Baylor University photo Steelers new punter Daniel Sepulveda has made highlights with a ferocious tackle, but it's his punts that might cause opponents to lose a lot of sleep.

By Ed Bouchette
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette There's a highlight of him from 2004 running under his 51-yard punt and then smacking North Texas return man Johnny Quinn to the turf.

"Maybe the best hit we've had since I've been around here," gushed Baylor coach Guy Morriss at the time. "The kid bugs me every day about being a linebacker, and I understand why."

Have a look ... View Daniel Sepulveda video at the Baylor University Web site.

At 6 feet 2 1/2, Sepulveda is taller than the Steelers' first-round draft choice, linebacker Lawrence Timmons, and at 229 pounds just five pounds lighter -- and faster, considering Sepulveda has been clocked running the 40 at 4.43.

Steelers scouts and coaches could not stop talking about their new punter's size and athletic ability last weekend, nor that he began college as a walk-on linebacker. But they did not use two draft picks -- trading their sixth to move up seven spots to select Sepulveda in the fourth round -- to get someone to run down under punts and make tackles.

They want Sepulveda to revive their punting game, something that has slipped the past two seasons as 37-year-old Chris Gardocki, while never having one blocked, could not do it forever.

"With Chris getting up there in age a little bit, we had to start looking for another young guy," said Kevin Colbert, the Steelers' director of football operations. "[Sepulveda] certainly has the credentials that we were looking for. He's been one of the leading punters in the nation -- a big, strong, physical guy."

The Steelers have not released Gardocki, but they will, perhaps after whatever back injury that kept him from kicking at minicamp heals. Mike Barr probably will make his fourth consecutive trip to Steelers training camp and leave it the way he did the previous four, on the waiver wire.

Unless Sepulveda is hurt, he'll be the Steelers punter for years. He is their highest pick at the position since they drafted Craig Colquitt in 1978 in the third round. He's the first two-time winner of the Ray Guy Award as college football's best punter, and he has the potential of the former Oakland Raiders' great who annually has been a Hall of Fame finalist.

Sepulveda, who kicks with his left leg, averaged 46.5 yards per punt last season and averaged 45.24 in four years for Baylor, the best of anyone ever with more than 50 career punts. He had 94 punts of 50 yards or more. Last season, 26 of his 66 punts wound up inside the 20, nearly 40 percent.

The Steelers credit part of the last statistic to something they call the "Aussie Roll," which is not made from wheat but developed by punters in Australian Football. It's a kick used in closer quarters that goes end over end and bounces backward, like putting spin on a wedge shot to the green.

"It rolls back to you in the field of play instead of hitting and rolling into the end zone," said Bob Ligashesky, the Steelers' new special teams coach. "He usually does it from the plus-45 and going in."

Sepulveda's father, Carlos, was an all-Texas punter in high school, but it wasn't until college that Daniel took to it after punting in grade school. A former high school quarterback, he went to Baylor to play linebacker without a scholarship. Twice rejected by the special teams coach to punt, he fooled around with it on his own after practice one day and caught everyone's attention.

He wound up competing with a punter on scholarship.

"Eventually, I got my foot in the door and got the opportunity to kick heads-up with this guy in practice one day," Sepulveda said at the combine workouts at Indianapolis in February. "I hit a good one, and it was clear that I was better than him."

It has been clear ever since that he is better than virtually any college punter other than perhaps Maryland's Adam Podlesh, drafted by Jacksonville earlier in the fourth round Sunday.

The only thing that might stop Sepulveda is an injury, and even that could not stop him last year. The ACL in his right knee was torn while he played pickup basketball at Easter break. He had surgery April 27 and punted against his parents' and doctor's wishes in Baylor's first game, Sept. 3.

"My parents were saying no," Sepulveda said. "The doctor said I should probably wait a couple more weeks. We ended up pulling the trigger, and it worked out for us."

He punts like Ray Guy, tackles like Jack Lambert, heals like Rod Woodson. If you're going to throw away two draft picks for a punter, make it a good one.