[Buckskin86]

OSU notebook: Buchanan pursues three kicking jobs
Sunday, April 12, 2009
By Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Ben Buchanan right now is a jack of three trades and hoping to be a master of at least one.

Buchanan, a redshirt freshman from Westerville, is competing to handle field goals, kickoffs and punts for Ohio State. It's what he wants, even though it might be best for him to specialize.

"I love it -- I do love kicking and punting, it keeps you busy," Buchanan said Friday after Ohio State had a kick scrimmage in Ohio Stadium. "I don't know if they're going to let me do all three -- that's what I want to do -- but if they're going to steer me in a direction, I'm going to do what's best for the team."

Buchanan is on the second team at both spots. There is little chance he will unseat fifth-year senior Aaron Pettrey at kicker, but with a solid 4-of-4 showing on field goals, he has proven capable.

Punting offers the best short-term opportunity. A.J. Trapasso, the punter from 2006 through '08, is gone, and Buchanan is locked in a close competition with fifth-year senior Jon Thoma.

Thoma averaged 41.4 yards on seven punts Friday, and Buchanan averaged 40.8 on eight punts.

Chad Rogosheske, a graduate assistant who works with the specialists, said the coaching staff is allowing Buchanan to showcase himself for now, but hopes he eventually settles on either kicking or punting.

"Probably when you're doing all those things, you can't be as good as you can really be if you were just doing one of them," Rogosheske said. "Right now, we're just trying to find out what is best for the team, what he does best and then we can kind of steer him down one path or the other."

BuckeyeXtra - The Columbus Dispatch : OSU notebook: Buchanan pursues three kicking jobs