One of the fastest rising punting prospects in Washington state is Jameson Patin, a senior at Yelm High School. After spending two years as the Tornados’ primary kicker, he decided to try his hand at punting ahead of his senior year.
Kicking has always come naturally to Patin as he played soccer starting around the age of 4 or 5, and in football, he set the Tornados’ school record for extra points in a season with 50 in 2023. Punting was a different beast, and only six months into it, he’s turning some heads around the nation.
Patin recently attended the 2024 Kicking World National Showcase Dec. 7 through Dec. 8 in Austin, Texas. He earned an invitation after impressing coaches at another Kicking World camp in Seattle in July, when he placed first in the punt competition and learned the fundamentals of punting.
Patin was one of only 99 student athletes who received an invitation to Austin out of 1,200 students during Kicking World’s 2024 camp tour, and he was one of 75 participants across 28 states who accepted their invitation. During the trip to Texas, he placed seventh out of 53 competitors in punting on the first day and placed 10th on the second day.
“When I got invited, knowing that I was at the top of all the people there, it felt good, and it was actually a big motivation for me to work and get better,” Patin said. “I always knew I could kick. I self taught myself how to kick and punt in football, but this was the first time I really got trained.”
Patin put together an impressive debut season as a punter in 2024 for Yelm, earning second team all-South Puget Sound League honors as a special teamer. He recorded 12 punts with an average of 42.2 yards per boot, including seven punts pinned inside the 20. Opposing returners could only muster -3 total return yards from his punts, and his best punt came against Kamiakin with a 70-yard kick.
“I think week one, I didn’t really do very good. I was nervous. But after week one, I had a great season,” Patin said. “Every week I got better and more consistent.”
Patin, who also caught 19 passes for 400 yards and seven touchdowns as a wide receiver this season, said he learned a lot from Yelm assistant coach Bryan Hooper, who helped him fine tune his punting skills throughout the season.
“He was really the guy that helped me the most because he also played soccer, so he knows what he’s talking about,” Patin said. “Every time I would punt, he would tell me what I did wrong. Having that second pair of eyes was really important.”
Competition results from the national showcase in Austin are emailed to every Division I, Division II and Division III coach in the country, and dozens of kickers and punters have received scholarship offers shortly after the event.
Patin is in the process of sending film to college coaches and building connections with coaching staffs. He boasts offers from Pacific Lutheran University and Lewis & Clark College, and he is in contact with Central Washington University.
While there are likely hundreds of high school and collegiate punters in his position looking for a new home, Patin believes his upside and athleticism set him apart from his peers.
“I’m pretty athletic. I played receiver, too. There’s a lot of punters out there that all they can do is catch and then kick the ball,” he said. “Also, I’m so new to it, and I have so much room to grow and so much potential. I bet there’s a lot of guys that are better than me right now, but I guarantee there’s not a lot that have more potential.”
