Iowa entered spring practice with a wide open competition at punter. It ended the session the same way.

Dillon Kidd, Connor Kornbrath and Marshall Koehn failed to win the race, which will pick up again when camp kicks off in August. At that time, a fourth contestant was expected to join the mix.

Colten Rastetter is walking onto the program from Guttenberg (IA) Clayton Ridge High. He moves to Iowa City on June 14 and will begin summer classes and football workouts the next day.

Iowa struggled in the punting game last year. Kidd averaged 39.1 yards on 42 punts and Kornbrath kicked 16 times for 36.7. The scholarship seniors-to-be finished out of the Big Ten’s top 10 at their position.

Rastetter realizes he lacks the experience of the trio of returning players. He’s not using it as a handicap, however.

"Honestly, I’m not concerned about being a freshman. It’s college football. There are no excuses. I’m just going to come and perform like I know I can and do my very best for the Hawkeyes," he said.

The 6-foot-2, 205-pound Rastetter averaged 41.5 yards on 45 punts last fall with a long of 69. He recorded six touchbacks on 20 kickoffs. The Iowa Newspaper Association named him first-team all-state for Class 1A.

Unhappy with the inconsistencies from its punters in 2014, the staff entered Koehn into the competition this spring. The Solon product handled field goal and kickoff duties last season.

"(The coaches) have informed me that the punting job is not filled yet," Rastetter said. "I believe that I have a good chance at winning the spot.

"My reasoning is that I’ll be able to focus on punting and not worry about playing other positions like I had to during high school. I also am very confident with the fundamentals that I have learned through many years of attending the Midwest Kicking camps."

Rastetter played running back, receiver, outside linebacker and safety for Clayton Ridge along with handling the punting and place kicking duties. He has been a key member of the school’s basketball, track and baseball programs as well.

"I feel my strengths are directional punting and hitting the long balls. I know that I need to fine tune my short-yardage punting game but that’s what practice is for," he said.

With high school graduation behind him, Rastetter is focused on the future. It gets underway soon.

"I’m getting very excited to finally begin my childhood dream. I am a counting down the days until I begin the next step in my football career," he said.