Battle of Kickers Down to Wire for Gators

Freshman kicker Evan McPherson arrived from Fort Payne (Ala.) touted for his strong leg. (Photos: Kelly Streeter/UAA Communications)

Battle of Kickers Down to Wire for Gators

Monday, August 27, 2018 | Football

By: Ethan Hughes, FloridaGators.com Writing Intern

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The battle to replace one of the best players at his position in UF history continues. Here's some hints: he wore No. 15 and was the most popular player on the team among fans.

No, it's not Tim Tebow, although the Gators' quest to end nine years of quarterbacking futility took another turn on Monday when coach Dan Mullen announced that redshirt sophomore Feleipe Franks will be the Gators' starting quarterback.

One of the few competitions still open is the one to replace Eddy Pineiro, the junior college transfer kicker who captivated Gator Nation with his enormous leg strength, deadly accuracy and entertaining field goal celebrations. Pineiro was a rock star before arriving at UF, with YouTube videos of him drilling 70-plus yard field goals going viral.

In his two seasons at Florida, Pineiro went 38 of 43 on field goals. That translates to 88.4 percent, the top mark in program history. His 38 made kicks are sixth most in Gators history. He departed UF early for the NFL, where he now plays for the Oakland Raiders alongside his Gators teammate, punter Johnny Townsend.

The top two candidates to replace Pineiro are redshirt senior Jorge Powell and freshman Evan McPherson. While neither have the fanfare of Pineiro, they hope to be just as effective.

Mullen listed Powell and McPherson as co-starters on the unofficial depth chart released Monday afternoon for the season opener against Charleston Southern on Saturday at 7:30. Mullen said the starter could be a game-time decision.

"All of a sudden, you go in there, and you get into pregame warmups, and one guy freaks out," he said. "I want to see how they react because they've got to think about it the whole week of possibly being out there and having to go do it live. I want to see who handles that situation the best."

Powell walked onto the team prior to the 2014 season under former coach Will Muschamp. He saw his first game action in 2015 when he replaced the ineffective Austin Hardin a few games into the season. He appeared in four games and made two of three field goal attempts and 10 of 11 extra points before suffering a season-ending knee injury at LSU. When he returned from injury, Pineiro had arrived, relegating Powell to the bench. His only playing time the past two seasons has come on onside kicks.

"I think just being here for five years, I'm just less stressed, less worried going out for scrimmages," he said. "I don't really think much, just kind of go out there and kick the ball. [I'm] not as scared as I was my freshman year."

56925 — Fifth-year senior Jorge Powell is in the running for the starting kicker's job as camp turns into game week.

Meanwhile, McPherson arrived over the summer with no experience but plenty of accolades. He participated in the 2018 Under Armour All-America Game, where he made both of his point-after tries and successfully executed an onside kick. He made a 60-yard field goal in his senior season at Fort Payne (Ala.) High School. He also boomed an 84-yard punt. Both marks were one yard shy of state records. He was ranked as the No. 1 kicker in the country by Kohl's Kicking Camp. McPherson originally committed to Mullen at Mississippi State and followed him to UF.

"Reminds me a little bit of myself my freshman year," Powell said of McPherson. "Definitely very similar to how me and Eddy worked. Me and Evan have been competing a lot in practice and stuff, and it just gets you better if you have someone that can compete with you. It makes you go harder."

Powell and McPherson bring different skill-sets to the position. Powell is accurate on short kicks but lacks the range to make the longer kicks that Pineiro became famous for. McPherson has a cannon of a leg but could stand to be more consistent with his accuracy. Perhaps the Gators will use both of them, with Powell kicking extra points and closer field goals and McPherson handling the long kicks.

Despite competing against McPherson, Powell said he has taken it upon himself to mentor the freshman.

"In the summer, we were training and stuff, and I kind of would train with him every day just so he could see a fifth-year guy compared to a freshman, where he has to be at, you know," he said. "Just trying to tell him and show him the ropes and stuff. Just a stupid little thing, we were having a walkthrough, and he hit a kickoff, and I was like 'Hey man, we've got to save our legs. You don't want to be kicking so much.' So, a lot of it turns to kicking less balls than needed.

"A lot of these guys want to come in and kick 1,000 balls. By the end of the season, you're like 'Wow, my legs don't fire.' It's kind of like a pitcher in baseball."

Gator fans know how important it is to have consistent placekicking. As UF's primary kicker from 2013-2015, Hardin was 16 of 36 on field goals, causing frustration, anger and choice words by fans on social media. The situation seemed so dire that then-coach Jim McElwain made Pineiro his number one recruiting priority the week after the 2015 SEC Championship Game loss to Alabama. The significance of the position is further magnified by an offense in the developmental stages that could use every point it can get.

Despite having the most accurate kicker in school history and the SEC's career punting average leader in Townsend, the Gators have been dreadful on special teams the past few years, finishing near the bottom of the league in kick and punt returning.

Mullen hopes to make the Gators' special teams special again, and that starts with getting the players to buy in. As Mullen has stated throughout camp, players sign with UF to play linebacker or running back, not left tackle on the punt team. He and his staff have worked hard to instill the mindset it takes to play special teams into the players.

The Gators can be seen doing special teams drills near the start of every practice, before diving into the X's and O's of the offense and defense.

"You look at the guys that are on a kickoff team, and a guy that's been sitting there, 'I was a third-stringer as a freshman. I was a backup as a sophomore and started as a junior. I know the scheme inside-out by the time I'm a junior,'" Mullen said earlier in camp. "The problem is our juniors, it's their first time learning it. That's what puts us behind."

It's not just walk-ons and backups playing special teams, either. Seemingly everyone on the team except the quarterbacks is involved with special teams in some capacity. In Mullen's view, if a player isn't good enough to start on special teams, he isn't good enough to start on offense or defense.

"Coach Mullen basically runs all of the special teams meetings," Powell said. "He really gets after the guys and does a good job on special teams. We have a ton of starters on special teams, which is good."

Mullen has also found ways to make special teams jobs seem desirable. When he awarded scholarships to former walk-ons R.J. Raymond and Nick Villano last week, he did so by asking them to stand in front of the team and say what their most important job is. Both answered with their respective roles on the punt team.

"We're going to invest a lot of time on special teams," Mullen said. "We're going to make sure everyone in the program is invested in special teams, every player understands the importance of it. That's a phase we want to try to be really strong at is our special teams phases. And that's the big picture of special teams. I know sometimes after a game, 'Boy, bad special teams day. We missed a field goal.' There's so much more to it than that, or we had a bad punt. You know, the specialists sometimes get the most attention, but there's a lot of plays that can be made on special teams with attention to detail on the technique."

Special team starters also receive preferential treatment, such as being the first ones in line at team meals.

On Saturday, McPherson and Powell will learn where they stand – both on the kicking depth chart and in the buffet line.