BY DON WILLIAMS l AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

Texas Tech punter Jonathan LaCour spent the first two weeks of spring practice battling a stereotype. To be clear, the stereotype has nothing to do with punters, their eccentricities or LaCour himself.

Every day the Red Raiders have worked out, the West Texas wind has been relentless, which is to say as bad as outsiders perceive.

“It’s pretty irritating,’’ LaCour said after one of last week’s workouts, “because no matter how I drop the ball, the wind’s going to take it, the nose of the ball’s going to go down, the ball’s going to shift to the side, and then I have to match my foot up with it.’’

Between March 25, the day spring practice started, and Wednesday, the average wind speed has been 17 mph. Every day has seen peak winds of 31 mph or greater, according to data provided by the National Weather Service Lubbock office.

One recent afternoon, kicker Donnie Carona, who also is training as the backup punter, sent aloft a doomed punt. A gust grabbed the ball, slammed it sideways and sent it bouncing like a ground-rule double over the practice-field fence onto University Avenue.

LaCour said his main concern is what happens before his foot hits the ball.

“It’s more about the drop than once the ball gets into the air, because you’ve got to make sure to get good contact with it,’’ he said. “The other day, I was just lucky to make contact with the ball, because it was a 40-mph wind straight in my face, and the ball was moving all around before the kick.’’

Texas Tech junior punter Jonathan LaCour is looking to bounce back after his average dropped by about 5 yards per punt last season from the previous year.

This is an important spring for LaCour, whose average dropped by about 5 yards last season. From a promising 42 yards per punt two years ago as a true freshman, LaCour saw his average tail off to 37.1 last season. As a team, the Red Raiders ranked 118th, next to last in the nation, in net punting — the average of gross yards per kick minus return yardage.

So getting LaCour back on track is one of the projects of Eric Russell, the Red Raiders’ new special teams coach.

Asked for an early impression of LaCour, Russell said, tongue in cheek: “He probably kicks better the more you yell at him.

“Talented leg. Pretty athletic, just inconsistent,’’ Russell said. “But he’s got the tools to be a good Big 12 punter. It’s just getting through some mental stuff — just letting him trust his ability to turn it loose instead of thinking his way through kicks.’’

Tech set a school single-season record for fewest punts last year with 26, breaking the mark of 29 from 2003. So there weren’t as many chances to offset the bad ones. That LaCour landed 11 of his 25 punts inside the 20-yard line is an indication, too, that he found himself in quite a few short-field situations.

LaCour said his spring objective is as much about improving his mental approach as anything mechanical. He wants to work on relaxing and doing what comes naturally.

“It’s just stuff I’m doing on my own,’’ he said. “I considered talking to a sports psychologist, just to keep me relaxed and clearheaded, but I think I’ll be able to keep myself like that.’’

Russell said he thinks LaCour is hungry and likes that he wasn’t happy with how he performed last season. Now they’re trying to work through LaCour’s tendency to overthink and try to be too perfect.

This spring’s gusty conditions — often strong westerly crosswinds — have provided another element to challenge the kicking game. Frankly, Russell doesn’t blame his players for being annoyed by its persistence.

“It’d be good if it was two or three times a spring instead of every day you’re just battling stuff,’’ he said. “It not only affects (punters), but trying to evaluate our punt catchers and everything else right now, too. It’s tough for me to get a true feel on those guys.

“You can’t use that as an excuse with the kids, but it makes it tough. We’ll be better for it.’’

Matthew Ziebell, a National Weather Service forecaster in Lubbock, said if it seems windier than usual, it might be just one’s imagation.

“This is typically the windier time of the year right now,’’ he said. “Just the storm track in general is much farther north. This isn’t really unusual to have this many windy days. Tomorrow we’re actually looking for a much windier day than what we’ve seen (Wednesday).’’

Luckily for the Red Raiders, it’s a day off from spring practice.

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