The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 14

1 I 8 THE COURIER-JOURNAL, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1988 UK kicker Willis uses brains to stay a leg up COLLEGE FOOTBALL KEN WILLIS GAME BY GAME Opponent FG-A 10-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50 PAT Pts. Central Michigan 1-3 1-2 0-1 1-2 4 Auburn 1-2 1-2 4 Indiana 0-0 1-1 1 Kent State 1-1 1-1 5-5 8 Alabama 23 1-1 1-1 0-1 3-3 9 Louisiana State 2-2 2-2 0-0 6 Georgia 1-1 1-1 1-2 Southern Illinois 1-1 1-1 3-3 6 Vanderbilt CM 0-1 2-2 2 Totals 9-14 0-0 2-2 3-4 4-7 0-1 17-19 44 Longest field goal: 44 yards vs. LSU. He got off to a rocky start in 1988 when he missed two field goals and an extra point against Central Michigan in a pouring rain, But of his last 10 field-goal attempts, Willis has missed only two a 52-yarder last week against Vanderbilt and a blocked kick against Alabama. So the kicker who wants eventually to be a high school math teacher is on something of a roll, just like his team, which takes a three-game winning steak into Saturday's 1:30 p.m.

EST home game against Florida. Now he just wishes he could get off one of those 60-yard field goals he regularly drills in practice during a real game. booming kickoffs out of bounds more frequently than out of the end zone last season. "Last year he about drove us up a wall," Claiborne said. "We didn't know where he was going to kick it.

We'd have our coverage going one way and he'd kick it right to the other side. But he's kicked excellently this We put a great deal of pressure on him, and he has kept his concentration." This is Willis' first year handling all of the place-kicking chores. Joe Worley, who holds most of the Wildcats' kicking records, was the field-goal and extra-point man last year, while Willis simply kicked off. in, and then they make a first down," Willis said. "Then it's third down again, and they convert another one, and it's just up and down for you.

That's why I'm so mentally drained after a game." Of course, he's never physically drained. Willis has calculated thai despite all the hours of practice he puts in each week, he actually kicks a ball about 10 seconds a game. "Effort doesn't count for a kicker," Willis said. "A lineman can BJr SCOTT FOWLER Staff Writer TLEXINGTON, Ky. As a math-etjucation major and a place-kicker for the University of Kentucky football team, Ken Willis know all the aflgles of the normally imperfect science of field-goal kicking.

"If you're kicking an extra point, you've got a 22-degree angle in front of you," Willis said recently, demonstrating the angle with his hands. "You move back to a 40-yard field gdal, and it's just 11 degrees half as. much. Take it back to 60 yards and it's just 6 y2 degrees. That's one of the reasons it's so difficult to make a 60-yarder, because you not only have to have a strong leg but also be incredibly accurate." It's easy to imagine Willis performing the geometric calculations necessary to come up with those figures, for the cerebral junior has put htmself completely inside the world of placing foot to ball.

He has made good use of the considerable time he must wait and watch during every game by analyzing his skill, wrapping himself up in it to ensure the good concentration that is essential to a successful kicker. In fact, Willis is so intense about his role during games that sometimes he doesn't know the score, and rarely does he engage in his sidelined teammates' passions cheering and screaming at the refs. Wlis just knows how what is happening relates to him. Although Willis wants UK to win, when the offense faces a third-and-long situation within his range, he silently hopes for an incomplete pass so he can try a field goal. "The worst is when it's third-and-six, you're warming up ready to go make a good effort, get beaten badly three or four times in a game, and he may not get criticized.

For a kicker, people tend to only remember the last one you tried. And if you make 20 and miss two, they're going to remember the misses." He obviously has thought about this. So has UK coach Jerry Claiborne, who works extensively with his kickers. Ironically, Gaiborne didn't want Willis the first time Willis men Dealers' PnOwned Autp Network DEAL like a Dealer. Now you can buy used cars and trucks from the same source many dealers but without their mark-up.

Visit the AUTO-NET member below or call AUT0-NCT at 1-800-447-7623 tor below-book prices on pro-owned cars and trucks. or More $20,001 to $30,000 512,000 to $20,000 Like this AUTO-NET Price '88 Festiva Air Conditioned NADA Book $5950 LiVa Ratio- tioned possibly coming to Kentucky. But Claiborne has made the 5-foot-11 184-pounder from Owensboro a special project this year and tried a number of creative methods to improve his concentration. At practice, Claiborne will yell through a bullhorn while Willis kicks to simulate the distractions of crowd noise. And Gaiborne will gather all of his players around Willis, getting them to scream and throw chunks of grass at him while he practices kicking.

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