Published Oct 14, 2020
Blake Haubeil: Mr. Consistent
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Jacob Benge  •  DottingTheEyes
Staff Writer
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@JacobBenge

When he was about 11 years old, Blake Haubeil and his father took to a football field with a football and a two-inch block to hold it.

After seeing his father knock down a kick from far distance, Haubeil thought to himself “man, I think I can beat him here.”

“That first day I ended up getting back to like, 47 yards,” Haubeil said. “I’m like, ‘man, this is something I really like doing, I think I can pursue it.’”

Haubeil now enters his fourth season as a kicker at Ohio State and brings along a perfect 122-122 extra-point tab.

RELATED: Ryan Day's 3 keys to maximizing the offense

For as often as the Buckeyes offense can score a touchdown or get into field-goal position, it provides a relief for special teams coach Matt Barnes to know his kicker has a reliable boot.

“Blake’s been very steady. We’re looking for more of the same," Barnes said. "Hopefully he gets an opportunity to show what he can do in some critical situations.”

One critical situation came last season at Northwestern.

The Buckeyes began the final drive of the first half with 0:31 remaining and lost two yards despite starting at the Wildcats 36.

Rather than kneeling and heading to the locker room, head coach Ryan Day sent Haubeil out for a long field-goal attempt.

And he knocked it down the middle of the uprights from 55 yards out, the second-longest field goal in program history.

“Whenever you hit a good ball, you want to look at where your body position is," Haubeil said. "Plant foot, where your arm is, chin to chest, what’s your follow through looking like."


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Haubeil made all of his field goal attempts in last season's Big Ten Championship game against Wisconsin and Fiesta Bowl against Clemson.

The key to the amount of consistency the Buffalo, New York, native has had is his routine. It begins with his mindset.

“Being as consistent as possible,” Haubeil said. “I’m a really big believer in ‘you’re only as good as you’re routine.’”

Haubeil said he was in “constant contact” with the strength and conditioning coaching staff during the summer and they helped him continue his mobility and cardio workouts.

RELATED: Inside the split role Day and Dennis play as QB coaches for OSU

He joked about his eating habits when he talked about the staff, and that his hometown posed a challenge.

“When you’re trapped in Buffalo over quarantine, it’s easy to eat about 50 wings a day,” Haubeil said. “I can’t give them enough compliments, they helped everybody so much over that break. They were big in maintaining what we built up over the winter.”

Perhaps a good question is how can a player be expected to be consistent if the 2020 season will be as different as any season in recent memory.

Playing in an empty stadium is one difference, but Haubeil said it won’t change much.

“I’m still picking a target and aiming towards it like I would if there were 100,000 fans in there,” Haubeil said. “I will say I’m going to miss having fans. The love and passion of football in Ohio is so awesome, I want them to know we’re going to be playing for them this year.”

The schedule is another difference. Ohio State is slated for two likely cold-weather games in December at Michigan St. and against Michigan.

But, Haubeil said he will be ready because living in Buffalo - where he said it snowed in May - has thrown him different situations.

“You sort of just got to embrace it," Haubeil said. "I think Buffalo has made me a great kicker and taught me a lot about being able to kick in certain conditions.”

The biggest difference, perhaps, is he will have a new snapper. Liam McCullough graduated from the program following the 2019 season.

“We’re going to miss Liam a lot, he adds a lot of personality,” Haubeil said. “We got two great snappers. He's (Bradley Robinson) done an excellent job and I expect him to do a great job moving forward.”

To give the senior something to work on, Barnes said Haubeil could stand to work on his kicking off.

"I’d like to see more consistency from him on his kickoffs,” Barnes said. “I know he would tell you the same thing. He hones his craft. One of my favorite qualities about Blake is he’s such a good teammate."

In regards to after this year, Haubeil said he’s looking at the season “game-by-game” and long-term things will be considered “after the year.”

RELATED: Barnes breaks down differences between Proctor and Hooker at safety

Haubeil said he doesn’t study NFL kickers too in-depth because their physical sizes range. However, Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker has stood out to him and the two are similar in stature as Haubeil stands 6-foot-3-inches and Butker is 6-foot-4-inches.

“There’s all sorts of stuff to look at, but I think at the end of the day it’s just dissecting you as an individual," Haubeil said. "Understanding what works for you and enhancing those traits.”

No matter the comparisons, it's significant for a college kicker to have a perfect extra-point ratio, and have only missed five of his 28 field goal attempts.

Thankful for his career opportunities so far, Haubeil is eager to trot back onto the field come Oct. 24.

“I can't say enough how much I love looking at film and just being a kicker for this team and Buckeye Nation.”