'We knew Drue was special.' Bengals' Drue Chrisman perfected punting prowess at La Salle

Nate Moore didn’t know what a Division I punter looked like or if the kicked ball would sound different. He had never coached one during his tenure as the head coach at Minster High School or while he was an assistant at Chaminade Julienne and Hamilton.

When he was the head coach at La Salle, Moore just knew there was something special about the way Drue Chrisman punted the football.

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“When you have a kicker with that kind of talent, they hit the ball different than regular guys,” said Moore, now the head coach at Massillon. “That’s the first thing you notice. When he punts the ball, you can almost feel the impact in your chest. He creates that type of thud on the ball.

“We knew Drue was special.”

Chrisman was special in high school at La Salle, earning first-team all-league honors in back-to-back years while helping the Lancers capture back-to-back Division II state championships (including one with Moore at the helm in 2014).

At Ohio State University, Chrisman was a three-time all-Big Ten selection and was a two-time semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award, given annually to the nation’s best punter.

Now, Chrisman has been special with the Cincinnati Bengals, replacing longtime punter and Cincinnati native Kevin Huber 10 games into this season after the Bengals released Huber, a McNicholas graduate, in early December. Chrisman earned a game ball from Bengals head coach Zac Taylor after last week’s 27-10 playoff victory over the Buffalo Bills. Chrisman executed a perfectly-placed 47-yard punt that landed out of bounds at the Buffalo 10-yard line with less than three minutes remaining in regulation, avoiding a run back from dangerous Bills returner Nyheim Hines.

During the regular season, Chrisman averaged 47.8 yards per punt, dropped 13 punts inside the 20-yard line and allowed only 7.6 yards per return.

“It’s exciting, I’ll tell you that,” Moore said. “With the season the Bengals have had, I’m just super proud of him. He comes from a great family with super parents. I’m sure they're proud and I certainly have a sense of pride seeing him out there.”

When Moore first got to La Salle in 2013, Chrisman, then a sophomore, was in a fierce competition to be the Lancers’ starting quarterback. The job would eventually go to fellow sophomore Nick Watson, who would go on to lead the Lancers to a pair of state titles. Chrisman’s lone varsity experience under center that season, he went 9-of-13 for 128 yards and threw three touchdowns in a 56-14 win over East Central.

“He was a good quarterback. We thought a lot of him at quarterback,” Moore said. “He was battling with Nick Watson at the time and we really liked both of them. Then going into that 2014 season, he kind of came to the realization that he was pretty good at punting and that was the direction he was going to focus on.”

Add in a right elbow injury and Chrisman was headed to special teams.

While most varsity punting competitions involve whoever is willing to compete for the farthest boot, Moore had a weapon who could flip the field with one swing of his right leg. Moore knew Chrisman’s abilities were special, but he had never had a college-caliber punter on his team before.

His assessment was confirmed late in the 2014 season while the Lancers were chasing a state title. Indiana head coach Kevin Wilson, who was recently named the next head coach at Tulsa after six seasons as an Ohio State assistant, came out to watch La Salle practice on a snowy west side afternoon.

“We’ve got the punt team out at that time. I remember I was discussing Drue and that fact that when he kicks it’s just different,” Moore said. “Coach Wilson basically confirmed that this kid is going to be punting at the Division I level in college.”

Wilson added Indiana to Chrisman's offer sheet, which included double-digit Division I programs such as Kentucky, UCLA, Florida State and Purdue. Chrisman committed to Ohio State during his junior year at La Salle.

Chrisman went undrafted after finishing his career with the Buckeyes. For an undrafted special teamer, the road to being one win away from a Super Bowl title can be a roller coaster.

The Bengals added Chrisman as an undrafted free agent May 2, 2021. Over the next 18 months, he was released by the Bengals three times, waived twice and spent three days with the Pittsburgh Steelers while jumping on and off practice squad rosters. His number was finally called in Week 11 of this season, when he landed 2-of-3 punts inside the 20-yard line, including a 65-yard bomb, in the Bengals’ 37-30 win over the Steelers on Nov. 20.

“It takes a special person to go through the disappointment of getting cut, getting waived and to keep coming back,” Moore said. “Drue is rock solid and has a rock-solid family. That’s where he comes from. It’s in his roots.”

Moore, a Mason High School and University of Dayton graduate and lifelong Bengals fan, is now hoping one of his former players will help deliver his favorite franchise its first-ever Lombardi Trophy.

“It’s amazing that it worked out in Cincinnati. I can’t imagine what it’s like playing football for your hometown team. I would love to see him win the Super Bowl.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: How Bengals' Drue Chrisman went from backup varsity QB to NFL punter