38 DAYS TO KICKOFF: Mark Krause

#38 Mark Krause Redshirt Junior 5-11 | 218 Kearney, Mo. Bio

Position: Punter Previous College: Missouri Southern State University Projection: Starter Status: Walk-On

Mark Krause II (b. Feb. 11, 1991) is, to the best of my knowledge, not related to Bob Krause. And thank God for that.

He began his career at Missouri Southern, where he redshirted in 2009. During his redshirt freshman season, he averaged 37.5 yards per punt, with an outlier long of 80 yards. Ten of his punts were downed inside the 20-yard line.

It appears he sat out as a sophomore, which allowed him to transfer midyear to K-State and enroll in time for spring practice. That year of eligibility should have counted as his "lost" year due to Division I transfer.

During that year's spring game, he averaged 39.6 yards per punt, with a long of 53, but he had some real clunkers as well, including a 15-yard shank. He improved slightly to 41.2 yards per punt in the 2013 spring game.

In high school, Krause set a school record with a 70-yard punt. He was a three-time first-team all-conference and all-district punter, and a two-time all-metro, All-Northland and all-state punter.

He also was a two-time all-conference running back and the starting fullback in the MO-KAN All-Star game.

Krause is surprisingly big and strong for a punter. He was a two-time NASA Powerlifting National Outstanding Lifter and he won two powerlifting national championships in high school.

What that all adds up to is a guy with major power who is capable of bombing some punts, but totally whiffing some others. He's highly inconsistent. But due to Ryan Doerr's graduation, he's probably the best we've got.

There is potential for Krause to continue to improve this year and next, but I think it will take a lot of work and refinement on Sean Snyder's part to get him there. I've just seen erratic kicking results from him right now.