We continue our Northwestern football position reviews with the special teams unit, highlighted by Wildcat mainstays like Luke Akers and Jack Olsen.
Overall Grade: B-
Northwestern’s 2025 special teams unit highlighted the end of an era. After five years with Northwestern and three seasons as a starter, kicker Jack Olsen will spend his final year of eligibility with defending College Football Playoff finalist Miami. Meanwhile, punter Luke Akers is out of eligibility following three complete seasons of handling a variety
of roles for the Wildcats. Both Olsen and Akers culminated their Northwestern careers with All-Big Ten honorable mentions for the first time in their careers, recording their statistically best seasons to date.
Though Olsen and Akers are major departures, their replacements are evident going into the 2026 season. Northwestern acquired Bowling Green transfer Jackson Kleather, who went 19-for-22 on attempts and recorded a long of 56 yards. First-year Nikola Dugandzic, best known as 247Sports’ No. 1 punting prospect for his class, was expected to compete with Akers for the starting punter spot. He lost the battle, exclusively playing on the kickoff unit this season, but he’ll be favored to take Akers’ place in 2026.
While Northwestern had good seasons on the kicking and punting front, that gets negated by some of the horrors Wildcat fans experienced in the return game.
Running back Joseph Himon II led the ‘Cats in kick return yards for the second consecutive year, while wide receiver Drew Wagner led in punt return yards as his responsibilities on the offensive end grew. Redshirt first-year receiver Chase Farrell was also involved in the return game, notably muffing a punt during Northwestern’s contest against Minnesota.
Farrell’s mistake wasn’t the most haunting Northwestern special teams memory of the season — that honor probably goes to the 95-yard punt return touchdown scored by Nebraska’s Kenneth Williams, which ultimately could have been the deal-breaker in a one-score loss for the Wildcats. Giving up a 93-yard kick return to Minnesota’s Koi Perch wasn’t ideal, either. And then there was the fake punt orchestrated by USC, which led to an ensuing touchdown drive by the Trojans.
It’s worth noting that in 2026, Northwestern’s Paul Creighton will exclusively serve as special teams coach. Last season, he balanced that role with coaching the tight ends, a unit now led by Bob Bicnkell. Creighton will have the offseason to work with a new kicking unit and fix the problems haunting Northwestern on kick and punt returns.
Jack Olsen: A
Stats: 19-for-21 field goals, 90.5%, 41 long, 24-for-25 extra points
Olsen’s last season with Northwestern was his best season yet. After missing much of the 2024 season with an injury and converting just 10 attempts that year, Olsen posted a career-best 90.5% field goal percentage in 2025 — his first season above the 80% threshold. With Northwestern often struggling in the red zone, Olsen was often called upon and delivered for the most part on his career-high 21 attempts. Some of his most notable highlights include kicking the game-winner against Minnesota to send the Wildcats bowling and a season-best 41-yarder in the fourth quarter to put Northwestern up 16-14 during an upset win against Penn State. His 3-for-3 day against the Nittany Lions earned him Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week honors for Oct. 13, 2025.
The only significant blemishes toward Olsen’s 2025 stat line include a blocked attempt against UCLA that kept the ‘Cats scoreless in the second half, as well as his first-ever extra point miss against Central Michigan in the GameAbove Sports Bowl – his final game in a NU uniform. But overall, he posted a very successful 2025 campaign, leaving little to complain about.
Luke Akers: A
Stats: 36 punts, 45.0 average, 59 long, 3-for-3 field goals, 100%, 34 long, 2-2 extra points, 40.8 NET
Despite preseason speculation that top freshman punting prospect Dugandzic would threaten Akers’ starter status, the graduate student held strong as the main man on kickoff and punting duties. After playing the kicker role in Olsen’s absence and even balancing that with punting at certain points in 2024 (which he struggled to do at times), Akers was almost exclusively a punter in 2025 for a much more straightforward season. His career-high 45-yard average ranked third in the conference, a statistic that helped propel him to conference honorable mention status.
Akers took every Northwestern punt in 2025, but split time with Dugandzic and Henry Heims on the kickoff. Still, Akers initiated 40 of the Wildcats’ 69 kickoffs as the team’s best option, averaging 62.48 yards per kick and recording 22 touchbacks. He also made some brief appearances as a kicker, scoring the ‘Cats’ only points in a 23-3 blowout at Tulane and converting two field goals after coming in for Olsen against Western Illinois. But overall, his legacy at Northwestern will be the four seasons he spent as a very solid punter, culminating in his statistically strongest year yet.
Nikola Dugandzic: C
Stats: 21 kickoffs, 59.33 average, 36 NET
As the No. 1-ranked punter in the high school class of 2025, Dugandzic was touted amongst the Wildcats’ most anticipated recruits coming into the season. However, the 6’5 first-year did not take a single punt, as Northwestern opted to use him exclusively on the kickoff across five games. Dugandzic earns his grade due to his lack of appearances relative to expectations. That said, he’ll likely be the next player up after Akers’ graduation, as Northwestern did not sign a punter in its 2030 recruiting class or bring anyone in from the transfer portal in that position.
Henry Helms: N/A
Stats: Eight kickoffs, 59.88 average
Helms was Northwestern’s primary kickoff specialist in 2023, but redshirted the 2024 season. In his 2025 return, the redshirt sophomore made eight kickoffs, but appeared in all 13 games primarily serving as Olsen’s holder during field goal attempts.
