The most fungible position in football might have seen the least competition in FIU’s training camp.

Kicker Jack Griffin came into camp after being a Lou Groza Award semifinalist, first team All-Sun Belt, seventh in the nation in field goals per game and racking up 102 points. And Griffin came in to camp longer — in time spent and distance.

“I think I’ve gotten a lot stronger,” Griffin said. “Taking more field goals, taking a lot more reps. I think I’m a lot more accurate. I’ve become a better student of the game, the mental aspect of it.”

Griffin estimates he’s gained 10 yards on his field goals through both being stronger and the confidence that comes with that —“You can have the leg, but if you don’t have the confidence, you won’t be able to use it.” In practice, he has hit a few from 53 yards, beating his career long of 50, which he made against Middle Tennessee at home in 2010.

And nobody doubts Griffin’s ability to kick under pressure. He hit the game-winner in the Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl two years ago as time ran out and nailed the tying and overtime game-winning kicks against Troy last season.

“He has hit some big ones the last couple of years and the ones he’s missed are ones he could easily get,” FIU coach Mario Cristobal said. “He has the same expectation for himself that we have for him — to be perfect.”

Kickoffs kept Griffin as a good kicker the past two seasons instead of being truly elite. Not the rare (for a kicker) skill of tackling, which Griffin had five solo tackles and two assists last year. But perhaps he wouldn’t have had to make those tackles if his kickoffs had been longer (average 60.5 yards) or higher.

This year, Griffin has been reaching the end zone regularly in practice and going to the corner inside the 5 when he has taken something off the kick.

“He added muscle and power, he’s developed in his core and lower body,” Cristobal said. “It’s shown up in his kickoffs going to the back or out of the end zone. At the same time, he’s got more lift on the ball where sometimes you don’t want to kick the ball out of the end zone.”

A rule change designed to reduce the number of kickoff returns actually turns the kickoff into one of the more strategic moves in the game. The NCAA moved kickoffs up to the 35-yard line, but touchbacks put the ball on the receiving team’s 25 instead of the 20.

(Recall that kickoffs got moved back to the 30 to keep kickoff returns in the game after generations of youth soccer, kicking camps and weight rooms produced kickers who could bomb kickoffs into the end zone at will.)

A high kickoff toward the sideline inside the 10 or 5 not only gives the coverage team time to get on the scene with the sideline as an extra tackler, it forces the returner to make a decision: field it or let the ball bounce in hopes it’ll go out of bounds and incur a penalty.

If it bounces, but doesn’t go out, often wackiness ensues that’s rarely enjoyably comical for the receiving team.

“Statistically, getting the ball at the 25 versus the 20, that’s also pretty drastic change in terms of being able to score from there,” Cristobal said. “Those extra 5 yards are critical.”