year, he improved his punting average to 41.6 and again nabbed honorable mention all-conference honors. He also missed a 48-yard field goal try against Kansas, his one and only attempt to date.

"They go 'Punt team, punt team,' and I run out there and the field goal team is out there," he said. "And I go,' OK, I guess I'm kicking it.' Because I was over there hitting punts into the net on the sidelines. It was not a good kick. I don't blame them for not putting me back out there."

Galitz was having an All-American type season when he suffered the torn ACL last year. Although the Bears also lost receivers Chris Platt, Gavin Holmes and R.J. Sneed to season-ending injuries, "I think the biggest thing that changed a lot and probably cost us some victories was Drew Galitz' injury," Rhule said.

"He was such a huge force in field position. Losing him hurt significantly," he said. "He was having a Ray Guy-type year. People don't realize what a difference field position makes. It's huge to have a kid that can be standing at his own 10-yard line and punt it and pin them inside their 20 because he's got that big of a leg."

Going through the same rehab process together, Galitz and Platt pushed each other every day. "I would talk trash, saying, 'I bet I can do more (squat lifts) than you,' knowing there's no way I could do more than him, because he's Chris Platt."

What he did, though, was completely change his body. At 180 pounds when he was being recruited, Galitz now looks more like a safety than a punter at 6-foot and a chiseled 220 pounds.

"One of the things about Drew is he had that adversity, and you just see a difference in who he is now," Rhule said. "You walk in there and see him lift, and he's a big, strong man."

Seemingly, he's always been more than just one of those "alien" kickers. Galitz feels like he is "one of the guys." Not only does he punt and handle kickoffs, he's also the holder on field goals and extra points. In the 35-31 Homecoming victory over Oklahoma State, the Bears ran a fake field goal from the 20, but Galitz' pass to Christoph Henle was off the mark.

"I'm supposed to throw the flat route (to tight end Tyler Henderson), but I have a guy right in my face, and I've either got to Johnny Manziel side-arm it or just throw it up," Galitz said.

"I just threw it up, and I had no idea where it was going. It was a good pass, it was a nice spiral, it just wasn't really accurate. Oh gosh, I was so mad. And I absolutely got drilled. I guess that's what (quarterback Charlie Brewer) feels like all the time."

Graduating in December with a degree in communications, Galitz plans to pursue his NFL dream and then maybe get into medical sales, "but I haven't really put much thought into it yet."

"Being able to do kickoffs (as well as punt) gives you some versatility, and I still feel like I can kick field goals a little bit too," he said. "Being able to do all three, and holding, that can really help sell you (to the NFL scouts)."

SENIOR YEAR 'HAS FLOWN BY'

Players Mentioned

Charlie Brewer

Drew Galitz

Tyler Henderson

Christoph Henle

Gavin Holmes

Chris Platt

R.J. Sneed

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