Bainbridge, GWFC Player of the week

[89rabbit]

Neal was named Special Teams Player of the week by the Great West Football Conf. 8)

http://www.i-aa.com/news/article_6628.shtml

Great West FB Conference Players of the Week
GWC Media Relations
Nov 14, 2004, 23:39


SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - Two players from Southern Utah and one each from North Dakota State, South Dakota State and Cal Poly earned Great West Football Conference player of the week honors for their performances in games on Saturday, Nov. 13.

Three players share offensive player of the week honors -- Cal Poly wide receiver Darrell Jones, Southern Utah quarterback Casey Rehrer and North Dakota State quarterback Steve Walker -- while Southern Utah linebacker Nick DiPadova picked up defensive player of the week honors for the second time. South Dakota State punter Neal Bainbridge was named special teams player of the week.

Bainbridge (6-3, 175, So., Ethan, SD) punted six times for a 48.5 average in South Dakota State's loss to Southern Utah. He had three punts inside the 20 -- to the three, six and 10 -- and he had a 64-yard kick which was a touchback.

Go State! ;D

[GoJacks]

Re: Bainbridge, GWFC Player of the week

I saw this artilcle in the Mitchell Paper


Ethan native leads Great West in punting as season nears endSaturday, November 20, 2004

By Korrie Wenzel, The Daily Republic

BROOKINGS - Neal Bainbridge was a great high school punter. It’s just that while playing for Emery-Ethan, few people knew it.

Bainbridge, a sophomore at South Dakota State University, enters the final weekend of the season as the leading punter in the Great West Conference, a league the Jackrabbits joined this year as they made the jump from NCAA Division II to NCAA Division IAA.


As far as the 5-5 Jacks have come in their move up this year, Bainbridge may have made an even more surprising leap, having rarely punted as a high school senior yet quickly becoming one of the nation’s best in college.


“I’ve noticed that the caliber of play is quite a bit better. The competition is better,” Bainbridge, an Ethan native, said of SDSU’s play this year. “I think we’re proving a lot of people wrong this year with the way we have been playing.”


After a successful first year in the lineup in 2003, it’s unlikely anybody doubted Bainbridge this season.


He broke into the starting lineup last season for SDSU, when the Jacks still played in Division II and in the North Central Conference. He finished the year with 47 kicks for a 40.7-yard average and was third in the final NCC standings. He had five punts that were longer than 50 yards, 12 inside the 20-yard line and had a 60-yard kick in a game against North Dakota State.


This year, Bainbridge is first in the six-team Great West Conference with 50 kicks for an average of 42.8 yards. His long kick is 64 yards.


He is tied for fourth in the nation in the Division II statistics (SDSU still is counted in NCAA II stats this year despite moving up to NCAA Division IAA).


And all this from a player who kicked fewer than a dozen times his senior year in high school.


Playing for unbeaten state champion Emery-Ethan, there weren’t many opportunities for Bainbridge - who also was an all-conference end - but he made the most of his chances, averaging 43.3 yards per attempt and earning all-state honors.


“To tell the truth, it never really sank in that I was going to be punting for a big college team until pretty much the first game I went out there,” said Bainbridge. “Then it sunk in.”


Bainbridge said Tim Hawkins, a former SDSU punter and one of Emery-Ethan’s coaches, helped him develop as a punter. He also may have helped get word out that Bainbridge could make it as a collegiate punter.


“He taught me most of the basics for kicking and helped me refine it a bit. He helped me learn the fundamentals and to get me where I was when I first got here. I was able to build off that,” Bainbridge said. “It also probably helped in recruitment.”


Bainbridge’s work ethic has been key to his development, SDSU coach John Stiegelmeier said.


“Neal has worked extremely hard, both physically and mentally,” he said. “He has studied the skill of punting and continues to refine his skill. He does have a ton of God-given ability and is real close to his potential.”


The move to Division I hasn’t meant much of a difference to Bainbridge’s punting. The sophomore, however, said the change “has been good for the program.”


It’s also been an adventure. The Jacks this year have played in Louisiana, Georgia, Utah, Montana and California and today are in Greeley, Colo., to face former NCC rival Northern Colorado.


“It’s been interesting,” he said of the switch to Division I. “It gives people something more to be proud of.”