EAST LANSING, Mich— The Michigan State Spartans will have some positions of need to figure out at the end of the 2021-22 season. 

Punter is not one of them.

On Thursday evening, redshirt senior punter Bryce Baringer announced that he would be returning for a sixth year. His return is especially important as the Spartans did not sign a punter in the 2022 class and currently have only two punters on scholarship. Cody Waddell, the Spartans’ backup punter, is set to graduate after this season and is out of eligibility.

Job’s not finished… #GoGreen pic.twitter.com/GdSUChFQAQ

— Bryce Baringer (@bryce_bin18) December 16, 2021

Baringer, who will be returning for a sixth year in college football, began his college football career at the University of Illinois before transferring to Michigan State his sophomore year. That year, he played in four games after Jake Hartbarger and Tyler Hunt went down with season-ending injuries. He amassed a total of 486 yards off of 15 punts, four of which were downed inside the 20. 

Baringer did not see any action in the 2019 season before returning as a walk-on in the 2020 season as a redshirt junior. In seven games, he punted 37 times for 1,613 yards, an average of 43.6 yards per punt.

That lofty average was good for fifth in the Big Ten and 31st in the FBS. He led the Big Ten with 12 punts of 50+ yards, while placing nine punts inside the opponents 20. 

As a redshirt senior, Baringer burst onto the scene by earning second-team All Big-Ten accolades while also being named to the Ray Guy Award watchlist for the best punter in the country. He finished first in the Big Ten and fifth in the FBS in punting average with 48.6 yards per punt, while being one of only five punters in the FBS to average more than 48 yards per punt.

He is also tied for the Big Ten lead with 25 punts of 50-plus yards. In total, Baringer has booted 56 punts for 2,719 yards. Ten of those 56 punts have also gone for over 60 yards