From Australian Football to MLB drafts, UCF's new punters bring diverse, athletic pedigrees to the Knights' special teams.
As UCF welcomes an all-new kicking unit to its ranks, special teams coordinator Pete Alamar has flexibility at each position, as he expressed at spring practice earlier this week.
"We've got a full room now," Alamar said. "We're operating with two kickers, two punters, and two snappers and we'll, you know, utilize these 15 practices to really get a baseline on where each one of those guys are and then, you know, at the end of it be able to review, correct, set a course for their summer and then get them ready for the season."
The two punters are both new faces, Wisconsion transfer Atticus Bertrams and Mason Denaburg, who was limited to just one hold for the Knights last season.
Betrams spent three seasons as a Badger before joining the Black and Gold for his senior campaign. On Tuesday, he talked about his background, which included an Australian Football League (AFL) stint at practice.
"I've been kicking balls. I played soccer, rugby, AFL. I hit 'em. I shot 'em. Anything with the ball, it's what I did," Bertram said. "So like I think it was just something that came really naturally to me once I sort of made that transition to punting. It's just a different shape and I work it out and its gotten me pretty far. So, I'm pretty happy with it."
Denaburg also has a multi-sport background, as he was a former first round selection by the Washington Nationals in the MLB Draft. The former minor league pitcher played across all levels from 2019-2024 before deciding to return to college as a punter.
He was a former First Team All-State punter his junior season, but missed his senior football season playing for Team USA National Baseball, according to UCF athletics.
Denaburg talked about how much more comfortable he feels in his second year returning to the football field.
"I mean, I think last year, I was kind of trying to shake the rust off a little bit because I just hadn't really done it in a while," Denaburg said. "But no, I mean I'm definitely in a much better spot now than I was, you know, after only kicking for 4 months and then trying to compete for the job. But we've been working hard and Pete's been helping a lot. So, it's been good."
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