High school kicker job requires more than a strong leg
Llano High School senior kicker Diego Garcia gets warmed up while senior holder Gage Cox holds the football. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
STAFF WRITER JENNIFER FIERRO
BURNET — Kicker isn’t a position most fans think about until they trot on the field to attempt a field goal in the final seconds for a win.
Fortunately for fans, most head coaches don’t think that way, including Kurt Jones of Burnet High School and Matt Green of Llano High School.
They found new kickers this year under very different circumstances.
Jones needed a kicker when senior Tyler Torres became injured. He asked his players if they knew of a student who could fill that role. They suggested Jose Salazar.
“We had already begun to talk to kids about getting into the program,” Jones said. “When Tyler went down with his injury, that expedited that process.”
He invited Salazar to come to Bulldog Field to kick some footballs.
“They came off the foot the way we wanted to with pop,” Jones said. “We had some discussions and asked if he’d be interested. He said yes, so we told him to go talk to his parents, and he did.”
Though Salazar wasn’t used in the Week 1 win against Austin Reagan, he made three of four extra points during the 27-14 win over the Marble Falls Mustangs the following week.
“That was the first time we felt like he was ready to come out and kick,” Jones said. “He’s since been doing kickoffs for us.”
Jones noted that Torres has been helping Salazar learn the intricacies of the position.
Shortly after Green took over at Llano this past year, he realized the team didn’t have a kicker. As word spread that coaches were hunting for one, senior trainer Diego Garcia approached Green about trying out.
Garcia had played some youth soccer and had left the football program a year or two ago.
At first, Garcia struggled to learn the proper way to kick a football, but he assured Green he would figure it out.
Then during a practice, Green said he heard the pop on the football that happens when the ball is about to sail through the uprights.
“The light came on,” Green said. “He kicked a ball, and it made the right thud. It was high and good. Once he saw himself make it and his teammates saw him making it, he’s never looked back.”
He has made 25 points so far this season, including 19 of 22 point-afters, and is two for two on field-goal attempts with his longest being 30 yards.
“That would have been good from 38 or 40,” Green said.
The key to Garcia’s success is a long warmup and getting very loose, Green said.
Both coaches said being a kicker requires more than a strong leg.
“You see a kid who does know what he’s doing with the pop of the ball and control factor and make an adjustment,” Jones said. “He has some pop to his leg, and he knows how to engage and find accuracy.”
Green compares it to a baseball connecting with the bat on the sweet spot, sending it over the fence.
“You have to have the right technique, the right position, and the leg has to have the right swing,” he said. “Your leg swing has to be right to make contact with the ball at the right spot. Every kicker has to figure that out. It’s different for everybody.”
Green summed up his feelings about about Garcia, noting he learned something about himself that will help him later in life.
“Work hard for what you want,” Green said. “This kid is a walk-on living, breathing example of that.”