By: Holly Malkowski
When James Platte joined The Citadel Bulldogs football team, it wasn’t as a punter. He was an equipment manager. But in his free time, Platte was constantly hitting the gym or punting once practice was over. In 2022, he was a walk-on to the team and quickly became the starting punter. Now in his third season with the Bulldogs, Platte is a player that special teams couldn’t do without.
“He’s a really good athlete across the board,” Special teams coach Tony Coaxum said. “He loves working out, loves lifting weights and things like that.”
Coaxum also said the team dubbed James with the nickname “Platte McAfee,” because he has similar personality traits to Pat McAfee, a famous sports analyst.
Platte was a soccer player his whole life, but decided he wanted to play football in high school. During his junior and senior years of high school, he was the football team’s kicker and punter, and was also on the varsity soccer team. He went to South Aiken High School in Aiken, SC, just under two and a half hours from The Citadel.
Platte didn’t play football his first year at The Citadel because it was during COVID-19 and the team had limited roster spots. He wanted to stay close, though, so he became the equipment manager. He said at the end of practice he would stay late and just practice punting on his own. He joined the team at the beginning of his sophomore year, and has been the main punter ever since.
Last season Platte played in every game, averaging 43.1 yards per punt. He had 18 punts that traveled over 50 yards with a season-best punt of 61 yards. During his first season with the Bulldogs, he posted a 64-yard punt against Chattanooga. Platte was named to the Southern Conference Preseason 2nd-Team All-Conference Team before this season.
“A lot of my teammates are very supportive, which is kinda weird for a punter, you know?” Platte said.
Through the first five games this season, Platte had a career-long 69-yard punt and is averaging 47.45 yards per punt. His average this season places him at fourth in the FCS.
“A lot of times special teams is overlooked,” Coaxum said. “But these guys have really bought into the things that I have been teaching and how we want to run special teams.”
Coaxum said the biggest thing for special teams this season is to be more consistent. He said it helps that head coach Maurice Drayton was a former special teams coordinator himself, coaching for the Green Bay Packers, Las Vegas Raiders, and Indianapolis Colts. Coaxum said Drayton knows what special teams needs and puts emphasis on it.
Platte spoke to this as well, saying how nice it is to be able to be around educated special teams coaches that have worked in the NFL like Coaxum and Drayton.
When Platte finishes school, his dream is to go to the NFL. He is getting his Masters in Project Management. He is also currently working on clinical trials with a retina doctor, and would like to be the director of a clinical trials unit or a project manager if football doesn’t work out.
The Citadel is 2-4 on the year so far with wins over Charleston Southern and North Greenville. The team is 0-3 in conference play including a home loss to rival Furman.
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