Redshirt senior beats out Patrick Fish
Punting wasn't exactly in the cards for Joey Scribner-Howard when he arrived at South Carolina as a transfer in 2009.
Two years later, however, the Irmo native is set to enter Saturday's season opener against East Carolina with the starting job.
Having spent his first two years of eligibility performing the placekicking duties at Carson-Newman College in Tennessee, the prospect of switching positions didn't take shape until spring practice of this year.
"For really the first time since I've been in college, I started really working on punting, getting more consistent with my drops, making sure that I was hitting the ball properly," Scribner-Howard said. "I used to just kind of mess around with punts. Now I'm starting to take it pretty seriously."
Although the position was a relatively new one to take over, Scribner-Howard said the move from kicker to punter didn't require a major adjustment.
"It wasn't a difficult transition because I've done placekicking for a while," he said. "It's the same mindset, just doing a different technique of kicking it."
The fifth-year senior has competed for the starting job over the course of the 2011 offseason alongside redshirt freshman Patrick Fish, who appeared to have a slight edge up until the last few weeks of practice. In the midst of the competition, however, Scribner-Howard said the two of them have managed to maintain a good relationship.
"He's here for the job as much as I am, and we both wanted it, but there's a mutual respect for each other," Scribner-Howard said. "We both worked as hard as we could, but we stayed friends through it all."
Because the battle between the two punters has been neck-and-neck for much of the preseason, Scribner-Howard doesn't see his starting position as one that's set in stone.
"I look at it as week-to-week," he said. "I feel like I'm still competing. Even if I'm fortunate enough to be the starter through game seven or eight, I'm still going to feel like I'm competing all the way through. I'm not going to take any of this for granted and let up the position I've earned."
Scribner-Howard credits much of his development during the offseason to the coaching of new special teams coordinator John Butler. With his guidance and expectations, the senior believes he's made great strides since making his claim for the position in the spring.
"He doesn't shoot for anything less than perfect, and it's really put me under the gun to work hard and not take my time with things," Scribner-Howard said. "I came into this camp right off the bat trying to do everything as perfect as possible, and he'll let you know if you're not doing what needs to be done for this team.
"He hasn't really indicated [why he was named starter]. He's just always pushing for me to get better, so I don't really know what it is that's taken me over. I got it, and I'm just thankful for it."
Despite the lack of explanation, Scribner-Howard didn't make the news of his starting role any less welcomed the news.
"It was a pretty neat moment, but I tried not to let it get to me too much. It was more of a thing where I knew I had a job and I have to go do it."
As a product of the Midlands region, Scribner-Howard said he's excited about the prospect of starting for a program he grew up watching.
"It feels good as a hometown guy to get out there on the field and be a starter," he said. "I feel like I'm representing well for the Columbia area."
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