The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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nale kicking tournament champion- ship over several other college kick- ers. to watch the camp, immediately felt a connection to Zauner. They sched- uled a one-on-one session with the coach that May, and Gibbons came back for one last tune-up in late July, just before the beginning of the Wol- verines' 2011 fall practice. "I really liked his style of coach- Gibbons and his father, who came looks like. I have a mental picture of it. I can tell him when he does mess up exactly what the problem was, and help fix it. "But there are a lot of things that ing," Gibbons said. "What he said made a lot of sense. I just bought into it and worked on it. "We worked on a lot of technical stuff, just making sure my steps were sound and con- sistent every single time. Following the ball with my eyes, instead of keeping them back. A lot of people teach you to keep them back. This way is more flu- ent in the way your body flows." Zauner started to see an- other, albeit less tangible, change in Gibbons, too. "From when I first met him to now, his technique has improved immensely, but more importantly, his demeanor and how he han- dles pressure has changed dramatically," the coach said. Hoke have ever discussed the kick- er's struggles in 2010. "That was before," Ferrigno said. Neither Gibbons nor Ferrigno and ONE MORE CHANCE "That was a whole different set of circumstances. We have just kind of coached him our way. "When I first saw him, I saw a very can go wrong, and as a coach, if you go crazy with all the little mechanics, you can mess a kid up. I have seen it happen, where you give a kid too much to think about, and then he can't do anything right." Gibbons kept thriving. He hit 10 of 14 field goal attempts — and 52 of 53 extra point tries after having one blocked in the season opener — in the regular season. Brendan Gibbons, 2011 13 Remy Hamilton, 1996 Garrett Rivas, 2003 17 25 13 12 12 19 11 17 *Bowl game numbers still pending. 18 9 Brendan Gibbons, 2012* 14 Garrett Rivas, 2006 Remy Hamilton, 1994 Bob Bergeron, 1984 Ali Haji-Sheikh, 1982 Mike Gillette, 1987 Garrett Rivas, 2004 Jeff Del Verne, 1999 Jay Feely, 1998 J.D. Carlson, 1989 K.C. Lopata, 2007 Bob Bergeron, 1983 Player, Year kicker before a big kick, and you can tell by their facial expression and body language," Zauner said. "When he was getting ready for it, I said to myself, 'Man, he's cool, calm, col- lected. He's Brendan.'" The kick was true. And Gibbons "They'll show a close-ups of a and his shaggy look and beach-bum- cool demeanor and brunette girls found a special place in Michigan lore. He made The Big One. But for Gib- U-M'S TOP-15 SINGLE-SEASON FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGES, MINIMUM 10 ATTEMPTS FGs Made FGs Att. Percentage 12 11 15 13 12 17 16 20 30 16 15 15 24 14 22 17 24 12 good kicker, consistent. We coach very positively here, and I think that helped him. I saw a lot of ability. He's very accurate, and that's what you want in a kicker, a guy who can make them from all over the field." After Gibbons' highly technical work with Zauner in the offseason, he thrived under the tutelage of Fer- rigno, a longtime special team coach who tends to work within the param- eters of a kicker's preexisting form. "Whereas we coach more within a first overtime of the Sugar Bowl ver- sus Virginia Tech — and having al- ready made his previous two field goal attempts in the game — Gibbons lined up for a potential game winner. After the kick, he famously told flight. With the score knotted at 20 in the And that's when The Crow took a group of reporters that he was "thinking of brunette girls" just be- fore the snap, and that the vision quelled any anxiety. But that's not entirely accurate. "Kickers are always defined by kid's style, Gary can fix their style," Ferrigno said. "When he's kicking the ball properly, we know what it 34 THE WOLVERINE DECEMBER 2012 whether they can make the big kick," he said. "You always get butterflies if you love the game you play. You'll get a little nervous for it — but that's good. I always just tell myself, 'Get ready to win.'" Zauner was watching on televi- sion, and he may have been the first person, other than Gibbons of course, to know the outcome. 92.3 91.7 88.2 87.5 85.0 83.3 81.3 80.0 80.0 79.2 78.6 77.3 76.5 75.0 75.0 bons, The Big One was only the be- ginning. That January, he made another ap- pointment at Zauner's pro development camp and scheduled two more one- on-one sessions for the sum- mer. "There was a big differ- ence after that kick," Zauner said. "That head was up, the chest was out. It was kind of like a proud peacock. It's like anyone who wins — you can just see the confi- dence that kind of bubbles out of him. It was a quiet confidence. He just came out and said, 'Coach, I'm here, and I want to keep get- ting better. I want to help my team.'" "He works all year at his gust and start kicking He's focused, and he does what he is supposed to do. He works very hard, and I think the fact that he works so hard gives him some confidence. It's all year." craft," Ferrigno added. "He doesn't just show up in Au- Gibbons' high school career began inauspiciously, before he surged. So did his time with Zauner. It has been no different at the college level. Gib- bons finished the 2012 regular season 14 of 16 on field goal attempts, a far cry from 1 of 5 in 2010. Since he came up short on a 44- COMING FULL CIRCLE yard try into a driving wind at Pur- due, Gibbons has connected on 11 consecutive kicks and counting, the second-longest streak in program history (Remy Hamilton, 14 straight in 1996). He has also hit his last 93 straight extra points, also the second- longest streak in program (J.D. Carl- son, 126 from 1988-91). "I have coached a lot of kickers, but