Punter Briton Forester signs with football

University of Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino announced the signing of punter Briton Forester (Encinitas, Calif.) to the Razorback football team Monday. Forester attended Palomar College in 2008 and lettered at the University of Hawaii in 2006 and 2007 after completing his prep career at La Costa Canyon High School. Forester will be a junior this season and joins Arkansas’ 2009 recruiting class that includes 32 players. “Coach John L. Smith did a great job of targeting Briton,” said Petrino. “We took our time and had patience with the process of identifying him. Briton’s experience should be an asset to us in an area we needed to fill.”

Forester was an All-Southern Conference honorable mention selection in 2008 at Palomar. He averaged 36.2 yards on 42 punts for the Comets with a long of 77 yards in a 41-14 win over Orange Coast on Nov. 8. The punt was the second-longest in Palomar history. During the season, he also had two other punts of 59 and 58 yards and a 76-yard punt nullified due to a penalty. He set the school single-game record against Orange Coast with five punts inside the 10-yard line. On the year, he finished with 16 punts inside the 20-yard line to match the school single-season mark. Forester was nearly perfect on extra point attempts (21-of-22) and he had three field goals. He had one of his top performances of the season against San Diego Mesa on Sept. 20, averaging 45.2 yards on five punts and pinning the Olympians inside their own 15-yard line twice. He was 5-for-5 on extra points and he was named the SCFA National Division Southern Conference Special Team Player of the Week for his effort.

In 2006 at Hawaii, Forester saw time handling extra points where he was 28-of-31. He was redshirted during the 2007 season.

Forester was a kicker and a defensive back for coach Darrin Brown at La Costa Canyon High School. He was a first-team All CIF-San Diego Section selection and played in the Alex Spanos All-Star Classic. He lettered in track and field and soccer, which won the CIF-San Diego Section Division I championship his senior season.

“Briton is good for us to get because of his maturity,” said Smith. “He has kicked in stadiums full of people, which for a punter is a necessity. He is a little older and more mature to be able to handle the duties here.”