Blue White Illustrated

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 A U G U S T   3 0 ,   2 0 1 7 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 9 Long-range thinking helps keep Davis focused In his two years as Penn State's kicker, Tyler Davis has converted 30 of his 32 field-goal attempts. Technically, how- ever, he has not missed a kick. Both of his nonconversions came as blocks: one against Ohio State – which snapped his streak of 18 makes, a school record – and another vs. Iowa. As the na- tive of St. Charles, Ill., enters his last sea- son with the Nittany Lions, he stands as the most accurate starting kicker in PSU history. But he doesn't think about the blocked kicks, or when his first actual miss might occur. "That doesn't even cross my mind," he said. He also barely dwells on the idea that he could go down as one of the most efficient kickers ever to don a Penn State uniform. No, his greatest feat thus far has come this preseason, he said, weeks before Saturday's season opener against Akron. That's when his teammates voted him one of eight team captains. "That's a huge honor, probably my biggest accomplishment that I've had at Penn State," Davis said Tuesday morning on a teleconference with reporters. "Just knowing that your team looks up to you and that they confide in you and you're really one of the true leaders of the team, that was a huge honor for me, so I'm very appreciative to the coaching staff and to the team for naming me one." Davis earned his teammates' respect by not only being a consistent presence on the FG and PAT units, but also every day around the training facilities. He's normally 30 to 45 minutes early for practice and encourages all other spe- cialists to join him so that they can refine their timing and continue to jell as a unit. He's found that the work put in be- fore or aDer practice can be most bene- ficial. This semester, he has even more time for extra drills. With graduation nearing, Davis has a light course load this fall and he's using any additional time to sharpen his skill set. One off-season focus was to increase his range. He worked on his hip and leg strength in the weight room and honed in on his technique in order to be "more consistent in everything I do," he said. And he has seen some of the payoff already. Although he's converted every FG kick that has made it across the line of scrim- mage, his career-long is only 42 yards. He led the league in conversion percent- age last year, but his longest kick was from only 40 yards, which was bettered by 14 other kickers in the Big Ten. With another off-season strength ses- sion under his belt, he believes he's made progress in that area, even if it's not nec- essarily needed this season. "I think my range is probably about 55, but in a game it's hard to say what it would be, just because we have such a good punter and it's not really smart to risk it when we can pin them deep with such a good punter and such a good de- fense," Davis said. "I feel confident, probably, from 55 in a game, maybe 52 and in. I definitely think my range is something I've improved this off-sea- son." One other change to his game comes in the form of kickoffs. Last year he had eight for an average of 56.6 yards and one touchback, but this season it's possible that he'll be asked to handle a heavier load on that special teams unit. It is something he's happy to embrace. With the end of his short college career approaching – he first started playing football when he transferred into Penn State in 2014 aDer a year of soccer at Bradley University – Davis is looking to continue playing on the gridiron. That means professional aspirations are in store. It's not something that he's fixated on, but he knows that adding a full-time kickoff role only enhances his resume and makes him more appealing to scouts and general managers at the next level. "Kickoffs are a big thing, especially in the NFL, so that's been a focus of mine," he said. "But I'm really not too focused on anything past this season. I know if I take care of things now I think they should work out in the end." Davis is coming off a junior sea- son in which he led the Big Ten in field goal accu- racy. With all of those attempts coming from 40 yards or fewer, he's been work- ing to improve his range. Photo by Ryan Snyder

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