Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1511150
D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 3 3 5 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M When Coach [Stacy] Collins reached out to me and we discussed the oppor- tunity, it was a pretty easy decision." Felkins had converted 36 of 54 field goal attempts during his tenure at Co- lumbia, winning first-team All-Ivy League notice following the 2022 sea- son and becoming only the fifth kicker in league history to hit two 50-yard attempts. The opportunity that Collins was of- fering Felkins was to try to replicate that success for a Nittany Lion team with an opening at the placekicker spot following Jake Pinegar's graduation. Felkins would have to beat out a schol- arship returnee in redshirt sophomore Sander Sahaydak, but there was no prohibitive favorite standing in the way of playing time. To the contrary, the position was wide open. Sahaydak ended up winning the job in preseason camp, but when he missed field goal tries of 38 and 34 yards in Penn State's opener against West Vir- ginia, the coaching staff turned to Fel- kins. The newcomer booted a 25-yard field goal and 3 PATs that night and was the starter the following week against Delaware. He's held the position ever since. "When Alex got his shot, he con- tinually got better," said Collins, who is in his second season as Penn State's special teams coordinator. "He's gotten more and more confidence kicking in a game setting. "But Sander knows that he's right there, and there's competition every day. … Sander is striking the ball ex- tremely well in practice also. The main goal is to make sure that when we're in a situation to kick field goals and put points on the board for this team, that we get that done." Through Penn State's first nine games, Felkins hit 13 of 16 field goal tries, in- cluding a 50-yarder in the Nittany Lions' 33-24 victory over Indiana on Oct. 28. He was third in the Big Ten in field goals heading into the Michigan game. Felkins didn't need to set foot in a roaring Beaver Stadium to understand that he was in an entirely different world from the one that he'd known in the Ivy League. Just stepping into the Lasch Building for the first time was sufficient to send that message. "The thing that caught me a little bit off-guard — even though I kind of ex- pected it at the same time — was how many people there are in the program just from an administrative standpoint, from an athletic training standpoint, from an equipment management stand- point," he said. "It's just a way bigger operation here." After arriving in January, Felkins made a smooth transition academically and athletically. His classes were all online, so after working out at Lasch, he would walk to the nearby Morgan Academic Center, watch his lectures, do his home- work for the MBA degree he was working toward, then go home. This fall, he's taking in-person classes, so he's become more enmeshed in the university's cultural life. It's been a big change, going from New York's bustling Upper West Side to the rolling hills of central Pennsylvania, but he's been ap- preciating the contrast. "It was cool to live in New York City for a pivotal developmental period in my life," he said. "Then moving here, I get that classic small-town experience for one year, which I think is also really cool." Small as State College may be, every- thing else about Penn State is super- sized, especially the football program. When he took the field against West Vir- ginia, Felkins found himself performing in front of 110,747 fans — nearly 12,000 more than attended all of Columbia's 20 games the past two seasons combined. It didn't faze him, nor have any of the contests that have followed. Come game time, Felkins is locked in on the job at hand. He'll soak up the atmosphere when he and his teammates step onto the field on Saturday afternoons, but after that, he's all business. "This is what I've wanted to do for such a long time," Felkins said. "I have to do my job. Running out of the tunnel every game is my brief little moment to have that aha moment again with my eyes wide open. But as soon as we get on the sideline and the game starts, I've just got to walk in and do my job. I can't really think about that other stuff." ■ Through Penn State's first nine games, Felkins had con- verted 13 of 16 field goal attempts and was the team's leading scorer with 78 points. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL "My goal going into the portal was to pick the best possible program that I could play at to give me that big-time college experience that I'd been dreaming about for a long time. Obviously, Penn State checks all those boxes." F E L K I N S