Florida State’s Dustin Hopkins was recalling his career highlight over lunch Monday, talking about a 55-yard field goal as time expired two years ago to beat Clemson, when Tulane kicker Cairo Santos went one better.
Pulling out his phone and tapping it three times, Santos retrieved a video clip of Hopkins’ kick, saved for inspiration.
“Cairo’s the man,” Hopkins said.
This season, you could say Hopkins, Santos and Florida kicker Caleb Sturgis all were. Illustrating the direction kicking is headed, collectively, the trio was perfect on all 10 of their field-goal attempts from 50-plus yards.
Such long-distance dedication will be honored during Tuesday’s sold-out, 21st annual Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Awards Banquet at the Kravis Center. Although the winner from those three finalists won’t be announced until Thursday on ESPN, the area’s top high school players and coaches will be revealed Tuesday.
Fans, coaches and teammates have become spoiled when it comes to defining what is field-goal range on the college and pro levels. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, in 1990, NFL kickers made only 35.9 percent from 50-plus. By 2000, it was 55.9 percent. Today: 60.5.
Those numbers no doubt would impress the late Groza, who despite his standout career managed only three such kicks.
What in the name of Sebastian Janikowski (a two-time Groza winner) is going on? Hopkins, Sturgis and Santos credit specialization, increased scholarships for kickers (rather than simply walk-on opportunities) and evolution. The NFL record of 63 yards, shared by Janikowski, David Akers, Tom Dempsey and Jason Elam, looks more precarious than ever.
“Look around sports,” Hopkins said. “You look at sprinters. I guess every potential hasn’t been quite reached yet and people are just getting better and more specialized at different things. I think kicking’s no different.”
All three have hit from the 70-yard range in practice. Yes, they were wind-aided, but strong-leg-aided, too.
“When you have as strong a leg as these guys,” Hopkins said of Santos and Sturgis, “you don’t have to try to muscle the ball. You can still hit a ball pretty smooth and focus on trying to hit a clean ball rather than trying to kill it.”
Kickers perfect their craft in ways the old straight-on kickers never would have imagined. Sturgis trained during the summer with Jacksonville Jaguars kicker Josh Scobee — aiming at a light post from 35 to 40 yards out. Sturgis actually nailed his first three attempts. (Thirty percent, he said, is more realistic.)
Tulane’s Tuesday practices end with Santos trying long kicks in front of the whole team. Miss two straight and not only does practice immediately end, coach Curtis Johnson heads to his news conference to announce what happened.
Santos is one example of the influence of soccer-style kickers. He’s a native of Brazil who arrived as a prep exchange student. He heads home for a month during each off-season, and since there are no goal posts, he uses two parallel palm trees in a park. That’s not even the awkward part, he said.
“You have ice cream vendors going around,” Santos said. “They don’t know what’s going on. They stop and watch you. It’s really uncomfortable.”
Santos was talked into trying football by his high school’s coach.
“I went out and bought a Madden game for my Xbox just to learn the rules,” he said. “I sort of liked it. … I just didn’t believe at first I was able to go in a game and kick a field goal and not get hit.”
Santos landed in St. Augustine, which has only nine prep football teams … yet another of those schools produced Sturgis, who helped him find a kicking coach. Hopkins and Sturgis are linked by the Seminoles-Gators rivalry, although both say even in those games, they never root for the other kicker to miss. Well, almost never.
“If it’s a game-winner and it’ll cost us the national championship, I might change my mind,” Sturgis joked.
Given how accurate they are, would it matter?
