Penn State place kicker Sander Sahaydak (93) warms up before an NCAA college football game against Indiana, Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)

UNIVERSITY PARK — After the first half of the West Virginia game last season, it looked like Penn State’s kicking game was in shambles when Sander Sahaydak missed two field goals inside of 40 yards.

Sahaydak had won the job over Alex Felkins during camp, but he never got a shot at redemption for the rest of the season as the now-graduated Felkins was the Lions’ primary kicker.

Felkins went 19 of 24 on field goals and did not miss a PAT all year.

“I think it taught me a lot about focusing on yourself,” Sahaydak said at media day. “It’s not easy to come back in Sunday afternoon. You have to shut your phone off. It kind of teaches you to trust everything you’ve done, and know that there’s good people around you. Get back on the horse and keep going.”

A year later, Sahaydak finds himself in a familiar position, in another battle for the starting kicker. This time, he is competing with Tulsa transfer Chase Meyer and redshirt freshman Ryan Barker.

“It’s great competition,” Sahaydak said. “We have three great guys in the room, which kind of helps. It forces you to be your best. There’s no taking a back seat or laying off. And that goes for everyone with the punters, snappers and kickers.”

“Sander has grown a lot and learned from that experience,” PSU coach James Franklin said. “In terms of just pure talent of kicking the ball, he’s very impressive. We’ll see how this plays out. But the competition has been really good. I think the game experience could and will factor into the decision process.”

Meyer was a third-team all-AAC selection at Tulsa last season, converting on 17 out of 20 field goals and 30 of 31 PATs.

“I think the competition is really important,” Franklin said. “Having three guys there, two of which have kicked in college games, I think is really important.”

New special teams coordinator Justin Lustig has been pleased with the kicking competition, calling it “a good problem.”

“We’re in a really good spot right now,” Lustig said. “Those three guys are really competing. We just need them to continue with their consistency through camp, and we’ll see what happens.”

Riley Thompson will return as the team’s punter after handling every punt last season. The former Australian rules football player, who transferred in from Florida Atlantic after the 2022 season, was an all-Big Ten honorable mention pick by the coaches and the media.

Gabriel Nwosu, a backup punter, will be back to handle the kickoff duties this season. Mitchell Groh is the only other punter listed on the roster.

Tyler Duzansky started all 13 games last season as the Lions’ starting long snapper. Duzansky landed on the Patrick Mannelly Award watch list, which is given to college football’s best long snapper, in the preseason.

Nick Singleton will return as the team’s kick returner, while Kaden Saunders is in the lead for punt returns.

Franklin said all the kicks are charted during practice, and that will help determine the selection of the starter.

“I think the competition is important,” Franklin said of special teams. “I think sometimes at these positions, there’s not the same level of competition that there is for the defensive end or the corner position. We’ve tried to create that as much as we can.”