BuckeyeGrove.com - Thinking about the kicking game

June 3, 2009

Brandon Castel
Staff Writer

In nearly a decade at Ohio State, coach Jim Tressel has become known for a number of distinctive reasons. Among them are his affinity for sweater vests and his dedication to beating archrival Michigan. Another thing that has become a staple of a Tressel-coached team is an emphasis on special teams.

Dating back to the days of Mike Nugent, it always seems like the Buckeyes have a kicker they can rely on in tight games. For the last two that player has been Ryan Pretorius. A native of South Africa, Pretorius came to the Buckeyes as a former rugby and Australian rules football player and won the starting job before the 2007 season. After struggling with some blocked kicks in his first season, Pretorius finished is OSU career 34-of-44 but saw the long field goal attempts go to Aaron Pettrey a year ago.

A native of Kentucky, Pettrey was actually OSU's kicker back in 2006 when he went 8-of-11 before losing his job to Pretorius the following fall. Pettrey has not complained, however, instead he has stayed focused and the last two seasons he handled the majority of the team's kickoffs. With his ability to kick the ball high and straight, Pettrey has already nailed four kicks of 50 yards or more in his career.

This got us thinking about Ohio State's kicking game heading in to next season.

Key losses: Ryan Pretorius
Returning lettermen: Aaron Pettrey, Jon Thoma, Jake McQuaide
Spring newcomers: None
Help is on the way: None

Kicker
20 Aaron Pettrey (6-2, 199, Sr.)
17 Ben Buchanan (6-0, 200, rFr.)
12 Devin Barclay (5-11, 195, Jr.)

Holder
48 Jon Thoma (6-1, 201, Sr.)
12 Dane Sanzenbacher (5-11, 175, Jr.)
14 Joe Bauserman (6-2, 220, So.)

Long-snapper
96 Jake McQuaide (6-2, 219, Jr.)
53 Patrick Howe (6-2, 204, Jr.)
52 Gar Chappelear (6-2, 250, rFr.)

1. How much will the Buckeyes miss Ryan Pretorius after two years as their kicker?

Pretorius came from a non-football background and ended up starting for two years at Ohio State, which is a pretty good story. He finished in the middle of the pack in the Big Ten in field goal percentage in each of the last two seasons by completing about 78-percent of his kicks, but mediocre is not where Tressel would like his kickers to be. Both Nugent and Josh Huston were among the best in the conference at putting the ball between the uprights, and there's no doubt Tressel would like to see Pettrey get back to that this season.

2. So Pettrey should be considered an upgrade despite the fact he lost his job to Pretorius two years ago?

There has been some discussion over whether or not Pettrey should have ever lost his job in the first place considering the switch was based primarily off of the kick scrimmage, but that is an argument for a different day. Statistically, Pettrey is not much of an upgrade over Pretorius. He is 15-of-19 kicking field goals in his career at OSU, giving him a 79 percent success rate that is only slightly above what Pretorius had for his career.

However, three of his four career-misses came three years ago when he was only a true sophomore. Last year, as a redshirt junior, Pettrey missed just one of his eight field goal tries ? and it came from over 50 yards ? after taking over the long attempts for Pretorius midway through the season. He has a stronger leg than Pretorius and certainly seems to get more lift on his balls.

3. What about Ben Buchanan? Is there any chance he or Devin Barclay will get some opportunities as a kicker this season?

A lot of that depends on how well Pettrey can handle the full workload of doing kickoffs, field goals and extra points. He handled all three for the Buckeyes back in 2006, but for the last two years he has primarily been responsible for kickoffs. He seems to have a rubber leg, but he did suffer a hamstring injury back in 2007 that ultimately cost him the entire season. If the staff notices that Pettrey isn't getting as much on his kicks during the course of the season, they might be inclined to let Ben Buchanan or even Devin Barclay handle some of the short field goals or kickoffs.

4. Considering A.J. Trapasso was the holder for Pettrey last season, is there any concern of having to work with a new holder this season, and how important is the chemistry between a kicker and his holder?

Having good chemistry between a kicker and holder can be very important. If those two aren't on the same page, you could end up with some pretty ugly field goal tries. Pettrey seemed to be developing that chemistry with A.J. Trapasso last season, but obviously he will be working with Jon Thoma this season. Normally it might raise a few eyebrows to see how a kicker is going to do with a brand new holder, but Thoma is hardly brand new. He has been Ohio State's main holder on field goals and extra points for the last two seasons, and seemed to have outstanding chemistry with Pretorius. Thoma worked with Pettrey this spring and everything went off without a hitch.

5. There were a high number of blocked kicks in the kick scrimmage this spring; should this be reason for concern considering what happened two years ago?

I think any time you see a high volume of kicks getting blocked ? even in practice ? there should be some red flags that go up. First you need to locate the precise cause of these blocked kicks. Was it a bad snap, a bad hold, bad protection or just a lousy kick? In the case of what we saw this spring, more often than not it was an issue with protection. Typically this would be a major concern, but I'm not sure it's time to panic just yet. The Buckeyes were tinkering with a number of different rotations on the offensive line this spring, and that includes the kick team. There were a number of new faces in new places on special teams this spring, and it always takes longer for the protection guys to get things down than the guys on defense who can just pin their ears back. If this is still a problem in the second half of fall camp, then it might be time to get worried.

Keep in touch on the go with BuckeyeGrove.com on