Tornado's Goettler will try his luck at WVU
BUTLERTWP— Getting on the field as a freshman at N. Kerr Thompson Stadium would be intriguing to many high school football players.
Unless that player's goal is getting on the field as a freshman at Mountaineer Field.
Such is the case with Andrew Goettler.
The Butler High School graduate has spurned a scholarship offer from Slippery Rock University to try out for the West Virginia University football team.
Goettler is not an invited walk-on. He's not even a walk-on. He's just trying out.
"I wanted to go to a big school,"Goettler said. "I looked at Penn State, but it just wasn't for me. Ilike West Virginia and what the football program did last year."
The Mountaineers finished 11-1 last season, were unbeaten in the Big East and defeated Southeastern Conference champion Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.
"Slippery Rock came at him hard,"Butler coach Garry Cathell said. "But Andrew had already been accepted at WVU and he wants to give this a shot."
Goettler averaged 40 yards per punt his junior year at Butler and averaged 41.2 yards per boot last season. He put 12 punts inside the 20-yard line last year and was first team all-section punter as a junior and senior.
"Slippery Rock offered me scholarship money and I thought about it,"he said. "I made a few visits up there. It's a nice program and they told me I was welcome there if things didn't work out at West Virginia."
West Virginia's second team All-Big East punter, Phil Brady, was a senior last year. Redshirt freshman Scott Kozlowski, the starter going into the Mountaineers' recent spring camp, and senior William Crockett were the only punters on WVU's spring roster.
Goettler and another incoming freshman will join Kozlowski and Crockett in vying for the punting job.
"I went down (to Morgantown)this spring, and Tony Gibson, who recruits our area, told me that if Andrew's the best punter in camp, he'll kick in their first game,"Cathell said. "He was adamant about that.
"Division I football teams are allowed to bring in 124 kids each season. Most schools at that level don't use one of those spots on a kicker. Campuses that size usually have two or three students walk on and try to win the job."
Goettler said he will continue to try out for the football team even if he gets cut this season.
"I'm not planning on leaving WVU,"he said. "I'll keep trying out every year if I have to. I'm not going to give up."
Planning to major in secondary education or criminal justice, Goettler admitted football played a factor in his decision to attend West Virginia.
"I know I'm walking into a competitive situation," he said. "It will depend on how I do and how the other guys do. They may have a bad day, I may have a good day.
"If I don't make it, I don't make it."
