Kellen Shaffer and his job to punt the Irish to victory by Dylan Pignotti

SEATTLE-For Kellen Shaffer, coming to O’Dea may not have been a choice, but he could not be happier to be here. Shaffer is one of very few 3rd generation men of O’Dea. The Irish is simply in his blood. Both his uncle and grandfather attended O'Dea.

Shaffer is now, a junior starting punter for O’Dea. But this was not always the case. Shaffer's freshmen year, he played safety and wide receiver on the freshmen team to start off the year. About halfway through the season, he tried kicking the football instead of catching it. It turns out Shaffer was a great punter. For the rest of the season Shaffer punted, and played some wide receiver, but excelled at punting.

“I tried out wide receiver and free safety…. but that went done hill after freshman football, and I kept punting,” said Shaffer about freshmen football.

Shaffer may be a little soft spoken in class, but on the football team he is a leader. He is known on the team for being a great teammate for his brothers. at practice. If he sees someone that may not be playing their best, on just are having a bad day, Shaffer sees it as his job to help them out. These are some attributes that only the best leaders have.

“I try to lift kids up when they have a tough practice,” said Shaffer about his leadership on the team.

After the game against Eastside Catholic last Friday night, the whole school felt the loss. But Shaffer spoke optimistically about the team after that game. He thinks that game will have a positive impact on the rest of the team. He thinks this loss is going light a fire under the Irish that will not go out for the rest of the season. Even after the loss he still full heartedly believed his team is the best in the state. This shows a lot about him and the team the Irish have taken this loss to hart and made themselves better for it.

“After this week’s loss to Eastside, I think it's going to bring out a lot more hard work and will wake us up for the rest of the season,” said Shaffer about the game.

Shaffer has improved a lot over the past two seasons. This is his first season starting and he has performed very well as the team reaches the halfway point of the season.

It’s hard to be a punter in football. But Kellan Shafer is the embodiment of what makes a great punter, he is a great leader on the team and is someone the boys can look up to. His positive mindset helps everyone. It's hard doing all this as a punter, a position that rarely gets on the field, but somehow Shaffer is still able to be a great leader for the team.