Gonzalez

“From the beginning, I thought I had a good shot if I did my thing,” Gonzalez said.

He did his thing for four seasons at ASU and is expected to be the only kicker taken in this year’s draft. Just where he will be selected is the question.

Some NFL executives don’t believe in using a high draft pick, or any pick, on a kicker. Others, such as Buccaneers General Manager Jason Licht, believe differently.

The Bucs took Roberto Aguayo out of Florida State in the second round last year, and Aguayo’s struggles as a rookie (22 of 31 field goals) could make other teams reticent about taking a kicker.

“That for sure will be in teams’ minds,” Gonzalez said of Aguayo. “I think it’s kind of hard not to, but Aguayo did finish the season pretty good. You never know what went on there.”

Jamie Kohl, Gonzalez’s kicking coach, hopes it doesn’t. “No two journeys are the same,” Kohl said.

Kohl, based in Iowa, started working with Gonzalez early in Gonzalez’s high school career and was immediately impressed that the skinny kid had such a repeatable stroke.

Gonzalez’s leg wasn’t particularly strong, but the kid was deadly accurate.

“He had an ability to kick in pressure situations that was way beyond his years,” Kohl said. “His high school coach gave him opportunities, and that is not always the case.”

In the summer before his senior year, Gonzalez followed Kohl to several college camps, and it was at Auburn’s that Kohl started to believe in Zane “as a big, big, big-time kicker.”

In a competition with two other kickers, Gonzalez made kicks from 50, 52, 54, 56, 58 and 60 yards indoors without a tee.

“At that time, Zane was 140 pounds,” Kohl said. “He was almost a little boy competing against….big, big guys out there. I kept looking in his eye and he loved pressure. He didn’t ‘handle’ pressure, he loved pressure.”

At ASU, Gonzalez was good to begin with and improved steadily.

By his senior year, he had gained strength, weight (about 60 pounds) and made 23 of 25 fieldgoal tries, including 17 in a row. His two misses were from 53 yards.

“My freshman year, I was just trying to kill a ball to get it just 50 yards,” Gonzalez said. “You just hit it like a regular old ball and it will get there.”

Gonzalez has spent the offseason working out at Arizona State, and it seems likely the Cardinals will be interested enough to bring him in for a workout.

Their kicker, Chandler Catanzaro, has struggled in some tight situations. Catanzaro is due to be a restricted free agent, but the Cardinals aren’t likely to extend a tender offer.

The lowest offer is around $1.8 million, and the Cardinals would like to re-sign Catanzaro for less than that.

Like the Cardinals with Catanzaro, the Bucs plan to challenge Aguayo this offseason.

“He was a rookie, 21 years old,” Licht said. “He had to learn that he’s not doing this for fun anymore. There are a lot of people depending on him.”

Aguayo’s struggles last season don’t help Gonzalez’s draft status, Kohl acknowledged.

“They are two different players, they have two different makeups,” Kohl said. “With a kicker going early, there is hyper-sensitivity to that. And what Roberto did last year does not help Zane Gonzalez.

“Hopefully, Zane gets drafted. That’s the goal.”