Luke Cherry laughed and admitted the scene does look odd.
    While his Georgia Southern football teammates are practicing on the field, he can be found dropping the ball on the ground as he walks the sideline.
    GSU began spring practice Thursday and also practiced Friday. What has Cherry’s job been thus far?
    “Mainly, just staying in a straight line,” he said.
    To the untrained eye, Cherry appears to be off in his own little world. But he is actually practicing the technique he will use when punting.
    With the ball in his hands, Cherry pretends that he has just received the snap. He takes a couple of steps and drops the ball. Instead of kicking it (because he’d end up spending the majority of the practices chasing it), Cherry watches as the ball falls to the grass and bounces up, upon which time he grabs it. He then takes a few more steps and repeats the routine.
    The motion with the football in hand “is supposed to be a straight line coming from your hip,” Cherry said. “It’s really all just consistency because punting is all about consistency. Anything I can do, no matter how boring it can be at times, it’s my job.”
    The repetition has become second nature to Cherry. It is similar to watching a point guard dribble a basketball all over town.
    “(The ball) is supposed to go right off your hip, just like you’re shooting pool,” he said. “It’s supposed to barely hit the nose (to) where it hops back a little bit. It’s supposed to be angled so it hops back a little bit to the right side of your foot.
    “You can tell when you have a good drop or not, no matter if you kick it or not. Walking back and forth, walking sideways, you just get to see all the wind angles, too, and how to play those, so that helps.”
    Cherry is not limited to intentionally dropping footballs at practice.
    “I’ll just be walking around the house doing it,” said Cherry, a 6-foot-3, 210-pound rising junior from Jacksonville, Fla. “Sometimes, I’ll just be sitting in my bed (dropping the ball) on the floor. I’ve even been at the beach sometimes when I’ve been home in Jacksonville, just bringing the football out there and working on my drop.”
    Watching Cherry drop the football is precisely what GSU head coach Jeff Monken likes to see when he glances over at Cherry, off doing his own thing on the sideline. Cherry hopes to win the starting job at punter, filling the void left by Charlie Edwards, who graduated. Monken said he believes Cherry can take over handling the position.
    “I think he can be a very good punter,” Monken said. “He’s got a strong leg. He’s probably got, and that’s including the guys in the program that graduated, the strongest leg of anybody we have.”
    Edwards, during his career, was among the best punters in the nation. He punted 30 times for a 42.1-yard average last season and had a long of 52 yards to go with four touchbacks.
    Cherry had one punt last season for 29 yards. In 2010, as a redshirt freshman, Cherry did not punt but he did kick off twice for a 54-yard average.
    This spring, Cherry is competing with redshirt freshman Hunter England for punting duties. Cherry said learning the craft of punting from Edwards was beneficial.
    “I mainly rugby-style punted when I was in high school, and we don’t do that here,” Cherry said. “So Charlie was great at teaching me everything, showing me all the ropes about how we punt here. He’s a phenomenal kicker.”
    Cherry attended two high schools in Jacksonville. He was enrolled at The Bolles School from sixth through 11th grades. He transferred to and graduated from Providence School.
    During his senior season, Cherry handled all of Providence’s kicking duties. He was named to the Class A All-State First Team.
    Cherry attended Florida State University for a year, but did not play football.
    “I got a call about mid-April when I was a freshman at FSU, and (GSU’s coaching staff) asked me to come play,” he said. “They saw my highlight tape I sent my senior year and asked me to come play.”
    Cherry joined GSU’s football program as a walk-on. This is his third year of college, but he has two seasons of athletic eligibility remaining to play football.
    “I’m all over the place,” he said, laughing.
    On special teams, in addition to replacing Edwards, GSU must replace seniors Adrian Mora (field goals, extra-point attempts), Billy Greer (kickoffs), and Carter Jones (long snapper).
    Cherry wants to win the starting job at punter this spring. In the fall, he said he will compete with England and walk-ons Cole Allison, of North Forsyth, and Cody Clark, of North Oconee, for placekicking duties.
    “Anything after punting is a bonus,” said Cherry, who is majoring in pre- Business Administration. “But for right now in the spring, my focus is on punting. But when we have kickoff and field goal (drills) out here, I’ll definitely get some reps. I’m really enjoying my chance to be a leader and my chance to compete and possibly get some playing time.”
    Notes: GSU’s practice Friday began at 4 p.m. but was delayed an hour because of lightning. The team waited under Herring Pavilion and returned to the field from 6:15-6:45 p.m. … The Eagles’ first practice in full pads is at 9:30 a.m. today … GSU’s Pro Day for NFL scouts is Thursday.

    Noell Barnidge can be reached at (912) 489-9408.