At Ohio State’s 2007 special teams scrimmage during preseason camp, there was still a heated battle between Ryan Pretorius and Aaron Pettrey to be the No. 1 field goal kicker. In fact, it was moments after last year’s scrimmage when OSU head coach Jim Tressel announced that Pretorius had won the job with a strong camp.
Fast-forward to this year and there was no such drama at Wednesday’s kick scrimmage at Ohio Stadium. All the starting jobs were locked up already – including Pretorius at kicker, A.J. Trapasso at punter, Pettrey as the primary kickoff specialist, Jake McQuaide as the long snapper and Jon Thoma as the holder. Therefore, the Buckeyes just wanted to fine-tune what they’ve been working on in a more game-like setting and overall the day went well for Pretorius.
The 29-year-old fifth-year senior from South Africa certainly has one of the most interesting backgrounds in all of college football. But all he cares about is having a great final season of college football. Pretorius was 18 of 23 in field goal attempts last year, including four blocks.
Unofficially, Pretorius was 6 of 9 in field goal attempts during Wednesday’s scrimmage.
“I got one blocked, I missed a 47-yarder and I was just wide on a 43-yarder,” Pretorius said. “But I hit a 50-yarder, I hit a 47-yarder and then another four field goals. I felt good out there and I hit the ball well after a really long camp. Just a relief to get camp over with. But I couldn’t have hit the ball better than I did today. The results need to be better, but I am hitting the ball well.
“I want to be perfect all the time, so I’m not happy with that (6 of 9). But I was happy to hit some really solid, straight balls.”
Like any player entering their second season as a starter, Pretorius feels like a different kicker this year.
“Just the level of confidence is up for me this year,” he said. “Aaron is a great kicker and has done well in camp. But I think having a day like this just before the season really helps in terms of my confidence. I’m just ready to get the opener over and done with.”
The one knock on Pretorius last year was that he didn’t get good enough lift on his kicks, which was partially why he had four blocks against him. Yes, at times the blocks were due to poor blocking, but Pretorius knew he needed to improve on his lift.
“I think I’m hitting them more solid than last year and I’m getting a little more height, more lift,” Pretorius said. “Obviously it’s a team effort. Good snap, good hold, good blocking up front and obviously me getting the ball higher. But yeah, I think I’ve got a little more height and I’m kicking a straight ball and it helps my confidence.”
McQuaide settles into snapping role
McQuaide (6-2, 220) saw a little bit of playing time last year as a backup long snapper. But now as a third-year sophomore, he is the Buckeyes’ No. 1 snapper for field goals and punts.
“He’s been doing a great job,” Pretorius said. “He’s really, really solid and obviously Thoma is an unbelievable holder.”
McQuaide feels like he belongs this year. Last season he was still trying to find his way, still pinching himself that he was playing big-time college football. But now as a starter, he feels comfortable and he performed well at the kick scrimmage.
“Last year, I felt like the young guy,” McQuaide said. “I had Dimitrios (Makridis) who was a fifth-year senior and Jackson Haas who was a fifth-year senior, but he had just transferred in. So, I just wasn’t as confident as this year. I was definitely confident in myself, but it’s just being the young guy, you’re not really sure of how you’re going to do.
“But this year, I feel like a lot of the older players have really embraced me. A.J. has really taken me under his wing and I feel a lot more confident in myself this year. I feel like I’m an older player. Last year I felt like a young guy and now I feel like a veteran.”
McQuaide is happy to be a first-team player, but he knows he needs to perform in order to keep the job. At Ohio State, there are always other players ready to step in.
“Oh, it feels good right now to be considered a starter,” McQuaide said. “But Pat (Howe) is pushing me hard every day for the starting spot. I’m snapping real well and he’s snapping real well and we’re just moving forward and trying to give A.J. and Ryan and Aaron and Thoma good snaps so they can keep doing their thing.”
McQuaide, a product of Cincinnati Elder High School, admits he never thought as a kid that he would one day be a football player at Ohio State.
“No, that never crossed my mind,” he said. “I loved basketball as a kid and football was kind of a later thing in my life. I love what I’m doing now and I’m happy to be here and to help the team any way I can. It’s great. I mean, how could I complain about this?”
McQuaide was a decent high school player who could have played college ball elsewhere if he so desired.
“Well, I was a tight end in high school,” he said. “I had a few touchdown catches and I played all right. It was either play at Ohio State as a long snapper, or be a tight end at an Ivy League school, or a D-II school. Coming from a place like Elder where the fan base is so great, it’s kind of like a step down to go to a place where you’re not going to get as many fans. So, I decided I was going to go to school here at Ohio State either way (as an engineering major). So, I just called the coaches, I went to the long-snapping camp and they said they were interested in me. And I kept calling them, kept calling them and made my way on the team in the fall of 2006. And that’s how I’m here now.”
McQuaide was asked to recall the first time he remembers long-snapping in a football game.
“When I was a sixth-grader, that was my first year of playing football and we needed a long snapper and no one else had done it before because we were little kids,” he said. “And our coach said, ‘Well, you can do it.’ So, I just kind of went from there.”
McQuaide was a two-year starter in high school at long snapper and tight end.
“At Elder you don’t play as a freshman and you don’t play as a sophomore unless you’re a freak,” he said. “So, I was dressing for the varsity games as a sophomore in case the starting long snapper got hurt. And then I started as a junior and senior.”
Pettrey keeps plugging
Pettrey was OSU’s starting kicker as a redshirt freshman in 2006. He might not get that job back until next year after Pretorius graduates, but Pettrey is certainly valuable to the Buckeyes as a kickoff specialist and backup kicker. He missed some easy field goals on Wednesday and he wasn’t happy about it. But he certainly showcased his strong leg on kickoffs.
“Yeah, I hit my kickoffs well today, which is what I’m going to be doing for the most part this season,” Pettrey said. “But I’m a little down because I had three short ones down there and I should have put all of them through, but we had two of them blocked. One of them was on me though, not the line. I was too late. I hit the ball well for the most part though.”
Pettrey says his leg is stronger this season and that he’s healthy. He missed half of last season with a hip flexor strain
“Yeah, I do feel that my leg has more strength than in past years,” he said. “My leg feels great. Usually by this time of camp my leg feels like it’s about ready to fall off and I need a week off. But actually my leg has felt good all camp and I’m getting good distance on my kickoffs.”
Ohio State always puts a tremendous amount of importance on special teams. But the Buckeyes have ramped it up even more in that department during preseason camp.
“Yeah, we’ve been stressing special teams even more than usual this year because Coach Tressel says special teams win championships,” Pettrey said. “Last year, we didn’t play as well as we could, as well as blocking and that kind of thing. We could have done better on kickoff returns and all of that. So, he’s stressing things like that right now.”
Trapasso looking to go out with a bang
Trapasso has been solid, not spectacular, during his career at Ohio State thus far. He averaged 40.4 yards per punt as a freshman in 2005, 40.6 in 2006 and 41.5 last year. This year, he is hoping to go out with a career season and he says mechanics are the most important aspect of his game.
“I think more than anything I’m stronger with the form I should have,” Trapasso said. “I try and focus on that more than anything. Obviously I try and keep my leg strength up with conditioning and weightlifting. But yeah, I think it is stronger in the sense that I’m going stronger through what I’m supposed to be doing. Through the pattern and the kick and the leg swing that I want to have. So, yeah, over the years, it’s gotten better.”
One area of the punting game that Trapasso excels at is pinning teams inside the 20 with short punts that get a lot of hang time, or coffin-corner punts.
“Right now, I’ve been working on a couple different pooch punts,” he said. “And I generally have an idea of where that cut-off line on the field starts for each one and what I would do in each circumstance. But it changes depending on the situation. Wind factors, the exact point we’re at on the field, the score of the game. So, it’s one of those things where you have to take it as it comes.”
Trying to get the perfect pooch-punt is one of the most-difficult parts of the job for a punter. They certainly don’t want to get a touchback, but they want to try and pin the team as deep as possible.
“It’s a tough little kick and it’s really important too,” Trapasso said. “We stress field position probably as much as anyone in the country. That pooch punt is very important and we’ve been working on it a lot. But yeah, it’s difficult.”
Trapasso says the most important statistic for a punter at Ohio State is net punting average. The Buckeyes have a goal of 40 yards net per punt and they never want to be under 35.
“Yeah, I take some pride in the other team not having any return yards, or at least the overall average of the return yards being pretty low,” Trapasso said. “I take a lot of pride in that. But more than anything my goal is to just provide what the team needs when we need it and getting it done.”
