Inside the Huddle: Specialists stay focused through distractions
October 22, 2016 | Football, Mike Lucas
Badgers have no plans to let animated Kinnick Stadium crowd derail their efforts against Iowa
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BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — Andrew Endicott was minding his own business on the Wisconsin sideline when a Kinnick Stadium heckler got his attention.
"You're on scholarship," he yelled at Endicott, "to sit on the bench."
Without skipping a beat, Endicott turned and said, "I'm not on scholarship. The joke is on you."
For the record: Endicott is a former walk-on who went on scholarship last year.
Also for the record: Endicott 1, heckler 0.
"I love Kinnick (Stadium) actually — it's one of my favorite places to play," Endicott said after practice this week at Camp Randall. "It's a nice flat field and the wind always seems to be going in one direction. There are no mind games."
Off the field, it's a different story.
The visitors' locker room is known for its pink decor, starting with the walls, a ploy dating to the late '70s when Hayden Fry was coaching and looking for any edge that he could get. Pink may be suggestive, a calming color, Endicott indicated, but it's not a distraction, at least not to him.
"The locker room is super nice — it's a big away locker room," he said, painfully aware of the cramped road dressing quarters at most other Big Ten venues. "Yeah, they're pink (the walls). But you don't even notice it — whatever psychological games they're playing."
Endicott made his first trip to Kinnick in 2013. James White rushed for 132 yards and two touchdowns while Joel Stave threw for two more in a 28-9 win over the Hawkeyes, who got inside the UW 12-yard line three times but had to settle for three field goals. Endicott kicked off three times.
In 2014, the Badgers returned to Kinnick and hung on for a 26-24 victory punctuated by a Melvin Gordon milestone. With 207 rushing yards, including an 88-yard jaunt, he reached 2,000 for his career faster (on 241 carries) than anyone in NCAA history. Endicott kicked off six times (three touchbacks).
"Obviously, everyone talks about how close the fans are to you," Endicott said of the Kinnick Stadium layout that features tight sidelines. "They throw in a few (verbal) jabs. But I laugh at that kind of stuff. It's what makes college football fun. The fans are great, because they don't get nasty."
On Saturday, Wisconsin will be seeking a fourth-straight triumph at Kinnick Stadium, a streak that goes all the way back to a thrilling 31-30 game in 2010. Montee Ball came off the bench to score the winning touchdown with 66 seconds left. The road team has now won the last five in the series.
Endicott thought that he might have a chance to kick the game-winner against Ohio State at Camp Randall Stadium last Saturday. After the Buckeyes tied the score, 23-all, late in the fourth quarter, the Badgers picked up a couple of first downs and moved closer to field-goal position.
"I was hoping to get a chance to kick," Endicott said. "And I definitely thought I was going to, just the way the offense was moving the ball all day (450 yards of total offense, 236 rushing). Once they got inside the 50, I was thinking, 'It's go-time' and I was ready to do it."
On first-and-10 from the Ohio State 48, Corey Clement gained four years to the 44. But the play was erased by a holding penalty and the Badgers couldn't get out of a first-and-20 hole and eventually punted. Given a reprieve, the Buckeyes charged back to win in overtime, 30-23.
In retrospect, Endicott's first field goal — from 46 yards to culminate Wisconsin's opening possession — set the tone for his night, especially since it was only his second attempt overall and first since the Sept. 24 Big Ten opener at Michigan State, where he was good from 41.
"The first one felt good (against Ohio State) and it definitely helped the confidence," he said. "It's one thing to tell yourself that you have confidence in your abilities and stuff. But when you see the result, it's obviously a much different feeling."
Still, it didn't guarantee that he would make his next attempt.
"It doesn't physically make it easier to kick field goals," Endicott concurred. "But, mentally, it's definitely a big factor. If you miss the first one, you can start thinking a lot more than you need to and start overanalyzing. But when you make it, you trust what you've been doing."
As a kicking specialist, in other words, you trust your technique based on all the work that you have invested in honing your craft. "That's what you should do if you miss, too," he said. "But it's a lot easier to think that way when you make it."
Endicott also connected on field goals from 32 and 22 yards. Rafael Gaglianone was 7-of-8 (his only miss from 30 against Georgia State) before going to the sideline with a season-ending back injury. Endicott is now 4-of-4. Interestingly, so is Iowa's placekicker Keith Duncan, who has converted from the 22, 24, 22 and 28.
The 5-foot-11, 165-pound Duncan is a true freshman from Weddington, North Carolina. A walk-on, Duncan beat out sophomore Miquel Recinos, who has missed on his only attempt from 50. The real kicking star for the Hawkeyes, though, has been Ron Coluzzi, a graduate transfer from Central Michigan.
Coluzzi, a product of Naperville (Illinois) High School, was the Big Ten's Special Teams Player of the Week after averaging 42 yards on seven punts in Iowa's 14-17 win at Rutgers. Four of his kicks were downed inside the 20. Opponents, moreover, have returned just three of his 38 punts.
Coluzzi gets a lot of height on his kicks, resulting in 25 fair catches. He also gets a lot of distance on his kickoffs: 31 of 40 have been touchbacks. That leads the Big Ten. Wisconsin's P.J. Rosowski has enjoyed comparable success with 20 touchbacks on 32 kickoffs (62.5 percent).
A year ago, Endicott (9), Rosowski (1) and Jack Russell (3) combined for 13 touchbacks on 71 kickoffs (18.3 percent). What has made the difference from one year to the next for Rosowski, a redshirt sophomore from Stoughton? Much of it had to do with his offseason commitment to refining his technique.
"Looking at film was a huge part of it," said Rosowski, whose dad Paul was a punter at UW-River Falls. "Being critiqued by the other guys on the team was a big thing, too — working with different guys and seeing what they were saying about what I was doing at that point.
"The one major thing that I changed this summer was just slowing down my tempo to the ball and making that good contact. Mostly it's the tempo — how fast I'm coming into. It was a lot of work this summer, and it has been for the past couple of years, and you're starting to see some of the payoff."
But he's far from being satisfied. "I'm not there yet," he said. "There's still a lot to be done."
Nonetheless, the Badgers are leading the country in kickoff coverage by allowing a paltry average of 14.7 yards on 13 kickoff returns, with a long of 29. Ohio State's Paris Campbell, who had a 91-yard return against Indiana, was limited to returns of 13 and 18 yards last Saturday night. Rosowski had four touchbacks on five kickoffs against the Buckeyes.
Now along comes Iowa's Desmond King, who's averaging 28.5 yards on kickoff returns.
"For me, personally, I don't like to look at returners differently," Rosowski said. "I like to have the same approach coming into each game. It's not something you think about too much. But you do look at some of the tendencies they have. I'm aware of what they can do."
That's how he prepared for Michigan's Jabrill Peppers. King will be no different.
"I focus on what I have to do," Rosowski said, "and what my job is."
Punting is part of Rosowski's job description. He has shared the assignment with true freshman Anthony Lotti. The workload has been nearly split down the middle: Lotti has 14 punts, Rosowski has 13. Both are averaging 37.5 yards, well under the Big Ten leaders.
"It definitely needs to get better," Rosowski said. "Both Anthony and I are accountable for having the struggles that we've had with the punting game so far. We need to help out the team more, for sure, just by changing field position and giving our defense a better opportunity to get stops."
Against Ohio State, Rosowski averaged 35.6 on five punts. He had one downed inside the 20.
By contrast, the Buckeyes' Cameron Johnston averaged 53.8 on four punts with a long of 70.
Johnston impacted the outcome by flipping the field.
"That's what I want to do for our team," Rosowski said.
King is also Iowa's punt-return specialist. He's averaging 9.7 yards.
The Badgers have gotten very little out of their return game.
Clement got his first crack at returning punts last Saturday, and had one for 4 yards.
"I'm not Devin Hester, but I know what to do when I get the ball in my hands," said Clement, who has been campaigning to return punts since training camp. "I'm pretty comfortable back there. Hopefully, I can match him (King). But it's more about getting the offense started once I catch it."
That's always the rub, too. Catching it before running.
"That's the most nerve-racking thing," Clement said. "You have to catch the ball to get the play started. It seems so simple. But once you see the ball up in the air and you know they're people coming at you trying to hit you, that's what makes it a little tougher."
Clement, like Endicott, is no stranger to the Kinnick Stadium hecklers.
"I remember them yelling at Melvin (Gordon), I wasn't the target," he said of his two previous experiences. "Melvin didn't say anything. He blocked it out. It's not intimidating. It's just kind of funny. Whatever they want to say, go ahead. They're not the ones playing the game."
