Pitt punter Caleb Junko brings sense of calm to 4th down

One day after soccer practice, Caleb Junko was hanging out near the football field at Hudson High School in Akron, Ohio. It turned out to be a day that changed his life.

He watched as several wide receivers and linebackers stepped out of character and tried punting and kicking.

“I think I can do a pretty good job of that,” said Junko, who grew up playing soccer over football. “I went over to the coach and said, ‘Hey, can I try this?’ I set the ball up wherever, and it turned out being a 55-yard field goal and I put it right down the middle.”

The coach immediately invited him to join the team, and Junko started down a new career path.

While remaining on the soccer team — he was a three-year starter at Hudson — he kicked for the football team for two years. He split his time between the teams, becoming a master of time management.

“It wasn’t too bad,” he said. “Go to school, after school have soccer practice, stay after for a couple minutes, hit a couple punts, a couple field goals and then be done.”

Junko helped Hudson win a regional football championship before enrolling at Pitt as a walk-on punter to join his brother Josh, a senior wide receiver.

Last month, coach Pat Narduzzi awarded him with a scholarship, and he responded by climbing to second in the ACC with a 48.5-yard average after three games.

Now, Narduzzi has less stress on fourth down. Quite a contrast from 2022 when Sam Vander Haar, who has since transferred, was last in the conference at 38.6. Stepping in for Vander Haar, Junko averaged 48.7 yards on 12 punts last season, including an 85-yarder at the Sun Bowl, an all-time collegiate bowl record.

“When you look at last year, it was kind of a stressful situation when it hit fourth down,” said Junko, a redshirt sophomore. “Now more than ever, I hope that coaches can just relax when they see me go out there.”

Junko’s proud grandfather is former Pitt assistant coach and administrator Bob Junko (now retired), who offered his grandson some simple wisdom.

“He taught me everything, mostly mindset stuff, knowing that you have to work for everything,” Junko said. “It’s always going to be an uphill battle. It’s a competition every day, no matter what position you are.”

Special teams coach Andre Powell said the combination of protecting Junko so he can utilize his strong leg and the gunners’ speed in coverage will push his unit closer to its goal.

“We’re trying to create fair catches,.” he said.