Lane Spiker

To make a football team great you always need three things: a good offense, good defense and good special teams.

For the 4-5 Washburn Icabod football team their special teams have proved to be one of the best in the MIAA Conference, even the nation and it’s in large part due to the play of former Doniphan West Mustang Lane Spiker.

Spiker is in his junior season as the punter for the football team and on the season is averaging 41.0 yards per punt which is second in the conference while he leads the MIAA in net yardage at 39.0 yards per punt.

He also is in the top 30 in the country when it comes to yards per punt as his 41.0 average places him 28th in NCAA DII.

It’s his first full season at Washburn after being on the practice squad a year ago which came after a solid year at Highland Community College where he averaged 34.5 yards per punt including five punts over 50 yards.

He was a four-year member of the Doniphan West football team where he was a first-team all-Twin Valley League selection at kicker and punter his senior season in 2015.

Spiker will look to continue his strong junior season and help the Icabods get back to .500 on the year as Washburn hosts Pitt State Saturday with kickoff scheduled for 1 p.m. in Topeka.

(Photo Courtesy of Washburn Athletics)