09-06-2012, 09:55 AM
If you are a Sports Illustrated subscriber, be sure to read this week's article on college kickers and how they cope with missing high profile kicks. The title is "05...04...YOU'RE NOT EVEN A REAL PLAYER...03...02...BUT YOU WILL MAKE THIS KICK" Subtitle - "The do-or-die life of kickers-outsiders in their own game-forges a bond that connects them across generations, and misses"
The main subject is Alexis Serna from Oregon State who missed three PATs, the last in overtime, when the Beavers lost by one at LSU in 2004. The following week he started a streak of 144 consecutive PATs.
The article is behind the subscriber wall so I cannot link here. But Jordan Williamson is prominently mentioned.
The main subject is Alexis Serna from Oregon State who missed three PATs, the last in overtime, when the Beavers lost by one at LSU in 2004. The following week he started a streak of 144 consecutive PATs.
The article is behind the subscriber wall so I cannot link here. But Jordan Williamson is prominently mentioned.
Quote: Serna still follows the Pac-12, and when Stanford freshman Jordan Williamson missed three field goals in the Fiesta Bowl, including a 35-yard game-winner at the end of regulation and a 43-yarder in overtime, he sent him a Facebook message that read in part: "You know you're a better kicker than that."
Williamson was one of the best last fall, making 11 of 12 field goals, before he tore a muscle in his groin and started hooking every ball left. "Part of our job is counseling," says former UCLA kicker Chris Sailer, who trains hundreds of FBS kickers, including Williamson. "A lot of guys get a job as a young player, falter early and can't get over it. I see that all the time." . . .
Last Friday night at Stanford Stadium, with two seconds remaining in the first half against San Jose State, Williamson trotted out for his first field goal since the Fiesta Bowl. "It's still in my mind, and I think it always will be," Williamson said. "But it has to motivate you instead of break you." As he spoke, he was wearing a Fiesta Bowl cap. Several kickers contacted for this story asked about Williamson. They wanted to know how he was doing and whether he received their notes. They said they would watch him this season.
Out on the field Williamson took three steps back and two to the left, pausing only to draw an imaginary line between the uprights. He wiggled his arms, the way he always does, as if he's shaking out the tension. The field goal was 46 yards, the longest of Williamson's career, spotted on the troublesome left hash. He cleared his mind and swung his right leg.
He drilled it.
"We have an unwritten rule around here not to do anything stupid."
-Casey Jacobsen, Feb 3, 2000
