Football
Kick Scrimmage Brought Smiles to Most Faces
By John Porentas
The fall kick scrimmage brought smiles to a lot of faces this fall, but there was one notable exception. Ohio State place kicker Aaron Pettrey had a great day in the field goal department, the returners did well, the punters did well, the long snappers did well, and both Pettrey and fellow kicker Ryan Pretorius kicked off extremely well. Pretorius, however, was very disappointed in his field goal kicking in the scrimmage after having had a great spring and fall in that category.
"Terrible. Probably the worst I've every kicked a football, which is very disappointing after have such a solid camp," said Pretorius describing his day.
"I missed three or four at the end. I should have had a 60-yarder today, it had the distance, but I pulled it left. The three or four kicks I missed at the end all went slightly left and I knew I was pulling the ball left and I tried to correct it by aiming at the right upright. It just wasn't my day. I just couldn't control the ball as it happens to every kicker or golfer. Today was the day I wanted to shine, and I didn't," said Pretorius.
Pretorius was down on himself for his performance in the kick scrimmage, and was absolutely devastated that what he considers to be the strength of his game deserted him for the scrimmage.
"For some reason this camp I've been very accurate until today. My kickoffs are the one thing that has blossomed. Today is just a letdown, because field goals is what I pride myself on," said Pretorius.
"I felt like crying and I think a few tears did come down my cheek, but I've got to forget about it and just work hard tomorrow," Pretorius said.
Pretorius and Pettrey have been neck and neck this fall for the kicking chores at OSU. Pretorius worked hard on what had been the weakness of his game, kickoffs, and thought he was making progress as an all-around kicker.
"Yesterday I had about ten kickoffs and six or seven hit the wall, which is three yards after the endzone. The worst one I hit was three or four yards deep with a four second hang time," Pretorius said.
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While Pretorius was glum, Pettrey was not. Pettrey was nine-for-nine for field goals in the kick scrimmage including the game-winning 47 yarder. He had an 11th attempt lined up, and 57 yarder that missed, but the play was nullified on a roughing the kicker penalty.
Pettrey kicked a 59 yard field goal to win the spring kick scrimmage, but sees himself as a much better kicker this fall.
"Last year I came in and I was awful. I tore some muscles in my groin. I was hurt and kept trying to kick," he said.
Beside being healthy, Pettrey said that former OSU kicker Josh Huston worked with him to improve his mechanics and technique.
"He widened out my stance and gave me new steps, worked on my plant foot, just about everything," he said.
"Before I took three steps back and two over. He changed me to four steps back and two over.
"I talk to Josh about once or twice a week. He helped me out a ton last year. He changed my form. I kick just like him now, so I keep in touch with him."
Pettrey has a big leg and can boom them on kickoffs.
"I've been hitting it well, getting good hang time, getting it eight or nine (yards) deep every time or most of the time," he said.
The place kicking was not the only think on display in the kick scrimmage. The punters, snappers and holders all performed well and there were signs of life in the punt return game as well.
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"I really think that the return game is high quality players. I think we've spent a lot of time making sure that our quality returners are going to have plenty of opportunity to have some space to run with the football," said OSU assistant coach Dick Tressel.
"We have added to our whole practice situation and extra three or four minutes to catch balls this fall. We just carved that out of our time to give those guys who catch place kicks and punts three or four minutes to get out and get warmed up."
There were visible results of that strategy in the kick scrimmage.
"Malcolm Jenkins had a good return, Brian Robiske had a good return," said Tressel.
According to wide receivers coach Darrell Hazell, so did Ted Ginn and Brian Hartline.
Both Hazell and Tressel. were left smiling over the return game and the kick coverage teams as well as the actual kicking by both the punters and place kickers.
"I really think our kids have encompassed the thought that special teams are critical to being a great football team," said Tressel.
"They seem to enjoy running down the field to cover kicks and do a great job of it.
"The other thing that caught my attention were some pretty talented kickers and punters. I really felt like there were some live legs out there."
