Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 22, 1993 TAG: 9309220030
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
The Cavaliers got a kicker out of the deal.
Kyle Kirkeide, from The Bolles School in Jacksonville, Fla., was considering several other programs before his mother persuaded him to stop by UVa's practice.
"I had a highlight tape that I had made," Kirkeide said. "My mom called [recruiting coordinator] Gerry Capone at the hotel and he said, `Well, bring your video down.' It was basically my mother pushing me. I was like, `No, Mom, don't do that.' "
Recruiting rules prevented the UVa coaches from talking to Kirkeide, so he dropped off the video and went home. He missed the game in order to watch his brother, Kevin, play for Miami in the Orange Bowl, but the next week Cavaliers assistant Bob Petchel gave him a call.
Virginia was not in position to offer a scholarship, but the coaches encouraged Kirkeide (pronounced Kur-KYE-dee) to come to school and try out for the football team. He had a 4.0 grade-point average in high school and scored 1,250 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test.
Kirkeide plans to major in math and science, although, judging from his tape, he might have a career in videography.
"I made the tape myself," Kirkeide said. "The school had the video [tapes] from our games and I took them home and set up two VCRs. It was about 25 minutes [of] kickoffs and field goals. I basically had to show myself to colleges."
Petchel said it is not uncommon for kickers and their parents to prepare highlight reels, many of them more elaborate than Kirkeide's. However, a reduction in scholarship limits has made it rare for a kicker to get a scholarship out of high school.
"I had to make a big decision," Kirkeide said. "It was kind of like a crisis. I was saying, `Do I really want to go to an Ivy League school with great academics, or do I compromise football?' I think Virginia gave me both."
Kirkeide had gotten a taste of big-time college football from his brother, a tight end on Miami's 1991 national-championship team. His younger sister, Kristy - both parents and all three children have names starting with "K" - is a national-caliber soccer player.
Unlike his older brother, who is 6 feet 5 and 230 pounds, Kyle Kirkeide stands 5-11 and 165 pounds. Although he kicks soccer-style, his background is in football - he played wide receiver in high school - and he also was an all-city selection in baseball.
It became evident early in the 1992 preseason that Kirkeide would not beat out senior Michael Husted, now with the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The competition began in the spring, when Kirkeide took on fifth-year senior Josh Schrader and erstwhile punter Patrick Harkleroad.
After a groin injury took Schrader out of the running, it was Kirkeide's mechanics as much as his accuracy that enabled him to outkick Harkleroad.
"He kicks quicker than anybody I've ever been around," said George Welsh, UVa's head coach. "He gets the ball off in 1.3 [seconds] or below. That's NFL speed. It's a good operation we have back there right now."
That includes fifth-year senior Bill Curry, who does nothing more than snap for punts and placements, and redshirt freshman Tim Sherman, in his first year as the Cavaliers' holder.
Kirkeide also handles kickoffs, which have been his lone problem area. Nobody expected him to be another Husted, whose 67 kickoffs last year included 37 that were not returned. Of Kirkeide's 19 kickoffs, only six have gotten as far as the 5-yard line.
"The kickoffs aren't what we need," said Welsh, who has not threatened a change but has four freshman kickers behind Kirkeide and Harkleroad.
Despite his slight build, Kirkeide never had a problem with distance in high school. He said he hit a 54-yard field goal, the 10th longest in Florida history, and the UVa coaches have compared his leg strength to Husted's at a comparable stage.
"Coming into this year, I felt that kickoffs were one of the best things that I did," Kirkeide said. "It's like golf: If you try to kill the ball, you're not going to hit it as well. That's what I've been doing."
Kirkeide, who teams with punter Will Brice to form the first lefty-lefty kicking tandem at Virginia since at least the 1940s, has made all 12 of his point-after kicks and is 4-for-4 on field-goal attempts. The next test is making them under pressure.
by CNB