Playoffs give area kickers a chance to shine

Entering the second round of the high school football playoffs, the landscape takes on a different look. Heroes get a chance to blossom and kickers run the risk of becoming an endangered species.

There is no such thing as an ugly win this time of year. Games are usually a lot closer and kickers that don't succumb to pressure become high-priced commodities.

Fear is a kicker's greatest enemy. Confidence is the antidote.

Dennis Stallard, the dean of area special teams coaches, makes it sound like taking an advanced course in algorithms is easier than trying to figure out what goes inside a kicker's head.

Stallard began his job in 1993 at Manatee High and has helped jump-start the careers of many of the finest kickers this county has ever produced. He helped launch the career of Robby Stevenson, who wound up kicking for Florida. He coached Nick Tankersley, who holds the county record with a 53-yard field goal. And he now has Nick Null, who booted four field goals and kicked a 52-yarder in Manatee's win over Oak Ridge last week.

Stallard said you can teach a kicker the correct mechanics and you can help him strengthen in his leg and improve his accuracy -- but a kicker's ability to handle pressure is all about his DNA.

"You can do things in practice to stimulate pressure, but the good ones have figured out a way to process that," Stallard says. "I've found the best thing for kickers is to have a routine that they do over and over again when they kick. It takes their mind off the negative thoughts."

The mental strain on a kicker is incomparable to other players because it has no beginning and no end. Even the good ones rarely get a scholarship offer to a major college out of high school and are always being doubted by future college coaches.

"The nature of recruiting kickers is very different than recruiting the skill athletes," Stallard said. "Most college coaches today realize they can get three or four preferred walk-ons to come pay their way the first year and then get a whole season to assess them. Colleges are only going to sign kickers out of high school if they are the LeBron James of the kickers in America. You have to be head and shoulders above the rest."

If you are a kicker, you have to be ready for anything, the good, the bad and the ugly -- often with no chance to redemption. That alone takes someone with a strong mental presence.

"They've got to have amnesia," Stallard said."You can't dwell on a miss. You have to move on. If a defensive back misses a tackle he can atone for it on the next play. A kicker might have to wait for the next game or the next year."

Null appears to have the right mind set.

"I enjoy being the guy who helps us win the game," Null said. "I like being in those situations. Its fun and I live for that moment."

Null kicked a 39-yard field goal last year to beat Dr.Phillips in the region final. This Friday, the Hurricanes are back in Orlando to take on the Panthers in a region semifinal match.

Null has converted all of his 43 PATs this season and is 8 for 11 on field goals with a long of 52 yards. He was 7 for 9 last year with a long of 43. He also has 47 touchbacks out of 64 total kickoffs.

Null has an offer from Shorter University in Georgia and has been talking to USF and Syracuse. If he gets and offer, it would probably come after national signing day next February. But the only thing he is thinking about now is the next kick.

This story was originally published November 19, 2015 at 5:56 PM with the headline "Playoffs give area kickers a chance to shine ."