Not many Arizona State graduates who don’t work for the university can say that they were able to lend their expertise to ASU student-athletes, but former Arizona State specialist Steve Rausch is part of that exclusive group. He has been extremely impressed with that Sun Devil unit he has been guiding over the last fee weeks and offered his expert opinion of what fans can expect of this group of first-year players.

Rausch, the founder of Rausch Kicking, donned the maroon and gold from 1990-1992. During his playing time in Tempe, he handled the Sun Devils' punting, kickoff, and long field goal duties. Rausch who was born and raised in the valley, attended Trevor Browne and Dobson high schools and, in the latter, played for legendary local special teams coach Charlie Gorham.

By day Rausch works in the Mortgage Industry, and most of his evenings and weekends are spent training placekickers, punters, and long snappers. He has trained former ASU placekicker Carter Brown, Arkansas State placekicker Dominic Zvada who as a freshman was named a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award, Austin McNamara, an all-American punter at Texas Tech, and Grady Gross, who was handling kickoffs at the University of Washington this past season.

Our conversation naturally centered around Rasuch’s relationship with Arizona State’s special teams coordinator, Charlie Ragle, and the players he recruited for this year’s team: long snapper Slater Zellers, punter Josh Carlson, and placekickers Dario Longhetto and Carston Kieffer.

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“I started somewhere around 2019,” Rausch recalled. “I was working with a friend of mine whose son attended Gilbert Highland high school and wanted to get into kicking. I started developing him, and you know how that goes when you start working with one player and then another, and then it just kept growing. And for the last year and a half, Rausch Kicking has really taken off. We’ve got upwards of 40 to 45 players in our Saturday group trainings. Our state has a lot of the top talent for specialists in the entire country because if you can withstand the summer heat, you have the ability to train year round.

“I just try to help kids on all levels as much as I can. I do it after I get off work in the evening; I do this on the weekends. I have two full-time jobs, but I love them both. So this is something I’m very passionate about.”

The lion's share of college special teams coordinators, even at the power five level, is usually not the coach that teaches all the nuances related to the specialists on the team. This is where instructors such as Rausch come in to work on developing and refining the technique of those players and naturally regulated to doing this off-campus and accommodating the players’ schedules in between workouts and practices throughout the year.

“There are special teams coordinators that do have a background in developing specialists,” Rausch commented. “But I wouldn’t say it’s the majority by any means. The communication and the relationships that I’m able to build with these special teams coordinators is very important. Charlie Ragle and I have known each other for a few years now. He has a good understanding of placekickers, punters, and long snappers, and I would say he probably has a better understanding than your average special teams' coordinator. So, our conversations are effortless, in terms of what he’s looking for, how I train and develop these guys, so it just makes it even that much easier for us.”

Rausch stated that it’s been an absolute joy working with Zellers, Carlson, and Longhetto, not only because they will suit up for his alma mater this fall but also the fact that they, as grad seniors, have already displayed the requsite skill set and maturity level to be successful.

“When it comes to the constant coaching of mechanics and techniques, these guys are pros,” Rausch described. “They’re all very polished in their technique. Now, of course, I bring that extra set of eyes because everybody still needs to be coached. And we also do film review and study. To make sure that I align with Charlie and his expectations, we work a lot on live operations, from our op (operation) times, snap to punt, snap to kick, different coverages on kickoff…all depending on what he’s (Ragle) is looking for in terms of that hangtime and distances on punts, rollouts, and all the different things that fit his scheme.

“I won’t obviously get into a lot of detail here with that to tip our hat on some of his strategies regarding special teams operations. But that’s where I feel that we have a lot of our focus on in our live ops, the timing, the chemistry, and the rhythm of the whole operations team. I want to make sure that the things that I’m coaching and instructing align with him (Ragle). We’ve got spring ball coming up, and I want to make sure that these guys’ timing and whole live operations are in sync. I want these guys going into spring ball confident and efficient.”

Rausch said that he has known Carlson, who prepped locally at Gilbert High School over the last two to three years, a period during which he trained him. Zellers is another local newcomer to ASU who attended Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep. Once the group of lead specialists in Tempe was completed with Longhetto, and due to Rausch’s relationship with Carlson, and Ragle for that matter, the three began training with Rausch last month.

“Charlie and I talked about the importance of making sure that we’re working with one another,” Rausch explained, “and that they (three specialists) are working with me consistently on a weekly basis, which we do. Charlie and I discussed some of the things that I touched on before in terms of ops time what’s your preference regarding hangtime, distance, directional, and different things like that. Ever since Dario, Josh, and Slater have been on board weekly now, we make sure that we’re constantly focusing on that stuff Charlie and I talked about.

“This is their last year, and these three players want to make the most of it, and they want to have the greatest impact on the team, and I want to help them do that.”

Rausch offered his current assessment on each of those three specialists, as well as incoming freshman placekicker Carston Kieffer.

Placekicker Dario Longhetto

“I will say this; he has the most powerful controlled leg swings I’ve ever seen since I’ve been coaching, and I’ve coached some elite guys from college to the pro levels. It’s amazing. This kid is strong and just has a great demeanor about him. He approaches every aspect of the position with discipline, from just his work ethic to his diet. He really studies the game. He and I, continuously after every session, do a film review of each one of our sessions. He’s highly, highly committed, just like Slater and Josh. He can do kickoffs too. I call him a backline guy, which is 75 yards. He can hit a ball that far on a kickoff in his sleep. This kid has a powerful leg and can be a solid backup punter. But of course, that’s a decision (handling kickoffs as well) that Charlie will make.”

Punter Josh Carlson

“He is one of the most polished punters in terms of mechanics with elite hangtime and distance that I’ve seen. He’s extremely accurate. If you look at his career stats, I believe his net and gross (yards) are within a yard or so of one another which is exceptional. He’s very passionate, loves punting, and always working on his technique, his drops, his steps, and his ops time. He’s a team player and a great locker room guy, like all three of these guys are. Those three guys are a group that is extremely talented and very experienced across the board.”

Long Snapper Slater Zellers

“Slater is one of the most elite in the country at his position. One of the first couple of things you’ll notice when you see him snap, even if you’re not familiar with long snapping, is his velocity. It’s just incredible. His snaps have great rotation, are very clean, and have pinpoint accuracy. If Josh says, ‘Slater, I want it to my right hip, 14.5, 15 yards,’ he’s hitting his snap to his right hip. He is that good. So, velocity and accuracy are the first two things you’ll see right off the top, and he’s about as elite as it gets.”

Placekicker Carston Kieffer

“His upside is tremendous. Not only in the state (Kieffer prepped at Tempe Corona del Sol), he was one of the top 2023 guys in the country. He’s an elite ball striker with power. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Carston for the last couple of years, and he’s very hard-working. He’s very focused and mature beyond his years. He was a team captain, which not many specialists are on their team. So that speaks well to his leadership as well. ASU is a great situation for him to enter as a freshman and have a special teams room of Josh, Slater, and Dario. Those are great examples to learn from, and they will help him transition from high school to college. Just being able to witness those three players’ actions is going to be such an advantage. Carston is the real deal and a complete kicker who can also kick off.”

In the weeks leading up to the Sun Devils’ spring practice, Rausch will continue to meet with the Arizona State specialists weekly for two sessions that approximately runs 1.5 hours each, and that includes both on the field work and off the field. Shortly after ASU’s spring practice concludes on April 15th, Rausch will get a report card of sorts from Ragle on all of the specialists, which will help guide Rausch’s game plan for that group in the months prior to August’s preseason camp.

“I’ll get that feedback, and Charlie will tell me if there’s anything in particular that he wants me to work on with them,” Rausch said. “I will certainly work on the areas where he wants to see them improve on. I love training these guys because they are hard workers and team players. I feel very confident that we’re going to have one of the strongest special teams units in college football here at ASU.

“Of course, that can easily sound very biased, but I’ve seen a lot of elite guys and coached and trained many of them across the country, and this unit is certainly right up there with the best of them.”

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