It's safe to say that Arkansas punter Max Fletcher's freshman season did not go exactly how he drew it up in 2022. The Australia native did gain valuable experience, though, and that has helped boost his confidence entering his second year in Fayetteville.

After a strong showing in fall camp last year, Fletcher earned the starting punter job for special teams coordinator Scott Fountain's group. Fletcher punted in the Week 1 matchup against Cincinnati, which his brother, Mason, is a punter for.

Fletcher's first collegiate punt went for 35 yards, which was a fair distance given the circumstances. He then had punts of 26 yards, 37 yards and 43 yards — which was returned for 30 yards. Fletcher also had a touchback against the Bearcats.

That first game revealed what would be the theme of the next four games for Fletcher: inconsistency. He averaged 38.8 yards per punt while he was the starter for the first five games of the season.

A product of ProKick Australia, Fletcher had never stepped on a real football field before he came to Arkansas. While he can punt the ball a mile high in practice, it wasn't so simple for Fletcher when he was between the white lines on Saturday.

"I think people have got to realize at some point, Max was a guy coming I don’t know however many thousand of miles away from a totally different country," junior kicker Cam Little said. "Never stepped foot on a real football field before and all he had done was prior punting with a thing called ProKick Australia, which they do a great job of preparing their punters and kind of guys transitioning from Australian rules football over to America.

"I think guys have got to realize that sometimes, because he had never played a football game in his life. He obviously punted really well last fall camp and deserved to start."

After starting the Oct. 8 game at Mississippi State with a 25-yard punt following Arkansas' first drive, Fletcher was finally replaced by Reid Bauer. The move to Bauer was one that probably should've happened earlier, but Fletcher managed to gain much-needed experience during the first half of the year.

"I think kind of getting that feel of what college football is like under his belt with Reid taking over midseason, it kind of helped his confidence a little bit," Little said. "He punted well in the bowl game, had some good punts then. I think he’s just growing in his consistency, growing in his comfort, getting more confident throughout this past spring and fall camp."

Little said that Fletcher's mindset is better now than it was last year and his confidence is at an all-time high.

Something that has helped with confidence is Fletcher stepping into the starting role as the holder for kicks. Bauer was named the 2021 Peter Mortell Holder of the year, so Fletcher has some big shoes to fill now that Bauer is at Memphis.

Fletcher did have the opportunity to be the primary holder in the Liberty Bowl win over Kansas and that might've been a game where he turned the corner from a confidence standpoint.

"I think obviously holding has kind of boosted his confidence as well," Little said. "We were talking after the bowl game after we beat Kansas and he was like ‘Man, that holding on the field, just kind of being on a college football field…’ Feeling that little bit of pressure gives him confidence when he’s going out there."

Last year, Arkansas had both Fletcher and Bauer on the roster as scholarship punters. This year, Fletcher is the only scholarship punter and he's going to be the Day 1 starter once again.

"He had a really good spring and really good summer," Fountain said. "We do a lot of charting in the summer as well, and I was really proud of him there. Today was our first day to punt live. I think out of his three punts, he hit what I'd call an A-ball. The second was a B-ball.

"So, two of the three were pretty decent balls. I think he's headed in the right direction. When I was at Georgia, Jake Camarda was a punter we had there. Jake was a really good talent coming out, much like Max. His first year at Georgia he had an okay season but his second year was off the charts. So, I'm hoping to see Max do the same. I think that first year as a punter is a really tough task."

It wouldn't be a stretch to say that the punting struggles put Arkansas in tough situations during a 2022 season in which the Hogs lost four games by three points or less.

Arkansas now has three practices down in fall camp with 22 remaining ahead of the season opener against Western Carolina on Saturday, Sept. 2 at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.

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