Adam Finley often finds himself caught between a rock and a hard
place. He is a football player, but receives grief from his
teammates because he is the punter. He is a graduate in biomedical
engineering student, but doesn’t like to tell his classmates
that he plays football because of the negative stigma that comes
with it.

But one thing Finley can talk about with pride is the
consistency that he has provided for the Wolverines since the 2002
season. While the placekicking game has yet to find that groove
since the graduation of Hayden Epstein, Finley has averaged a solid
41.7 yards per kick in his career.

After last Saturday’s game against Iowa, Michigan coach
Lloyd Carr made a special effort to complement the fifth-year
senior and point out how far the punting unit has come along since
it was terrorized by Miami (Ohio) returner Ryne Robinson in the
season opener.

“If you look at the net punting, it’s not very good
because of the block and returns that we have had,” Carr
said. “But if you look at the punting average, Adam Finley
has been punting the ball as well as any punter we’ve ever
had here.”

Carr also added something else.

“Adam Finley is as smart as any guy I have ever
coached,” Carr said.

While Finley doesn’t like to make a big deal about being a
football player and a biomedical engineering student, it is a
rarity for any college football player to take on both
pursuits.

Finley says he has a real passion for the subject, and that he
wants to enter into research and development if a career in the NFL
doesn’t work out for him. To manage school work along with a
25-hour practice week and trips around the Midwest, Finley cuts
down on his credits during the season so that he has one difficult
class and two others that aren’t as challenging. Finley
doesn’t often tell his classmates of his other life on the
gridiron, but he said that it’s difficult to keep it
secret.

“Eventually people are going to know if I have to leave at
2 o’clock for practice every day,” Finley said.

As to analyzing situations on the field, Carr has praised
Finley’s ability to explain exactly what happened after each
time he kicks the ball. But Finley just attributes it to the
experience of punting the ball so many times.

“It’s one of those things that you do hundreds of
thousands of times, you develop that muscle memory in the way (the
kick) feels,” Finley said. “So of course you’re
going to know what you’ve done wrong.”

Finley came to Michigan as both a punter and kicker, but he said
that the coaching staff told him to focus on his punting from the
beginning of his career.

While there is so much that can go wrong with each punt attempt,
Finley has attempted to focus on his own game and let others worry
about their blocking.

“It’s something you learn over your career,”
Finley said. “Early in my career, I tried to pay attention to
it. As I have gotten more comfortable, I’ve gotten to just
feel and sense it even though you are concentrating on all the
normal technique stuff.”

Although the punting unit had its problems against Miami (Ohio)
and Notre Dame — where it gave up a blocked punt —
there was clear improvement shown on Saturday against Iowa. Finley
said that there has been more emphasis put on the punting game this
past off-season than in years past.

“We’ve really tried to attack it as a team,”
Finley said.

To his teammates, Finley will still be known as the punter. But
he says it’s all fun and games.

“It’s always going to be a little bit tougher
because we’re not down in the trenches like those
guys,” Finley said. “But at the same time, I hang out
with all of those guys. You’re always going to get the grief
for being the punter or being the kicker, but it’s all in a
joking fashion.”