Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/497887
At the conclusion of each practice, it's common for the coaches to call the kick- ers and punters to the middle of the field to compete. Make the kick, and the team gets a break in conditioning; miss it, and extra wind sprints are on the way. On a roster that has seven punters and kickers, with only two who have game experience, it's a method aimed at sim- ulating the pressure of a game situation. It happens not just at Penn State, but at many other programs across the country. "When you have a rookie kicker, they've never kicked in a game, so being in the stadium, seeing the fans, all eyes on you, it's a little bit different," special teams coordinator Charles Huff said. "It's something you can't necessarily re- peat in practice." So, at Saturday's Blue-White Game, Penn State used the 68,000 fans in Beaver Stadium to its advantage. Prior to kickoff, Penn State's kickers, one kick after another, competed in field goal attempts ranging from 37 yards to 59. Then at halftime, the punters took their turn, aiming to down their punts in a specific area of the field and trying to create more hang time than their team- mates. It was the first time anything of the na- ture had taken place at PSU's annual spring game. And for Huff, it's the first time he's heard of any team doing it. That's because only a handful of football teams have a spring scrimmage atmos- phere that can even come close to mim- icking a game-day environment in the fall. "This place is special," Huff said. "Everybody doesn't have 68,000 for a spring game. So you can say you're hav- ing a kicking competition, but there's going to only be 20 more people there than there are at practice. Because of our fans, because of the support here that we have, we're able to recreate some situa- tions that everybody in the country isn't able to recreate, which allows us to do some evaluation. We saw some good things." Danny Pasquariello edged Robbie Liebel in the punting duel, while Joey Julius and recent transfer Tyler Davis each split the field goal competition. Both Davis and Julius converted their first kick from 37 yards. When they moved back to 42, Julius missed his first try but converted the second. Davis made both. They reversed roles from 47, as Julius made both and Davis went 1 for 2. They both easily converted from 52 and then they each went 1 for 3 from 55. When they moved back to 59 for the final kick, both of their attempts fell just shy. "I would have liked to see those guys be a little more consistent, especially on the shorter-range kicks," head coach James Franklin said. "Once it got deeper, I know who they are in that circumstance." It's also a reason why, even though the competition finished in a draw, that Julius has an inside track on the starting place-kicker spot for 2015. If anything, it's Julius' resiliency, his ability to forget about the last kick and focus on the next one, that has separated him. As Huff said, his "mentality will allow him to bounce back from a mistake and not get too high off success." Huff warns, however, that there will undoubtedly be some "growing pains" as the Nittany Lions continue to develop their young specialists, but when it comes to Julius, he thinks he's off to a good start. "Is he going to be Sam Ficken and hit seven game-winners? Who knows," Huff said. "Will he be mentally ready to do that? Absolutely. If he keeps going in that direction moving into camp and he con- tinues to compete and get better, he'll be our guy." A P R I L 1 8 , 2 0 1 5 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 6 Up in the air Kickers and punters compete for starting positions in Blue-White Game T I M O W E N | O W E N . T I M . B W I @ G M A I L . C O M BIG TOE Julius attempts a field goal in Saturday's pregame kicking competi- tion. The freshman ap- pears to be the front runner for Penn State's starting position. Photo by Bill Anderson