Inside the Huddle: Freshmen eye strong first impression
September 01, 2016 | Football, Mike Lucas
Punter Lotti, receiver Cephus and safety Johnson expected to contribute vs. LSU
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BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — Punter Anthony Lotti plans on reviewing some video clips of his better punts.
Wide receiver Quintez Cephus plans on watching the "Friday'' film series.
Safety Patrick Johnson plans on eating and gaming.
That's the plan for Friday night in Green Bay for these three Wisconsin freshmen.
Get to know their numbers: No. 15 (Lotti); No. 87 (Cephus); No. 22 (Johnson).
Lotti will be making his college debut on Saturday against LSU. That's a given.
Cephus and Johnson are both in line to see some action. That's a possibility.
All three are from the 2016 recruiting class, which has been drawing raves in training camp.
Take it from Lotti, Cephus and Johnson — the first-year players already have a strong bond.
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"We're going through the same things mentally and physically," said Cephus, who's from Macon, Georgia (two hours from Flowery Branch). "So we've been able to come together (as a group)."
"I started classes with them, I went through camp with them," said Johnson who's from Washington, D.C. "There's no better way to bond with someone than going through camp with them."
Each had a personal expectation when they arrived on the UW campus in June.
"Every freshman's dream is to play as a true freshman," Johnson said. "But my mindset was to just work hard, show that I love the game, keep a smile on my face and just keep moving forward."
"I had the mindset that I wasn't going to get redshirted, that was my drive," Cephus said. "I wanted to show every day that I was ready to maybe have a chance to help the team."
"I was pretty much raised to be a punter," Lotti said.
Let's start with the given. Lotti, a first-team allstate punter in Georgia, will replace Drew Meyer, a four-year fixture (54 games, 256 punts, 10,125 yards, 39.5 average).
"I played quarterback (frosh and soph) and tight end (soph and junior) in high school," said the 6-foot, 186-pound Lotti. "But I've always pretty much focused on punting."
Lotti's coach at West Hall High School was his father, Tony Lotti, an All-American punter at Tennessee Wesleyan (1985-89) and a member of the school's Hall of Fame.
Tony Lotti is also an author of two books: Fourth Down and Long: Everything is Possible When You Believe and A break in the Rain: A Boy, his Coach and a Special Wish.
The latter was a true story based on the relationship between a coach and a child with Down syndrome. Lotti has a master's of education degree in Cross Categorical Special Education.
Lotti has turned around the fortunes of the West Hall program with three straight playoff appearances. His son has been an integral contributor. He averaged 45.2 as a junior and 45.4 as a senior.
During a recent practice, Lotti walked along the sideline, dropping a football at a kicking angle and catching it on first bounce. He repeated the drill from end zone to end zone.
"If you have a bad drop, if it's inside, outside, or anything like that, it's going to screw up the whole rest of your kick," he said. "So the drop is the most important part of it.
"I try to get as much reps as possible — that's muscle memory. And when I'm walking that line, I can usually tell if it's set up to be a good ball."
Lotti will also work off the Jugs machine.
"We practice catching and molding the ball — getting it set over the foot," he said. "There's also one step and no step (drills) hitting punts just to get that fluid leg motion."
On Friday night, Lotti will go through a visualization exercise.
"I'll put together a film of my punts — when I felt like my form was really good — and I'll watch it, usually the night before a game," he said, "so I get that in my mind on what I need to do."
There will be punts from this training camp and punts from his final season as a prep.
Does a good punt make a certain sound off his foot? Like a hitter getting the barrel on a pitch.
"From the contact, you can tell," said Lotti, who just turned 19. "If it looks easy, like you're not even trying, that's how you know it's one of your best (punts)."
Lotti didn't get to know Cephus until after he verbally committed to Wisconsin.
"When I found out that they were recruiting him," Lotti said, "I started reaching out to him to see if there was anything that he wanted to know, things like that. We're both Georgia boys."
Cephus verbally committed last September … to Furman … for basketball.
At Stratford Academy, he set the single-game playoff record with 53 points. As a junior, Cephus averaged 22.7 points, 8.9 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 3.2 steals.
Cephus was planning on making it official with Furman during the early signing period in November. But he had a dramatic change of plans and decided to focus on football.
As a senior, he was All-State in Georgia with 42 catches for 872 yards and 12 touchdowns. All along, Cephus wanted to test himself at a Power 5 school. "It was my dream forever," he said.
Wisconsin gave him that opportunity. His basketball background is still paying dividends. (He finished his career as Stratford's all-time leading scorer with 1,960 points, 462 assists, 388 steals.)
"It helps tracking the ball (the pass)," he said. "Also in basketball, if you mess up one play, you've got to get back on defense. It helps my mind not dwelling on something that might be bad.
"It has been more of a mental adjustment here — just learning how to focus at this level and I'm still learning. I've been adjusting to how much you run and how you have to take care of your body."
A.J. Taylor, a first-team all-state running back out of Kansas City, and Kendrick Pryor, a first-team All-State receiver out of Illinois, are also pushing for playing time with Cephus.
Lambeau Field looms as a priceless experience for all three.
"A lot of great people have played there and I'm going to look up the history," Cephus said. "It's going to be amazing to be in that locker room and to run out of that tunnel."
On Friday night, he will try to take his mind off the game by watching "Friday" — a series of films starring Ice Cube and John Witherspoon and Mike Epps. He'll get some laughs.
On Saturday, he will be all business. Same for Johnson, who has been taking second team reps in the secondary with another true freshman, cornerback Caesar Williams (Grand Prairie, Texas).
Defensive coordinator Justin Schultz has been encouraged by their early development.
"Every time you sign somebody, you kind of hope (they can play as a freshman)," he said. "You're cautiously optimistic, I guess. But you never really know until they get here.
"It's a change for them. They're leaving home (for the first time). It's new. It's new terminology. It's a new setting with new coaches. All of that stuff. But the freshmen in general have done a nice job."
Johnson is still dealing with some of the mental demands.
"There are more meetings and a lot more film and learning the playbook," he said. "You're reading your keys, reading the blocks, reading the release of the receivers. It's more of a mental battle.
"But Coach (Jim) Leonhard has made it real smooth breaking the game down."
Johnson will go over his playbook on the eve of Saturday's opener. He will visit with the other safeties (Leo Musso, D'Cota Dixon, Arrington Farrar) and he will eat.
"I like to eat good to get my mind off things," he said. "You have to treat your body right."
He will also get into some video gaming — another diversion before potentially realizing his dream on Saturday by playing as a true freshman.
Lotti and Cephus and some of their classmates can relate.
