By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

GRANITE QUARRY — A quarterback for a large chunk of his life, East Rowan High senior Tate Houpe is devoting himself to being all he can be as a punter.

Houpe, 5-foot-11, 190 pounds, showed a strong enough right leg in camps, workouts and games that he’ll be part of the Appalachian State University football team this fall. Houpe will be one of four candidates hoping to follow Bentlee Critcher as the Mountaineers’ punter. Critcher, who originally arrived in Boone as a walk-on, handled the job adeptly the last four seasons. As a senior, Critcher handled kickoff duties and unloaded seven punts of 50 or more yards.

Houpe is no stranger to 50-yard punts. The first team All-Rowan County punter, he’s crushed balls 70 yards in the air in camps, and he’s recorded 55-yard punts — with excellent hang times — in South Piedmont Conference games. He produced the longest punt at several camps last summer, including the prestigious New England Elite Football Clinic at Bentley University, near Boston.

“That was a big camp and like a lot of the camps I’ve attended, I was there for the quarterback stuff,” Houpe explained. “I’d finished a workout with the quarterbacks and we were on a water break, and I saw guys were punting. I put my cleats on and kicked a 51-yarder.”

Houpe is an athletic guy who has been clocked in 4.67 seconds in 40-yard dashes in multiple camps. He paid dues as East’s jayvee quarterback in the days when Samuel Wyrick was setting records as the Mustangs’ varsity QB. Houpe was expected to take over for the 2015 season as a junior, and he did. There were some strong outings — 260 passing yards and two touchdowns against North Rowan; 187 yards and two TDs against Northwest Cabarrus — but injuries limited him to six games and 726 passing yards for the season.

“I kind of realized late in my junior year that it was my punting that could take me to the next level,” Houpe said. “I was getting talked to for my punting by coaches at bigger schools than the ones talking to me about playing quarterback.”

The summer between his junior and senior seasons was a whirlwind of weekly road trips and camps for Houpe — Davidson, Old Dominion, Stetson, Bucknell, and on and on. There were two kicking sessions at Appalachian State where he impressed ASU special teams coordinator Stu Holt.

“The coaches told me I was one of the guys they wanted to bring in, that I was one in the pool of guys they were looking at,” Houpe said.

Houpe began his senior season as East’s starting quarterback, but it basically was a replay of his junior year. Between wrist and shoulder injuries, he took snaps in seven games. He threw for 617 yards. Five of his six touchdown passes came against county opponents. By the end of the season, sophomore Justin Smith was taking most of the snaps, and Houpe was concentrating on punting.

“I had some Division III schools that liked me as a quarterback and punter,” Houpe said. “I had offers from Wagner and Lenoir-Rhyne to punt, but Appalachian was the best opportunity.”

Houpe’s quarterback coach, Bill Renner, also happened to be the punter for the Green Bay Packers in 1986-87, so he’s been able to help Houpe prepare for the next stage of his career.