Though hardly the focal point of Michigan's 15-0, national championship-winning season, Tommy Doman emerged as one of the nation's better punters last fall.
In his first year as a starter, Doman punted 53 times for 2,343 yards. He finished ninth out of 108 FBS punters with at least 40 attempts last fall in Pro Football Focus's punting grade. 21st in net punting yardage (41.3) and 29th in average punting yardage (44.2). He finished second among the group in average hang time (4.33 seconds), trailing only Alabama's James Burnip, and had a healthy 19:4 ratio of pins inside the 20-yard line to touchbacks.
It was a strong debut season for Doman, a former No. 1 or No. 2 punting recruit in the eyes of Kornblue, Sailer and Kohl's specialist recruiting services. But speaking on Michigan football's In the Trenches podcast, Michigan special teams coach JB Brown stated that Doman can only get better from 2023.
"Tommy, for himself, his next step is really, he has to become consistent at what he does day in and day out," Brown said. "Of hitting those big balls and being able to create that turnover every single day.
To Brown's point, Doman had a five-game "slump" toward the end of the season, where his net punting average was just 39.7 over the course of 25 punts against Penn State, Maryland, Ohio State, Iowa and Alabama. That's isn't necessarily a "bad" net punting average at the college level, and it should be noted that Doman had two excellent pins that helped seal a win at Maryland and a 71-yard punt against Ohio State and 54-yarder against Iowa.
But for a punter who might have a top-five leg in college football, the touchback punts, easily returnable punts and punts that went out of bounds too early point to a punter who can still improve, especially in higher-pressure situations.
"The next step for him is just to continue to trust himself," Brown said. "That's really the next step for him."
Brown on punting depth behind Doman
"For him, pushing him in competition is Hudson Hollenbeck and Stone Anderson, those two have done a great job all (spring) of trying to catch up and compete with him and try to surpass him. They've done a really good job of improving themselves to put us into position where we've created a lot of depth at all three positions of our specialist room."
Brown on simulating pressure in practice
"Definitely. We try to put them in those situations in practice. From Mayday situations to kicking in front of the team. Having the team around them, throwing water on them, playing music and doing all those type of things."
***
Not a VIP subscriber to The Michigan Insider? Sign up now and get access to everything TMI has to offer on all things Michigan and access to the No. 1 site covering the Wolverines.
Want the latest news on Michigan delivered right to your email? Subscribe to The Michigan Insider newsletter here. It is free and a great way to get daily updates on Michigan football, basketball, baseball, recruiting, and more delivered straight to your inbox
Sign up for FREE text alerts on The Michigan Insider to get breaking news on commitments, decommitments, transfers, injuries, coaching changes, and more with our NEW text alert system available to all registered users and VIP subscribers. Click Here to become a FREE registered user and Click Here if you are already a VIP subscriber then follow these directions to set up your text alerts.