STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- It’s Monday, so you know what that means: the start of another countdown to help the offseason tick by a little faster.

Every day this week, we’ll be looking at another position battle to keep an eye on this spring. Up Monday is a battle that returns one of the most inconsistent players Penn State has had in the last decade.

No. 5 position battle: Kicker

Departures: None

Returning players: Sam Ficken (15-of-23 field goals), Chris Gulla (one game played), Troy Stivason (incoming freshman), Joe Julius (incoming freshman)

Breaking it down: Ficken is a two-year starter, but his job isn’t exactly secure right now. It seemed like he had things figured out by Week 4 last season, making 15 consecutive field goals dating to 2012, but then his maddening inconsistency returned. He converted just half of his eight field goals in the last five games, and no attempt was longer than 37 yards.

When Penn State entered the red zone, there was no guarantee -- no matter how close -- that it would come away with three points. And, this summer with the addition of two walk-ons, there’ll be more competition for Ficken than there has ever been. That being said, Gulla will be the man to challenge Ficken this spring. Gulla is a sophomore who boasted other walk-on offers from the likes of South Carolina, and he’ll likely be the starting punter this season. However, field-goal kicking was Gulla’s specialty when he first arrived at Penn State. He should at least push Ficken this offseason. The main key here, though? Consistency. If a kicker here can find consistency -- at any range -- it would go a long way in deciding this race.

Pre-camp edge: Ficken. He has the experience, and Gulla’s attention right now has to be focused on punting. Both he and his high school coach said at this time last season that punting was what Gulla had to work on the most, so James Franklin might not want to divide his attention -- as long as Ficken is serviceable. Ficken is truly a wild card; he could nail a 55-yard field goal on one possession and shank a 24-yard kick on the next. He holds the Penn State record for most consecutive made field goals (15), but he also has managed to record a career 65.2 percent field goal rate. If he finds his groove, just as he did during those 15 field goals, he could be an All-Big Ten kicker. Or he could be buried on the depth chart by August. There might not be a bigger question mark on the team, when it comes to performance, than Ficken.