In his time at VMI, Ben Shrewsbury has punted the ball 210 times for 9,360 yards. That’s more than 5.3 miles.
Shrewsbury’s punts can go long, but his time in Lexington is drawing short. On track to graduate in December with a degree in Economics and Business, and with one remaining year of eligibility thanks to the NCAA’s new 5-in-5 model, Shrewsbury intends to seek opportunities at other college programs.
“VMI doesn’t have a Master’s program, so it doesn’t really make it a good fit,” Shrewsbury said. “I’d like to go somewhere and play and work on my Master’s. I would very much like to go to a Power 4 school if I had the opportunity.”
The way Shrewsbury booms punts, he should have plenty of suitors at the FBS level – including those Power 4 schools. Heading into Saturday’s home game against East Tennessee State (5-2, 3-0), Shrewsbury ranks fifth among all FCS punters in total yardage (1,823) and 14th in average (44.46 yards).
Shrewsbury, a Jonesborough native who did all the kicking at Daniel Boone High School and was excellent in all three roles, has focused on punting this season and working as holder on extra points and field goals. He described the difference between his punts now and his punts in high school as “night and day.
“The operation time is huge. In high school, nobody’s really rushing. Having to speed up, hit a good ball, and you’ve got to be able to place the ball directionally because you’re going against freak athletes trying to return the ball.”
ETSU coach Will Healy described Shrewsbury as “a weapon” at his weekly press conference on Monday.
“He’s got a really strong leg,” Healy said when asked to elaborate on Shrewsbury’s game. “I think it starts with that. I think his fundamentals are really good to me. He looks comfortable being more of a traditional punter, kind of an NFL-type punter. He got really good hang time. He can place it wherever he wants to place it. When they protect it well, I mean, he can flip the field in a hurry.
“I think a lot of kicking is confidence,” Healy continued, comparing it to a golf swing. “You know, if you believe that you’re going to make good contact with the ball and you’ve got a strong enough leg, then you can put it about wherever you want. So he’s a little bit of an old school guy. He’s not this new rugby Australian rules kind of deal where he just, you know, puts a bunch of crazy spin on it or basically rugbies everything.
“He could kick anywhere in the country.”
James Wilhoit, a former kicker at Tennessee most famous for booting the game-winning field goal against Florida in 2004, now works as a kicking coach in the Southeast. Shrewsbury is a pupil of his.
“Ben is one of the most hard-working and humble kickers I’ve ever worked with,” Wilhoit told I-81 Sports via text message. “We had a camp this summer that Ben attended. He punted with the punters at LSU and South Carolina. There is no difference in those guys. Ben has SEC ability.”
“His name goes a long way. To have him on my side is a plus,” Shrewsbury said. “I’ve always enjoyed working with coach Wilhoit. I truly believe I wouldn’t have gotten where I am, I wouldn’t have been able to play Division I football, if not for him.”
Named first-team preseason All-Southern Conference, as well as making the preseason All-American list by Stats Perform, Shrewsbury already holds the VMI records for punting yards in a game (657) and a season (4,075), as well as the program single-game record for punts netting 50 or more yards (7) and punting average (47.9 yards).
His numbers this season are strong as well, with 1,823 total yards punting, even though positive results have been hard to come by for VMI. The Keydets (0-7, 0-3 remain winless in 2026.
“Only so much I can do about that,” Shrewsbury said. “I just try to go out there and do my job. Definitely, I’m never happy with my performance no matter what. Even when we do win. Obviously I prefer if the team won but I can’t really let it affect my mindset and performance.”
Shrewsbury’s specialty work at Boone affected multiple games, especially as a senior, when the Trailblazers went 12-1. Boone reached the second round of the playoffs that season, and kicked the longest field goals in team history in successive weeks: a 53-yarder against Halls in the opening round of the postseason, and a 54-yarder the next week against Knox Central.
“Great player for us but he might be a better person,” Boone coach Jeremy Jenkins said about Shrewsbury in a text message. “Great family and he worked extremely hard at his craft. … He was our biggest weapon on that team that went 12-1.”
Shrewsbury was also strong on kickoffs at the high school level, reliably tallying touchbacks.
As his time at VMI approaches its conclusion, Shrewsbury reflected on his time at the school, both on the field and as a cadet. Keydets athletes are held to the same standards as every other cadet at VMI, with regard to academics, discipline, and having to go through the Rat Line, a physically and mentally grueling boot camp that encompasses almost the entire first year at the school.
“The Rat Line sucks,” Shrewsbury said. “It’s way worse in person. It’s no fun. You really just gotta duck your head and realize you’ll come out as a better person at the end of it. I would say in the long run it’s totally worth it. You couldn’t pay me enough money to do it again, but I wouldn’t go back and not do it.”
This reporter asked if Shrewsbury ever stopped during his Rat Line time and wondered, “just what have I gotten myself into?”
“I feel like you’re crazy if you don’t think that,” he said. “I don’t know that there’s a person who hasn’t thought about transferring. You have to make a conscious decision to do the hard thing over the easy. It’ll all be worth it in the end. We have a great alumni network who understand what you’ve gone through.”
Cadets are subject to the Rat Line in their first year at VMI, no matter what. It’s why the athletic teams at VMI have so few transfers in this era of frequent player movement through the transfer portal.
It’s also part of why Shrewsbury describes VMI as the hardest job in football.
“If we have people transfer out they struggle to bring people back in,” Shrewsbury said, adding, “VMI doesn’t gift degrees; you have to be here a minimum of three years. It’s a super hard place to be a student athlete at, so if you’re not able to keep up with the military standards, the academics, the athletics, you’re gonna struggle and want to leave or get kicked out.
“You can be a successful football player here. It just takes more than other places,” he added.
Saturday will mark the first trip to VMI to play a football game for the vast majority of the ETSU roster. Shrewsbury provided some insight on the atmosphere of a game day in Lexington.
“We don’t really have the huge number of fans there but the fans that show up and mainly the corps. The corps is always there. It definitely plays a part mentally, having them all back there yelling and screaming and kinda backing you up.”
Shrewsbury noted athletes at VMI tend to be closer with the other cadets, because they’ve all had the same experiences: “We’ve gone through so much with them, the Rat Line. Living in barracks. It’s definitely a special place to play.”
Even as his own time in that place draws near its close.