Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Bulldogs in search of kicker
Mississippi State Coach Mike Leach said being a college placekicker isn’t complicated.
“The thing is, there’s a ball, and you kick it, and it really doesn’t matter if a bunch of 7-year-olds are watching or if five million Mongol warriors on horses getting ready to shoot their bows and arrows at you,” Leach said Monday at his weekly news conference. “Because, I mean, you approach the ball and kick it. “It’s as simple as that.” Despite what Leach said, he knows it’s not easy for kickers to make field goals even at the SEC level, as the Bulldogs demonstrated last week in their 3128 loss at
Arkansas. Mississippi State kickers Brandon Ruiz and Nolan McCord combined to go 0 of 3 on field-goal attempts.
Ruiz, senior transfer from Arizona State, missed from 23 and 46 yards.
Leach then had McCord, a redshirt freshman, attempt two extra points, and he hit both.
McCord then missed a 40-yard field-goal attempt on the final play that allowed the Razorbacks to hold on for the victory rather than have to play overtime.
The misses dropped Mississippi State to 9 of 17 on field-goal attempts this season, including 1 of 7 from beyond 40 yards.
After the game, Leach said the Bulldogs would hold open tryouts for kickers back on campus, and it wasn’t something said only in frustration after a tough loss.
Leach said Wednesday that about 40 students expressed interest in trying out to be Mississippi State’s kicker.
The hopeful kickers haven’t yet gone through tryouts, Leach said, because paperwork needs to be finalized to make sure they’re all academically eligible under NCAA rules.
“We’ve got to get their paperwork and all that stuff,” Leach said. “They have to be approved.
“We haven’t seen any of them [kick] yet. I’m sure they’ll come in all shapes and sizes.”
Leach said he hopes to hold tryouts next week.
“We want to have a pile of kickers that are available that we cultivate, develop,” Leach said. “Over the years, most of my kickers have been walk-on guys that have developed and improved to the point where they become the starting kicker.”
Ruiz came to Mississippi State as a scholarship kicker last season, when he hit 10 of 12 field-goal attempts with a long of 43 yards. This season he’s 5 of 9 this season with a long of 44.
McCord is 4 of 8 on fieldgoal attempts with a long of 39.
Leach said a decision will be made later this week who will handle field goals against Auburn on Saturday, but it sounds like it will be Ruiz or McCord with the tryouts for new candidates still on hold.
“You just keep working,” Leach said of what can be done to improve the kicking. “Go back to square one as far as the drills.”