Jesse Kosch Season 1995

Honors & Awards

• Member of Three Nebraska National Championship Teams (1994, 1995, 1997)
• Third-Team All-Big 12 (Coaches, 1997)
• Honorable-Mention All-Big 12 (Coaches, 1996)
• Big 12 Commissioner's Fall Semester Academic Honor Roll (1996)
• Phillips 66 Academic All-Big Eight (1995)
• AT&T Long Punt Award (vs. ASU, 74 yards, 1995)

Career

Jesse Kosch had an excellent punting career for the Huskers, pinning NU's opponents inside their own 20-yard line 47 times. He set a then-Nebraska career record by averaging 41.92 yards per punt over his three-year career (4,234 yards on 101 punts).

1997 (Senior)

Kosch entered his third season as a starter second among the nation's returning punt leaders, only trailing USC Trojans' Jim Wren. Kosch was one of three Huskers walk-ons with a starting role in 1997. He played in every game except the first game of the year against Akron when Nebraska was never forced to punt. Kosch booted 30 times on the season for 1,179 yards, an average of 39.3 yards a punt. His season-long kick came against Texas Tech when he booted a 60 yarder. Kosch finished the year with one punt of 60 or more yards, two punts of 50 yards or more, 13 punts of 40 yards or more and pinned the opponents 12 times insider their 20. Against Tennessee in the 1998 Orange Bowl, he punted four times for 156 yards.

1996 (Junior)

Kosch had an excellent junior season for the Huskers as he ranked third in the Big 12, and 11th nationally with a then-school record 44.7 punting average. Behind Kosch's strong left leg, Nebraska's team net punting average of 41.0 ranked eighth nationally. Kosch broke a 15-yard old school record, previously held by Grant Campbell (43.36 in 1981). Kosch had a season-best 61-yard punt against Colorado State and posted his best single-game average at 49.0 yards per boot against Missouri. Against Arizona State, he saw the most action in his career, when he punted eight times for 367 yards with an average of 45.9 yards a punt. Kosch averaged more than 40 yards per punt in all but two games (Iowa State and Texas). He had 13 of his 44 punts go 50 or more yards, 32 go more than 40 yards and 24 times he pinned opponents inside their 20. Against Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl, Kosch had two punts for 89 yards.

1995 (Sophomore)

Kosch took over the punting duties for departed junior Darin Erstad, who was the first pick of the 1995 June baseball draft (California Angles). Kosch punted in every game except Iowa State, when the Huskers were not forced to punt. Kosch had 27 punts for 1,088 yards (compared to 84-3,426 by NU opponents) and averaged 40.3 per punt. His net punting average was even better (40.8) as opponents had negative return yards against him. The team net average ranked 17th nationally (38.1). He did not have a punt blocked and pinned opponents inside their own 20 on 11 of 27 punts (41 percent). His long was a career-best 74 yards against Arizona State (the AT&T long punt of the week) and he had four punts over 50, including a 53 yarder against Oklahoma State on his first career punt. In the 1996 Fiesta Bowl against Florida, Nebraska took a 35-10 lead into the locker room and Kosch did not get an opportunity to punt until Nebraska's first series in the fourth quarter. Even that turned into gold for NU, as Reidel Anthony fumbled and Nebraska's Brendan Holbein recovered.

1994 (Freshman)

Kosch played in one game but did not have any statistics.

1993 (Redshirt)

A walk-on, Kosch redshirted his first year at Nebraska.

Columbus Scotus High School

Kosch played for Coach Jim Puetz and earned second-team all-state honors as a punter. He also played defensive back and rushed for 1,682 yards his senior season as an I-back and 3,454 in his career with a personal best of 376 on 35 carries against North Platte as a junior. He scored 243 points in his career. He earned second-team all-state honors in soccer and was the MVP of the senior All-Star Classic. He was the only player on the team from a non-metro school.

Personal

Jesse is the son of Bill and Linda Kosch. Bill was a defensive back on the 1970 and 1971 Nebraska national championship teams, making Bill and Jesse the second Nebraska father-son combination to earn championship rings with the Huskers. Bill was inducted into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame in 1997 and holds the NU career record for interception returns (233 on 10). A meteorology/climatology major, Jesse's favorite hobby is chasing severe storms. He was born on Sept. 20, 1974.

Kosch's Career Statistics

Punting								Inside
Year	Games	No.	Yds.	Avg.	Net	Long	Bk	Opp. 20
1993	Redshirted
1994	1	0	0	0.0	0.0		0	0
1995	10	27	1,088	40.3	40.8	74 vs. ASU	0	11
1996	12	44	1,967	44.7	41.0	61 vs. CSU	1	24
1997	11	30	1,179	39.3	36.9	60 vs. TTU	2	12
Totals	34	101	4,234	41.9	39.7	74 vs. ASU	3	47

1996 Fiesta Bowl vs. Florida: Punts 1-36
1996 Orange Bowl vs. Virginia Tech: Punts 2-89
1998 Orange Bowl vs. Tennessee: Punts 4-156