The fans in the Carrier Dome had every reason to leave except for hope in something they’ve yet to see.

Syracuse was trailing No. 14 Iowa by three points with seconds remaining. To tie the game, kicker Patrick Shadle would have to nail a 41-yard field goal. Six and a half minutes earlier, Shadle missed one from 45 yards away.

The sophomore kicker had made just one field goal in his entire career – a 46-yarder against Wake Forest the week prior – but this was a game on national television in front of desperate fans who just saw Shadle kick and miss.

The only reason they had to stay was the slim hope that the 19-year old from Morgantown, W.V., the kicker who was recruited out of high school but lost his job to a walk-on in his freshman season, was going to keep Syracuse’s hopes alive against a Big Ten stalwart.

The snap was erratic. The hold was rushed. The kick sailed through the uprights.

‘That’s when I really felt like I was meant to be here,’ Shadle said.

Something happened after that Iowa game, which ended with a double-overtime loss for the Orange even after Shadle knocked another field goal in overtime. Shadle’s right foot became the most dependable part of SU. He made 13 of his remaining 14 field goals to finish the season 16-of-18 – 88.9 percent – and made all 21 extra points. Perhaps the reason is because throughout the season, Shadle’s kicking form didn’t change – something that couldn’t be said during his freshman year.

Syracuse enters Friday’s season opener against Washington with questions all over the field, but for the first time in the Greg Robinson era there are no questions at kicker. Shadle enters his junior season one of the top kickers in the Big East, a conference with a few of the more celebrated kickers in college football.

‘I’m not going to jinx the kicking game,’ Robinson said when asked about entering the year firm at the kicker spot. ‘We’re not done. We still have to keep working on it. You’re making me nervous.’

That’s often a stock answer from coaches when asked about kickers, and it’s one of the few items of coachspeak that go beyond clich and touch on legitimacy. It’s because kickers face a psychological battle with every kick. The NFL and college ranks are littered with kickers who could tell you about their Iowa kick and their season like Shadle’s 2006 only to fall victim to the head games associated with the role.

‘You can be the hero or the goat in the matter of a couple seconds,’ Shadle said. ‘It’s kind of nerve-racking. But once you get confidence that I’ve been able to get from the season I had last year, it’s a lot of fun. Guys joke with you. Guys try to rattle you in practice. But it’s a blast. You face those kind of distractions so when you get to the game, it’s nothing new.’

The key is kicking the same in practice as a game, which is sometimes as easy as hitting a 63-yard field goal. In Shadle’s one attempt as a freshman, he missed a 39-yard field goal. It was against Buffalo. He never recovered the job, which went to walk-on John Barker – now Shadle’s backup and holder.

Shadle looked different against Buffalo than he did against Iowa. He was heavier, for one. Most importantly, Shadle’s form wasn’t the same.

‘I was shaking in my boots,’ Shadle said. ‘That was a rough time. I had to get out there and get into a new speed to the game. It was 100 times faster in college. … I didn’t have the mentality. I didn’t have the amount of reps. I didn’t have the proper form.’

Form is critical. There is a routine Shadle follows regardless of the kick, one that must be identical whether the kick is an extra point in a blowout or a game-tying field goal on national television.

When the kicking game goes onto the field, the holder – this year it’s Barker, last year it was Brendan Carney – counts the remaining players on the field and makes sure everyone lines up correctly. The kicker is focusing only on the kick.

Shadle takes his steps straight back from the ball and then makes sure his lateral steps are at a 90-degree angle. He doesn’t work on a snap count, so the noise never affects him. Instead, he starts moving on the holder’s signal. When the holder’s hand goes up, Shadle’s left foot rises.

‘That’s kind of my rhythm step,’ Shadle said.

He then walks the hypotenuse of the right angle to the ball. His right foot must be cocked on the way. His left foot – the plant foot – must be firm in the same spot each time. The ankle is locked down. The head is locked down. His shoulders are squared.

‘Once you get enough repetitions over and over again, it’s like clockwork,’ Shadle said.

The holder also has responsibility. Shadle likes the ball leaning forward and tilted toward the holder. There’s a misconception, Shadle said, that it’s better if the ball is leaning backward because it can sail higher. Yet when the ball is forward, more of the sweet spot is exposed to the kicker.

Another misconception derives from the Ace Ventura-induced acrimony ‘Laces out!’ Shadle said the laces of the football only need to face away for long field goals, which he labeled as 40 yards or more. The movie made it seem like a grave mistake, but for short field goals and extra point attempts, the laces are almost irrelevant.

‘It’s the difference between your foot hitting leather and foot hitting plastic,’ Shadle said. ‘For an extra point, that wouldn’t actually matter at all.’

There are other factors involved that have a greater effect, including the position on the field and the conditions outside. The greater distance between the hash marks in college football can disrupt a kicker’s routine. Shadle prefers the right hash mark, which favors his right foot.

Then there is the weather, which isn’t a factor in the Carrier Dome. Shadle warns he still doesn’t have it easy.

‘Out here on Manley practice field, it’s hell,’ Shadle said. ‘You can have a Nor’easter coming through, a few feet of snow and once you shovel that off, there are 25 mph winds. We kick in the elements. A lot of people probably think I can’t kick in a place like Heinz Field down in Pittsburgh, but it’s hell out there at Manley practice field sometimes.’

Practice is where kickers often compile their longest kicks. For Shadle, that was 58-59 yards, which he explains like a fisherman talking about a three-foot trout. Shadle’s longest kick in a game was a 50-yarder in high school. His 46-yard field goal against Wake Forest was his career long in college.

There is one final irony about being a kicker. Those long kicks draw headlines and can even boost NFL stocks, but it’s the 20-yard point-after attempts that are the most valuable – and the ones that will define whether Shadle’s success comes on a team like last year’s 4-8 team or a team that could beat a bowl-bound program like Iowa.

‘I’d like to make every kick obviously that I try,’ Shadle said. ‘But I’d like to kick a lot more extra points than field goals.’

Published on August 30, 2007 at 12:00 pm