From aircraft mechanic to college punter: the story of Elijah Gorman
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Four years ago, Southern Illinois senior punter Elijah Gorman was working as an aircraft mechanic apprentice in Kenosha, Wisconsin, when he suddenly decided it was time to try the sport of football.
Gorman grew up playing soccer, but stumbled upon the popular Youtube channel “Deestroying,” run by pro kicker and influencer Donald De La Haye.
“I saw a video of Deestroying, and I thought, I could do that,” he recalled. “So I went out to a field and started kicking."
Gorman discovered he was actually pretty good at kicking field goals, so he reached out to a local kicking coach named Denny Porter and started training.
"That's when I started to really feel like I could do this,” Gorman said.
After attending a prospect camp, Gorman was offered a spot at Division II Lake Erie College, which he promptly accepted. During his freshman season at Lake Erie in 2023, Gorman made 1-of-2 field goals and 5-of-8 extra points.
The following season, a week before training camp started, a phone call from Lake Erie special teams coach John Tsironis sent his life in a completely different direction.
“He said he saw a lot of potential in me and could get me to a D1 school if I’d like,” Gorman explained. “So I ended up getting on a call with a coach at Alcorn State and getting an offer to go there. I just decided, let's take a leap of faith and go to Mississippi.”
Instead of kicking field goals at Alcorn State, though, the school made him the team’s starting punter for the 2024 season. It was almost like starting over.
“I was watching YouTube videos again in the locker room, trying to figure out how to do it,” he laughed.
Gorman averaged a modest 37.4 yards on 30 punt attempts in 2024.
“I felt like it wasn't a great season for me,” he admitted. “I mean, it's my first year ever punting, but I could tell from that season that punting was something I could be really good at.”
After the season, he trained as a punter with EnnsZone Kicking, and they were impressed enough to connect him with SIU’s special teams coach, Nathan Frame.
“I met a lot of coaches, and Coach Frame was by far the most genuine and straightforward,” Gorman said. “He said Paul (Geelen) is the guy, obviously, but if I beat him out, I beat him out. I would have to do a lot of things to do that, because he was coming off a really good season, but he was very upfront about what I needed to fix and the consistency, training and practice I needed to get better.”
Serving as Geelen’s understudy in 2025, Gorman was a sponge, learning everything he could about the art of punting.
“I never had any schemes when I was punting at Alcorn,” he said. “I had to learn how to punt and stay between the shield, understand how to read the punt return unit based off its rush look, and just not try to drive the ball every time.”
Gorman won SIU's punting competition this season and is putting up impressive numbers through six games. His 43.6 yard average ranks No. 21 in the nation at the FCS level and would be the sixth-best average distance by a Saluki punter in school history if he maintains it.
“He’s by no means a finished product, but he's got tremendous upside,” Frame said. “He does a nice job with ball location and setting up the gunners for success. He can hit it from the right hash to the left numbers and vice versa with different-style punts. That's a big plus for a punt unit.”
There’s so much more that goes into being a good punter than pure distance, Gorman explained.
“Every week's different,” he said. “One week, they may have a really good returner and I'm trying to play keep-away from them, put it more out to the sidelines or drive the ball more and not let them catch it. Other times, you want them to try to catch it because the returner might have a loose handle.”
Hang-time is another critical factor in punting.
“We talk about matching up the hang-time and distance,” Gorman said. “So if it's a 43-yard ball, 4.3 seconds of hang-time. If I'm kicking a 50-yard ball and only 4.0 seconds hang-time, that gives the returner a lot more time to make a return happen. We want to make sure that the gunners are already down there by the time they catch it.”
The NCAA has kept a stat called “Net Punting” since 2012, which subtracts return yardage from the length of the punt. The Salukis rank No. 15 in the nation at 41.0 yards, the highest mark for the program since the NCAA started tracking it.
“There's obviously room to improve, but I feel like it shows that the work we put in has been paying off,” Gorman said. “The goal of the year is to make sure they don't return anything.”
Gorman has one more year of eligibility at SIU and then he’d like to play professionally, just as Geelen has.
“I have a lot to work on if I ever want to get a CFL opportunity like Paul,” he said.
Off the field, Gorman is studying exercise science and hopes to be a personal trainer or coach when his football career ends. He’s engaged to his high school sweetheart, Triana, who he met while working at Chik-Fil-A five years ago. They plan to marry in May.
Football specialists are known for their quirks, and Gorman has a story to illustrate one of his own. Three days before he first arrived at SIU, he totaled his car. No one was hurt, but the accident opened up a new path.
“Since I didn't have a car, I was bored and trying to figure out what to do,” he offered. “So I rented a scooter, drove to a guitar store in town and bought an acoustic guitar.”
So you have a musical background?
“Nope. It took me about a month before I could fully play songs, not just little chords here and there,” he laughed. “I’m not great, but I can get the job done.”
He mainly plays country and folk music, but his fiancee got him an electric guitar last Christmas.
As for singing?
“I try, but I'm not good at it,” he shrugged. “Yeah, I’m a horrible singer.”
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