Key Wisconsin Badgers 2020: No. 24 - Kicker Collin Larsh

Wisconsin's 2020 football season is (hopefully) right around the corner, so BadgerBlitz.com ranked the Top 25 players who we think will be the keys to success for Paul Chryst's squad this year.

Playing time, past performance and positional depth all factored in to our staff rankings.

Collin Larsh returns from an up-and-down 2019 season and is now the only place kicker or punter on the roster with playing experience. A redshirt junior, Larsh held down the fort at kicker for the Badgers last fall, though never convincingly. Down the stretch, Paul Chryst went with senior Zach Hintze for a pivotal game at Minnesota and the Big Ten title game against Ohio State after he nailed a 62-yard field goal in a win over Purdue.

Larsh, 5-foot-10 and 184 pounds, is coming off a 2019 campaign where he finished 12 of 18 on field goals and was nearly perfect - 53 of 54 - on extra point attempts. Larsh’s biggest advantage over the rest of the group is his experience. He has started 12 games in his UW career, which is 12 more appearances than any other kicker on the roster.

In 2019, Larsh was excellent from within 30 yards. He converted all seven field goals within that distance and missed just one extra point attempt. The walk-on from Monona Grove (WI) High School has shown that he can be a reliable kicker from short range.

Larsh was solid but far from stellar in 2019. He missed a field goal in each of the first three games and struggled past the 29-yard line. Larsh went just 5-of-11 when the attempt was from further than 29 yards. Of the six misses, four have been between 30 and 37 yards.

Larsh’s long from last season was from 44 yards, which he nailed against both Illinois and Oregon. He has shown the range to connect on longer attempts but will need to be more consistent. Two of his misfires came against Illinois and Oregon - both were one-point losses.

Larsh is the only kicker with playing experience on the roster. But in a ranking of most valuable players, it is tough to place kickers too high, especially one that wasn’t great past short range a season ago. For as much as Larsh struggled from longer distances, the Badgers still had a successful 2019 campaign. Larsh will be penciled in as the starter at kicker and may even be tasked for kickoffs in 2020.

It’s not as simple as changing the outcome of a field goal to alter the outcome of a game. But, hypothetically, a couple of connections from the redshirt junior could have signaled a Rose Bowl win and a road victory against Illinois. For an offense that is losing Quintez Cephus and Jonathan Taylor, a pair that accounted for 28 touchdowns, his improvement could add some meaningful points.