Leach addresses MSU kicking situation
It wasn’t difficult to get Mississippi State head football coach Mike Leach’s thoughts on special teams after Mississippi State dropped a very winnable Southeastern Conference road game to Arkansas last Saturday 31-28.
The coach said that the Bulldogs having open tryouts for the kicker position as they missed all three of their tries in the three-point loss, including what would have been a game-tying 40-yard attempt as time expired.
Sure enough, MSU is having those tryouts this week and Leach is prepared to bring in kickers for competition for the number one spot.
“We have to have some guys that we can cultivate and keep available,” Leach said during his weekly press conference on Monday. “Over the years, most of my kickers have been walk ons that have developed and improved to the point where they become the starting kicker. One guy, and I have the ultimate admiration for him, came right out of high school, came to the kicking tryout and we cut him for three years. He kept working. He was the starting kicker for us for two years. It was really quite impressive. He was deadly accurate and he grew a little bit.
“I just want to have a pile of kickers and I want to develop them over time so that as they improve. They’ll elevate you. I’ve even had a situation where the walk on kicker is ahead of the scholarship kicker, which I’ll do without any hesitation because whoever plays the best helps us be successful.”
It’s not uncommon for Leach to put this method into place. Back in 2008, Leach saw a student in a competition on the field at halftime nail a 30-yard field goal when Texas Tech was playing Umass. It was former Tarleton State kicker Matt Williams who was finishing out his college academics in Lubbock but Leach was interested.
After bringing in Williams to try out, Leach applied to the NCAA for immediate eligibility and he got it. Williams went 9-for-9 in his first career game on PATS in a win over Kansas and finished his career 149-for-150 on extra points and 22-of-28 on field goals.
Leach’s comments after the Arkansas game drew the ire of some, including former MSU kicker Devon Bell who said on Twitter that the comments from Leach would have him in the transfer portal if he were still with the Bulldogs.
Others commented on it like Oklahoma State punter Tom Hutton called it “dis
graceful” and said that Leach was “more concerned about creating another viral sound byte than the well-being and confidence of his players.
All the same, Leach is moving on with the tryouts and looking for someone to take over the position. MSU has lost four games this season and in two of them (LSU and Arkansas), it was a combined 1-of-4 on field goals. Two of the misses came inside 35 yards and the only make was from 23 yards out.
Brandon Ruiz and Nolan Mccord are a combined 9-of17 on field goals this season with a 1-for-7 mark behind 40 yards.
“The thing is, there’s a ball and you kick it,” Leach said. “It really doesn’t matter if it’s a bunch of 7-year-olds watching, or if five million Mongol warriors on horses getting ready to shoot their bows and arrows at you, you just approach the ball and kick it. It’s as simple as that. I do want to have that depth.”
On the other hand, Leach might just go with the option of not using kickers at all.
“I’m inclined to go for it on fourth down anyway,” Leach said. “I probably need to be more aggressive with it, should have to begin with. If
you look back, we used to go for it on fourth down more than anybody. I probably need to get back to my old ways.”
Leach and the Bulldogs (5-4, 3-3 SEC) will take to the road again this week as they head to Auburn for an 11 a.m. kick on Saturday. The Tigers enter the game No. 16 in The Associate Press Top 25 with a 6-3 mark and 3-2 SEC record.