Blue White Illustrated

PRACTICE KICKS With Bill O'Brien holding, Ficken practices prior to the Blue-White Game. The junior missed his only field goal attempt of the game, a 37-yarder. Patrick Mansell off of that confidence going into next year." Ficken was the Lions' only real option at place-kicker last season, so they didn't have much choice but to bear with him as he worked through his difficulties. Anthony Fera, the team's starting kicker and punter in 2011, transferred to Texas in August, and run-on backup Matt Marcincin left the program for personal reasons in September. This year, even with the improvements he's made, Ficken might have a battle on his hands. The Nittany Lions are getting set to welcome Chris Gulla, a run-on from New Jersey who has been described as a "big time prospect" and a "big pick up for Penn State" by Chris Sailer Kicking. Gulla could end up challenging for both the place-kicking and punting jobs, and Ficken is eager to see what he's got. "I love competition," he said. "Coach always says the job's open every week. Whoever wins it, wins it. I'm looking forward to that." Ficken said he practiced well this spring. He continued to build leg strength while focusing on the refinements he began making last season. One of the biggest changes to his game has been the way he approaches the football. At the beginning of last year, he was taking two and a half steps. He's since eliminated the "chop step," and now takes only two strides before striking the ball. "That's helped me take out that room for error," he said. "My plant foot was a little off sometimes. Now I'm hitting the ball more consistently with a better flight path. It's really helped." Spring practice ended on a disquieting note, as Ficken missed a PAT and a 37-yard field goal attempt in the BlueWhite Game. But that was with punter Alex Butterworth doing the holding in place of last year's holder, Ryan Keiser. "We'll go back and look at that," O'Brien said. "It's all about the operation there. It's the snap, it's the hold. It's a lot more than just the kicker." Will Ficken's improved accuracy influence Penn State's play-calling this fall, particularly its willingness to take chances on fourth down? It's an open question. The Lions attempted a Big Ten-high 34 fourth-down conversions last season, more than Ohio State, Michigan and Nebraska combined. While it was easy to attribute their brinksmanship to O'Brien's experience as an assistant to Bill Belichick, a noted nonbeliever in conventional playcalling wisdom, his no-guts-no-glory approach may also have stemmed from concerns about Ficken's leg. After the kicker's poor start, the Lions seemed unwilling to test his range. He attempted only four field goals of 40 yards or more and missed all of them. His longest field goal of the season was 38 yards. But O'Brien said recently that downand-distance considerations were the primary reason for all that risk-taking. "It just kind of happened last year that there were a lot of fourth-and-3s," he said. "I know there were some fourth-

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