Ongoing competition

Starting punter will remain a week-to-week decision

Kenneth DeBauche may have won the right to punt in the Badgers’ season opener Saturday, but that does not mean he has the spot locked down.

“We will continue the competition,” Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez said. “You’re not going to be anointed the punter because you won off-season.”

In his collegiate debut, DeBauche, a redshirt freshman, punted three times for a 39.3-yard average.

DeBauche unseated senior R.J. Morse, Wisconsin’s primary punter the last three seasons, and was informed that he would start before practice on Thursday.

“It was right before practice so I didn’t really have time to celebrate,” DeBauche said. “It was kind of something that I hoped for and you could say I expected it. So, it wasn’t that big of a surprise but I was sure glad to have it.”

The punters, which also includes redshirt freshman Paul Standring, were charted daily throughout fall camp and practices.

“R.J. really kicked well during camp, both of them did,” Alvarez said. “But when you have competition, whoever wins it has to win the job.”

“Pretty much all the way through camp it was just back and forth between me and R.J,” DeBauche said. “I think we kind of knew on our own after every day of practice whether or not we had a good day, where we were. But we knew that pretty much all the way through camp it was just back and forth between me and R.J., and even all three of us, we were all punting pretty well.”