We both made our first few field goals from short distances. Then as we started to move back, the snapper gave his fraternity brother a low snap, this affected the operation slightly, which caused him to miss the kick. My snap was perfect and I drained my kick down the middle. On the other kicker’s next kick, another low snap, another miss. My next snap was low, but I stayed with it and made the kick. I ended up winning the duel and was named the back up kicker. A couple of misses by me and my season would have been over.
Coach George Welsh, was a great coach, but not very personable and a little intimidating. I was anxious about going and speaking to him. I had never been in this position before.
I went to his office and waited for him to come in. When he arrived, I looked him squarely in the eye and told him that I conceded that the starting kicker was better than I was, right now, but that I know that I am a much better at kickoffs. That I can help this team with field position.
Coach Welsh told me that he respected that I came to him and that we would start charting kickoffs during practice. He would then evaluate the results and make a decision. Fair enough.
(I heavily courage my kicking students to go and talk to the head coach if they feel that they are in a situation similar to mine).
The next game, we were up by several touchdowns and my special teams coach came up to me and told me that I would get the next kickoff. We scored. (The starting kicker’s kickoffs average was to the 8 yard line.)
On my first kickoff, I kicked the ball 6 yards deep into the endzone. A difference of 14 yards. My second kickoff went 3 yards into the endzone. A difference of 11 yards from his average. However, that wasn’t enough to earn the starting kickoff job.
The next week, we charted three straight days and all three days I out kicked him, by a huge margin on distance and hang time.
In the next game, he took the first kickoff and kicked it to the 15 yard line. After our next touchdown, I was told to kickoff. I kicked the ball 8 yards deep into the endzone for a touchback. I had finally taken over as the starting kickoff specialist and never looked back.
It was a great feeling to be playing college football. The energy and excitement of the games were incredible.
That season, we ended up as ACC Co-Champions with Duke (yes, Duke) that was coached by Steve Spurrier. We got the nod for the Citrus Bowl. A New Year’s Day bowl in Orlando, FL. It was my first experience going to a college bowl game.
The bowl experience was a blast. We were taken to many functions that included:
- Dinner Parties
- Parades
- Disney World
- Universal Studious
- Epcot Center
However, we ended up losing to Illinois 21 - 10.
