Austin Bullock gives NIU a reliable kickoff weapon with freshman-season poise
Austin Bullock’s 2024 season at Northern Illinois was quietly useful in a very special-teams way: he played in all 13 games as a true freshman and handled kickoff duties, averaging 57.6 yards on 66 kickoffs with 20 touchbacks and only three out-of-bounds kicks. That profile says “steady and trustworthy” more than flashy, which matters for field position and hidden yards. His value is the combo of leg strength, ball-placement discipline, and early-career durability; if you want a kicker who can keep mistakes off the board, Bullock looks like a solid fit.
