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Pressure on RedHawk placekickers
Team's top two kickers are back from last year, but neither was as successful as he would have liked.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
OXFORD — All coach Shane Montgomery wants from his Miami University placekickers this fall is a little consistency, especially in what he called "certain situations."
In other words, it's late in the fourth quarter or overtime, the crowd is howling, and teammates are kneeling and praying, because a kick between the uprights would win the game.
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It's a position with which the RedHawks are all too familiar.
"We've kicked the ball well at times the last three-four years," Montgomery said after practice at Yager Stadium on Tuesday, April 15. "But there were times when, if we'd kicked a field goal at certain situations, we would've won four-five more games."
As a result, Miami's position of field-goal kicker has been about as stable as a pingpong ball swatted outdoors in a high wind.
Over the last two seasons, the job has gone back and forth between Nathan Parseghian, a senior-to-be who converted 2-of-6 attempts in 2006 and 13-of-20 last year, and junior-to-be Trevor Cook, who hit 10-of-13 in 2006 and 5-of-10 last season.
Both have known the roles of hero and goat, sometimes in the same game.
"They've both had really good springs," Montgomery said. "Nate is kicking the ball extremely well, very solid, getting the ball up in the air as well as he's ever done. Trevor's improved; he's had a better spring. Both have been more consistent. Nate has the edge now because he has been a little more consistent."
Montgomery can only hope that any consistency shown by Parseghian and Cook will remain in place at the crucial times.
One of the main dangers for placekickers is that football, especially late in the fourth quarter, can turn from being a game of automatic execution into a mind game in which the pressure becomes more dangerous than a 6-foot-6 defensive lineman.
"I tell the kickers all the time, you never know when your time will come," Montgomery said. "You've got to be ready. It's almost like a relief pitcher in baseball when you've got to go out and get one batter. A kicker has got to go out and make one kick.
"Kicking is a different position," he said. "You want (kickers) to know how important it is, but at the same time you want to stay as positive as possible."
Montgomery said that although long snappers and holders also are involved in the process, they're usually not the ones who get noticed.
"You're going to get the blame; you're going to get the glory," Montgomery said of kickers. "If you want to be a placekicker in college, you've got to accept the responsibility that goes with that."
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197
or pconrad@coxohio.com.
