For the second consecutive season, the SMU Mustangs have pulled a punter out of the transfer portal, landing former Illinois priority walk-on Josh Leff.
Josh Leff Transfers to SMU
Former Illinois punter Josh Leff has committed to SMU, according to a post on his social media profile. Leff has four years of eligibility remaining after spending one year in Champaign with Brett Bielema’s Fighting Illini team.
Although he was a walk-on for Illinois, Leff had multiple scholarship offers in the 2022 recruiting class, including from Navy and Air Force. Meanwhile, Illinois fought off attention from UCLA, Rice, and Nevada, who also extended priority walk-on offers for the Sierra Canyon High School standout.
While expressing excitement about the opportunity to play Big Ten football with the Fighting Illini, Leff had to watch from the sideline as Hugh Robertson handled punting duties for Illinois this season. Subsequently, he entered the college football transfer portal in early December.
MORE: When Is the College Football Transfer Portal Deadline in 2023?
Highly ranked by the major kicking camps coming out of Sierra Canyon, Leff was deemed a five-star punting prospect by Kohls Kicking and Chris Sailor, per his high school recruiting profile.
Between the camps he attended and offseason training following his addition to the portal, Leff has routinely achieved a hang time of over four seconds, with multiple punt examples over 45 yards. SMU’s 2022 punter — Ryan Bujcevski — averaged 43.7 yards per punt on his 40 attempts.
The former Illinois punter generates good power on his punts. Meanwhile, the new addition to the SMU roster has dual-threat special-teams ability. Leff has handled kickoff and field goal responsibilities, with recent examples of him making a field goal from 46 yards on his social media profile.
Leff Quick Facts
- Class: Redshirt freshman
- Height: 6’0″
- Weight: 170
- Hometown: Chatsworth, CA
- Career total punts: –
- Career punt average: –
- Career punts inside the 20: –
- Career long punt: –
