Down Pat
December 27, 2006 04:16 PM | General
December 27, 2006
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It’s ironic that Pat McAfee is kicking for West Virginia University in the 2007 Toyota Gator Bowl. Two years ago in 2005, it was the Mountaineers’ kicking troubles in a Gator Bowl loss to Florida State that ultimately led to McAfee winding up at West Virginia in the first place.
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| Pat McAfee attempts a punt during Wednesday morning's practice at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Fla.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
“That’s how I got a look here,” McAfee said before Wednesday morning’s practice at the University of North Florida.
Mountaineer kickers missed a pair of extra points that led to Rodriguez unsuccessfully trying a fake field goal in West Virginia’s 30-18 loss to the Seminoles. The next day West Virginia coaches were out looking for a kicker.
West Virginia assistant coach Tony Gibson came across McAfee, a Plum, Pa., resident, at a national kicking camp in Florida, liked his leg strength, and offered him a scholarship.
Two years later, McAfee has already positioned himself among the most productive kickers in school history. The sophomore is fourth in both career field goals made (27) and points scored (186), and his 105 points this year are third-best in school history behind record holder Charlie Baumann’s 119 points in 1988 and Paul Woodside’s 116 points in 1982.
McAfee has not missed a field goal inside of 40 yards this season and has only missed three times in 25 career tries inside of 40 yards.
“The one thing I was looking to improve this year was the 40-plus range,” McAfee said. “I’ve got a couple blocked and there have been some bad circumstances when I kicked those.”
McAfee was 2 of 7 from beyond 40 yards as a freshman in 2005 and is 2 of 7 from 40-49 yards this season. His career long is 51 yards at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh – the longest successful field goal college or pro at that facility.
“When I was going out there (holder) Travis McClintic said, “It’s a 51-yarder.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s pretty far.’ When we lined up I’m thinking just kick it my hardest. I did it and it happened.”
McAfee didn’t fully comprehend what he had accomplished until after the game when Pitt kicker Connor Lee explained to him how bad Heinz Field is for kickers.
“I’ve heard about how bad it is and how terrible it is on the field,” McAfee said. “But I didn’t know that no one had ever kicked a 50-yarder in there before.”
After the Louisville loss, McAfee also assumed the punting chores full time. He admits he has to be careful not to kick too much during practice to keep from getting a dead leg.
“After every practice I feel like I’m more used to it of getting the leg swings and everything good,” McAfee said. “The thing about punting is I have to get better at it. I’m not a good punter yet. The kicking will be there because I’ve done it the longest.”
McAfee is by no means a bad punter, averaging 44.2 yards for his 13 punting tries this year. He has a long of 75 yards which matches Morris Drubeck for the sixth longest punt in school history. Still there are times when McAfee doesn’t always hit the sweet spot.
“If you ever see the balls and whenever they fly and it looks like a duck that’s been shot that’s not good. I have to work on the old ball flight and fix that up,” McAfee admitted.
For the most part, Rodriguez has been pleased with McAfee’s punting and he doesn’t think it’s that big of a deal that he is doing both the place kicking and the punting.
“If you don’t over kick in practice it’s not an issue in games. It’s not like you’re going to punt 20 times and have 25 kicks,” Rodriguez said. “Really it’s monitoring how much he does in practice but he’s certainly got the leg strength to do both.”
“These last couple of weeks when it was just practice I had to really watch myself,” added McAfee. “The first couple of days I was just kicking and kicking and kicking and I would get home and go oh God. I have to really limit myself but now that it is game week and I can step it back up.”
Rodriguez says having the ability to place punts is just as important as having a strong leg.
“I think he’s done an outstanding job in punting particularly because we do different punts,” said the coach. “Pat’s been pretty consistent and the one 70-some-yard punt was a huge punt. The 50-some-yard field goal against Pitt was a huge thing so he’s made some big, big plays for us. I think he’s confidence is up and I think he’s going to have an opportunity to make an impact in this game.”
McAfee credits his success to taking an extremely complicated, scientific approach to kicking.
“Travis McClintic holds the ball. Tim Lindsey snaps it and I just try and kick it my hardest through the uprights,” he explained.
For the most part this season, McAfee has done just that.
Briefly:
“Clemson did some things scheme wise but Clemson controlled the ball on offense and their corners did a great job against Calvin,” Rodriguez said. “That was a once-in-a-lifetime thing. To hold Calvin Johnson down like they did that’s not going to happen very often.”
“It depends on the back and what kind of hits he is taking,” said Rodriguez. “Is he taking them from the D-linemen or from the secondary? Without watching all of their cut-ups -- most of Steve’s hits have been from secondary guys which is not as bad.”
“I don’t think there is as much carry over as people like to think,” Rodriguez said. “At the same time it’s good for your seniors. I don’t want the program to be only reflected on bowls but that’s part of it, let’s face it. Some of the hype that we got this year was based on the Sugar Bowl last year and that’s OK. The excitement and the things surrounding the program … anything that is positive is a good thing.”
“We’ll gear down a little bit and whether we put shoulder pads on or shorts I’ll wait and see,” Rodriguez said. “This is going to be our last heavy day. It won’t be a long practice but hopefully it will be intense and guys get after it.”
