Fridge Still Has Confidence in Kicker
Maryland kicker Obi Egekeze missed three field goals Saturday, all from longer than 40 yards. But Coach Ralph Friedgen says he still has confidence in his kicker.
“I’m not ready to panic,” Friedgen said. “I’m trying to help him get confidence. He has a very strong leg and he gets good height on the ball. I just look at Nick Novak. He missed a bunch in a row and he was the leading scorer in our school history. I am hanging with him and I think good things will happen.”
Friedgen said the 47- or 48-yard field goal that hit the crossbar was very close and that Egekeze has the leg for it. Friedgen said he almost wanted to go for it on fourth down, but decided to give Egekeze a chance.
“He didn’t hit the second one at all,” Friedgen said. “He closed his hips and really I think it was a poor kick. I thought he hit the last one pretty good, and the wind was behind him. It hit the upright. Two of the three were good if they were six inches further or six inches over one way.”
By
Eric Prisbell
|
September 1, 2008; 3:58 PM ET
Categories:
Football
| Tags: Obi Egekeze
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Posted by: Charles | September 1, 2008 4:35 PM | Report abuse
Don't be worried about three missed field goals...worry about the stalled drives that cause us to take three 40+ yard field goal attempts against 1-AA Delaware in the first place. That's the real issue.
Posted by: Testudo | September 1, 2008 5:03 PM | Report abuse
He didn't suddenly become a horrible field-goal kicker on Saturday. He's an adequate player who had a bad game. Plenty of real issues to worry about.
Posted by: Lindemann | September 1, 2008 11:08 PM | Report abuse
The kicking game is fine. As stated in these other posts, start worrying about not being able to consistently drive into the red zone against a DI-AA school.
Posted by: CSH | September 2, 2008 3:17 PM | Report abuse
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Egekezie represents another example of a kid who plays fantastic in practice but can't seem to produce consistently in games.
He was known as a big-time kicker in high school, but hasn't been able to translate that success in the college game.
I hope he is able to regain his confidence because the kicking game will prove pivotal in the conference games ahead. The ACC will have more parity than ever and a lot of games will be decided by seven points or less.