Chaminade's Sayeri feeling good while chasing records
Chaminade kicker and punter Ryon Sayeri finds it within himself to relax on Friday nights — that's how he gets his best results. Calm is hard to come by in an environment of bright lights, colliding players and screaming coaches among cheering fans and marching bands.
Stillness can come from eye black. Sayeri has fun with it and has drawn cat whiskers, a monocle and mustache and a Harry Potter scar on his face at different points in the season — with the latter being his favorite.
“If he's all uptight and tense, he's not focused,” Cole Murphy, Sayeri's private coach said. “Some people have to be like that, dialed in. He's kind of the opposite. He's more concentrated when he's relaxed and he just feels good.”
The approach has led Sayeri to become the No. 2 kicker in the nation in the Chris Sailer rankings. He's recorded 21 touchbacks in 27 kickoffs this season and is near perfect on PATs with 27 out of 28 made. Last season he was a perfect 53-for-53.
He set the Chaminade record for the longest field goal when he hit one from 52 yards against Cathedral Catholic of San Diego and is chasing the state record of 64 yards, which was set by Oak Park's Eric Affholter in 1982.
It would have to be just the right situation for Sayeri to go for the record, but tonight's location works in his favor. Chaminade will play at Sierra Canyon at 7 p.m., which is also where Sayeri trains.
“I like their field a lot,” Sayeri said. “Having nets behind the field goal posts, it makes it feel like the field is just 10 times shorter than it actually is. So it's just like, all visual. That's one of my favorite places to kick.”
Murphy also coaches at Sierra Canyon and both say there is never any bad blood regardless of the outcome. Sayeri has been training with Murphy since he was in eighth grade.
“The biggest thing for him is maturity and acquiring knowledge,” Murphy said. “He's always been one of the better kids I've had just in terms of pure talent. But now he understands, like, situationally, what kind of balls he needs to hit.”
Chaminade doesn't have a designated coach for special teams, or kicking or punting, leaving Sayeri to make the calls for himself in most situations. He decides whether the ball goes across the field or out of bounds. Kickoffs are always headed toward the end zone, of course.
He doesn't mind having the responsibility, but he is looking forward to having a special teams coordinator someday. The recruiting process can be painfully slow for kickers but Sayeri is hoping for USC, which is coincidentally where Affholter went. He's been to every one of the Trojans' home games this season.
“I want Ryon to get a real offer,” Murphy said. “Not an offer where it's like, oh, we can get them really fast. Let's just offer him, get the commitment and then we'll move on. I want him to get a quality offer where it's like here, where he's valued.”
Kickers and punters are many times thrust into the spotlight when they do something wrong. At Chaminade, Sayeri is valued. He's been a captain and gets plenty of verbal support during games.
The Eagles had a ceremony for Sayeri's AllAmerican Game jersey unveiling on Wednesday after school. Sayeri expected the standard combination of coaches, parents and the principal but what he got was every one of his teammates standing alongside him and roaring in applause when he slipped on the jersey.
“It was really nice. I love it,” Sayeri said. “You could miss one ball your entire career and they'll only talk about that one miss. It's nice to be appreciated sometimes, especially as a kicker.”
Maybe it's something a little more than eye black that helps Sayeri perform at his best.