Kickers find stability

Kicking a football is a true art, and to be successful, one must not only possess the… Kicking a football is a true art, and to be successful, one must not only possess the physical abilities but also the mental ones. Each kick means a win or a loss for the team and, unlike other positions, kicking requires a mentality that exudes total confidence every time the kicker steps onto the field.

“Kicking is very different from any other position in football. Every kick should be the same,” Panthers’ kicker J.B. Gibboney said. “You prepare each kick as if you were kicking to win the national championship.”

This season has seen several ups and downs in the kicking game for the Panthers. At the start of the season, head coach Walt Harris opted for a situational kicking strategy. In short, the kickoffs and field goals of about 40 yards and beyond were to be handled by freshman David Abdul. Then the extra points and shorter field goal attempts would be taken care of by redshirt sophomore Gibboney.

With this system, Harris was getting the best of both worlds in principle. He had both of his kickers fitting into their roles perfectly. Abdul, who has the stronger leg, would handle the long kicks, and Gibboney, who is accurate from short-range, would take care of everything else.

In principle, Harris’ system had catered to the strengths of his kickers, but that didn’t mean both couldn’t play the other role.

“I love the longer kicks, but I can make the shorter ones as well,” Abdul said. “As far as what people have been saying about my accuracy, it’s all hearsay. I can make the shorter kicks just like I can make any other kick.”

After several weeks under this system, the fans began to question the effectiveness of the system because there were extra points being missed almost every game, and field goal attempts were flying wide of the uprights.

“I’ll take the blame for the missed extra point at UAB. I didn’t get the ball down for J.B.,” holder and punter Andy Lee said. “Both kickers are good kickers and the only differences that I can tell is that Dave has a stronger leg, and J.B.’s a little more accurate, but I believe in both of them.”

Gibboney and Abdul both noted that Lee has done a good job holding and that they were confident they could do their jobs, while understanding Harris’ decision to role-play in the kicking game.

“Andy’s done an awesome job holding the ball for J.B. and I,” Abdul said. “J.B. and I like the ball held differently and he’s made those adjustments so I’d say he’s the best I’ve seen and is the real key to helping us get the points.”

So, until the Rutgers game Sept. 21, Harris had his system set and was going to stick with it.

“Who kicks will be determined by who hits their kicks and would only change based on the game situation,” Harris said.

It was during the week leading up to the Rutgers game that Harris made a change and decided to name a starting kicker for the team.

“David Abdul will be the starting kicker against Rutgers this week,” Harris said.

Since that day at practice, Abdul has been handling all of the kicking duties for the Panthers. This change has already shown returns on the scoreboard because since the changeover from situational kicking to naming Abdul as the starter, Abdul has missed only one extra point and two field goals.

After the Syracuse game, Abdul was named the Big East Special Teams Player of the Week, going two for two on field goals and six for six on extra point attempts.

While in high school, Abdul posted some impressive stats. In his senior season, Abdul made 15 of 23 field goals, with a long of 54 yards. He booted home 61 of 62 extra points and was four of nine in field goal attempts of more than 50 yards. His career-long field goal is a 56-yarder from his junior season in high school.

Also, Abdul boasted a 64-percent kickoff to touchback ratio and, more importantly, finished as the all-time leading kick scorer in Ohio high school history.

Abdul said Pitt has been a good fit for him and knows he has some things to work on.

“I really want to work on my kickoffs more so that I can place the ball not only higher, but deeper in the field,” Abdul said. “The coaches have allowed us to kick more often and on more days at practice, which I think will make us more comfortable with our kicks.”

Being new to the program, Abdul just wanted to do his best and help the team win.

“Dave is a good guy and we share the same goals, we both want to win and will do whatever it takes to make that happen,” Gibboney said about Abdul.

“I’m very confident that I can be as good as everyone has said I am,” Abdul said.

One more question loomed for the kickers and the coaches. Is there a Heinz Field curse like most sports writers and commentators suggest?

“I’m not worried about the Heinz Field curse,” Harris said. “I have confidence in both our kickers.”

Abdul and Gibboney addressed the “curse” in a slightly different way than did their coach.

“I don’t know about the Heinz Field curse. I think its more the conditions at that end,” Gibboney said. “There’s sand in the grass at that end and it makes it difficult to get good footing and there’s more wind at that end.”

“It is windier at the open end and the footing can be tricky whether it’s the sand or the longer grass but I think the whole Heinz Field curse is a total head game,” Abdul said. “I think that confidence is the key no matter the conditions.”

Looking ahead for Pitt’s place-kickers, there is more consistency as a result of Harris’ decision to name a starter. With this consistency, records are in definite jeopardy of falling in the short term as well as the long term. Pitt has not made a field goal of more than 50 yards since 1994 when David Merrick accomplished the feat by nailing a 54-yarder against Texas. That kick is the longest field goal in Pitt history and is certainly within Abdul’s range.

Interestingly enough, former Panthers kicker Nick Lotz ranks fourth on the all-time Pitt scoring list, which means in the next couple years, Abdul or Gibboney might threaten the mark.

Only time and game experience will tell if Harris made the right decision in the kicking game, but for Abdul and Gibboney, it only matters that the team wins.