Bailey’s kicks, punts can hang with best of them
Watching Stanford’s leadfooted Jake Bailey pound kickoff after kickoff through or over the end zone for a touchback, you’d have to assume that he was achieving his objective. Not always. “The perfect hit would be like a 4.3(-second) hang time 2 yards deep in the end zone, right on the numbers” between the sideline and the hashmarks, he said.
That way, he said, the return man is in a very difficult spot. He can concede a touchback, putting the ball on the 25. But he wants with all his might to bring the ball out of the end zone. Tacklers are breathing down on him, so his chances of getting far aren’t very good.
On the other hand, it’s not easy to be restrained when you have a leg like Bailey’s. “Most of the time, the adrenaline gets to me, and I hit it 5 yards deeper,” he said.
He has kicked at least four touchbacks in each game this year and has done it on 17 of 26 kickoffs, 65 percent. He has helped the Cardinal lead the Pac-12 in kickoff coverage; through last weekend, they were 31st in the country. Only 10 of 129 FBS teams had more touchbacks than Stanford.
San Diego State’s Rashaad Penny, a dangerous kickoff returner, didn’t get to make a single return against Stanford. Neither did USC’s Ajene Harris.
As a punter, Bailey is fourth in the Pac-12 with a 44.6-yard average despite what he considers an “average” season.
Unlike other powerful kickers, head coach David Shaw said, Bailey has “a nice, smooth stroke, like a great golfer.” If he’s not already one of the best kickoff men in the country, Shaw said, “he’s going to be.”
Bailey has other goals. He’s close to his private pilot’s license. The science, technology and society major interned the summer after his freshman year with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at Stanford’s Hoover Institute. He said he wanted “to get my foot in the door with important people because I want to be working for important people later on — and eventually become an important person.”
QB decision Friday: Shaw will decide the starting quarterback for the ASU game on Friday, he said Thursday night after practice. Keller Chryst hasn’t had a full practice this week as a result of the undisclosed injury he sustained Saturday against UCLA. As a result, all signs are pointing to redshirt freshman K.J. Costello making his first collegiate start.
Snapper’s big moment: A little noticed but significant play early in the UCLA game was sophomore Richard McNitzky’s dropping UCLA punt returner Darren Andrews for a 2-yard loss at his 7-yard line.
Two plays later, an interception set up a Stanford field goal. McNitzky is not a gunner, but a long snapper. It was the third tackle of his career.
“I didn’t have anybody come to my gap, so I had a free release down field,” he said. “Generally with Jake’s punting and hang time, I don’t get a chance to make a play. It’s typically a fair catch.”
Big lift from student section: Although the actual attendance for the UCLA game was nowhere near the announced paid crowd of 48,042, there were 6,487 students on hand, the second highest such turnout since Stanford started keeping track in 2008.
Freshman class: Offensive linemen Walker Little and Foster Sarell, tight end Colby Parkinson and wide receiver Connor Wedington are the only freshmen who have played. The rest of the class will redshirt unless someone has to play in an emergency, Shaw said.