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T H E 2 0 1 7 S E A S O N I n his 9rst two years as Penn State's kicker, Tyler Davis converted 30 of his 32 9eld-goal attempts. Technically, how- ever, he did not miss 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. The native of St. Charles, Ill., entered his 9nal season with the Nit- tany Lions as the most ac- curate starting kicker in PSU history. But he doesn't think about the blocked kicks, and he isn't likely to dwell long on his 9rst miss – a 39-yarder that sailed wide right in Penn State's opener against Akron. That kind of thing "doesn't even cross my mind," he said. Nor does he ob- sess on the likelihood that he will go down as one of the most e;cient kickers ever to don a Penn State uniform. No, his greatest feat thus far came this past preseason, he said, weeks before the Akron game. 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. "Just knowing that your team looks up to you and that they con9de 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 apprecia- tive of the coaching sta: and of the team for naming me one." Davis earned his teammates' respect by not only being a consistent presence on the 9eld goal 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 special- ists to join him so that they can re9ne their timing and continue to jell as a unit. He's found that the work put in before or a

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