- August 23rd, 2006, 2:42 pm
#26038
For those who didn't see it (again, our web site is being stupid and not showing this story), this ran today. Look for some depth chart news tomorrow and just for Medic, a note on Ryan Greiser.
By Chris Lang
clang@newsadvance.com
(434) 385-5529
Liberty punter Ben Beasley wanted to simulate late-game pressure, something Flames kickers didn’t handle too well during the 2005 football season.
Combined, Beasley and Zac Kolegue were an underwhelming 4-for-11 on field goals. Kolegue missed a 28-yarder that would have sent the VMI game to over-time. Beasley missed a 42-yarder in overtime that would have beaten Coastal Carolina.
Neither kicker managed to make a field goal longer than 27 yards in 2005.
So that’s how LU’s end-of-practice drill came about.
As Kolegue, the team’s top place kicker, lines up for field goals, the entire team gathers behind him, shouting and screaming as if he was shooting a free-throw in Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium.
And if he misses the kick? Well, the team gets punished. Maybe it’s running extra lines or doing push-ups. Either way, Kolegue doesn’t want to let his teammates down … or have a ticked off 300-pound offensive lineman breathing down his neck after practice.
“(LU coach Danny Rocco) puts the pressure on us, and really, that’s what it is,” said Beasley, who will handle punts and kickoffs. “Every time we go in, you have to be automatic, you have to be clutch.”
Beasley talked to Rocco be-fore during the summer to pitch the practice idea.
The kickers spend most of practice honing their craft on one end of the field while the rest of the team practices on the other. Rocco wanted the entire team involved in the kicking game, so he was receptive to Beasley’s idea.
“More times than not, there are some consequences for these guys when they go out there to kick,” Rocco said. “They miss a kick, the rest of the team does 25 up-downs. That’s not a good thing.”
Neither is the sound of a foot-ball hitting the goalpost, which is something Kolegue heard far too often last season.
Though he made all 17 extra points he attempted, the field-goal miss against VMI was a “banger,” slamming off the right upright. Two other kicks during the season met the same fate.
“Anything that’s happened to me, I’ve put it all behind me,” Kolegue said.
Kolegue shook off the troubles and went into the offseason with a simple goal in mind: get more accurate.
“In the summertime, I’ll work out and swim and keep my legs in the water,” Kolegue said. “That increases my leg speed. And there are drills that you kick and don’t even use the uprights; just put a line down to make sure you’re kicking straight. You just keep working at it.”
Said Beasley: “It’s like hitting a golf ball. You’ve got to do it over and over and over again until you get it right.”
Rocco said Sunday that he plans to use his kickers much in the same way former coach Ken Karcher did. Kolegue is at his best from 40 yards and in; Beasley has a stronger leg and is better on longer kicks.
The only way for Kolegue and Beasley to get better is through practice, repetition and competi-tion, which is why the kicks at the end of practice are so impor-tant.
“Getting the whole team be-hind you in practice, screaming right in your ear, that’s one way to do it,” Beasley said. “If he can get pressure on us in the middle of August, in the middle of two-a-days, there should be no problem on Saturdays. It should be auto-matic.”
- By olldflame
- By Purple Haize