By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – If you were to rank the biggest concerns on the 2018 Iowa football team, the situation at punter would have to be near the top.

Iowa enters the 2018 season with uncertainty at punter where sophomore Ryan Gersonde and junior Colten Rastetter are locked in a battle that apparently is too close to call, considering their names were separated by the word "or" on the latest depth chart that was released at media day on Friday.

Rastetter handled most of the punting duties last season, but struggled with a 37.8 average on 55 attempts.

Gersonde appeared in three games as a true freshman last season and punted 13 times for a respectable 42.5 average.

“It was really frustrating,” Rastetter said of last season. “I had a decent fall camp last year and the spring before that and just going in I had a lot of ups and downs.

“My mental game started playing a really big part in that. I stepped back and said ‘hey, this is what you’ve got to do. You’ve got to focus on what you can control and let everything outside of you not affect you.”

Gersonde was listed as the starting punter during spring practice, and his name still was listed ahead of Rastetter’s name on the updated depth chart.

So it could be Gersonde’s job to lose, but the coaches just aren’t willing to say that yet in the spirit of competition.

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“We try not to focus too much on last year because this year is a new year,” Gersonde said Friday. “We’re both focused on now and this year. There’s a lot to learn, but we want to focus on where we are right now, which is in a very good spot, I think.”

Though he appeared in just three games last season, Gersonde said the experience was beneficial in so many ways.

He also has benefitted from training under Iowa and strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle for a year.

“I think it helped me a lot,” Gersonde said. “It’s obviously good to have game experience coming into this year, so if I get that first snap it’s not so shocking. I’d say it was a really good thing.

“Overall, I think I’ve gotten a lot better. I’ve gotten stronger, faster thanks to coach Doyle. It was my first summer offseason. 

The competition at punter hasn’t turned personal as Gersonde and Rastetter both try to support each other.

“In the film room we love to give each other tips, whether it’s drops, lines that we’re working, extension of our leg, all kinds of stuff,” said Gersonde, who is from Milwaukee, Wis. “We’re very open to criticism from each other because we know it’s going to make us better as a unit.”