Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 27, 1993 TAG: 9310270123
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
The only question is, which leg?
So far, it is Brice's left leg that has received the most attention. A left-footed punter, he has taken over the ACC lead with a 43.5-yard average, including nine punts of 50 yards or more.
With his right leg, Brice booted a 50-yard field goal in high school and has kicked the ball through the uprights from as far as 66 yards during practice.
Although the Cavaliers have been groping for a way to improve their kickoffs, Brice has tried not to campaign for Brice the job. "The guy who kicks off [Kyle Kirkeide] is my roommate," he explained.
It was Kirkeide who was the toast of the town when he made his first four field goals, three against Georgia Tech. But while Kirkeide has fallen off, missing from 27 and 26 yards in a 17-10 victory over North Carolina, Brice's stock is booming.
None of his punts has been bigger than a 56-yarder that was downed at Carolina's 8-yard line with 2:58 left.
"I think I had an 84-yarder in high school," Brice, a redshirt freshman from Lancaster, S.C. "I also had two 76s. In practice one day, I had one go almost 90 yards. If you turn it over the right way, it'll take off and roll."
Remarkably, Brice did not play football until he attended camp before his junior year in high school. His mentor was former Clemson standout Chris Gardocki, a left-footed punter and place-kicker now with the Chicago Bears.
"I had always wanted to play goalie in soccer and I always practiced goalie kicks left-footed," said Brice, who is 6 feet 4 and 193 pounds. "I'm also left-handed and the drop is so important to a punter."
Otherwise, Brice isn't exactly sure why he punted with his left foot and kicked with his right.
"As a soccer player, I used both feet," said Brice, who did not play goalie but made all-state in soccer. "As I got older, my right foot became my dominant foot. I throw left-handed. I bat right-handed [in baseball]. I'm pretty normal other than I don't know which foot to kick with."
Brice ranks 11th in the country in punting average and has helped the Cavaliers jump from 106th (last) in Division I-A to sixth in net punting, which takes returns into account. Only two of Brice's past 16 punts have been returned, each for a 3-yard gain.
Three of Brice's four punts Saturday went for 45 yards or more and the other, a 29-yarder that matched his shortest of the season, was fumbled by Carolina's Steven Jerry. UVa recovered at the Tar Heels' 20-yard line and required only three plays to score the touchdown that made it 10-0.
"I keep seeing that on the practice field," UVa coach George Welsh said. "For a left-footer, the ball spins the opposite way [from a normal punt]. Our return men have trouble handling it."
Welsh expressed fears this week that he would have trouble keeping Brice for three more years, which makes one wonder why Brice was redshirted last year, when Patrick Harkleroad and Josh Schrader combined for one kick of more than 50 yards all season.
"It never crossed my mind," said Brice of the possibility that he might be activated late in the 1992 season. "I wasn't prepared to play. Being redshirted helped me out a lot.
"I probably would have done no better than anybody else last year. . . . It seems I do a little bit better in games than I have in practice. I've never been one to let the pressure get to me."
Brice thinks that might be part of Kirkeide's problem. In addition to the missed field goals and short kickoffs Saturday, Kirkeide bounced an extra point off an upright.
"I think it hit him kind of hard because he got all this publicity at the start," Brice said. "Everybody was all over him and he hadn't missed in three or four games, but then reality struck. I'm just glad we won the game. He would have been feeling bad if we had lost by three."
Not only is Brice left-footed, but so are Kirkeide and true freshman Raphael Garcia, who spelled Kirkeide on two kickoffs Saturday. It is not an easy job, as Kirkeide learned when he was intercepted by Welsh after one of his kickoffs went out of bounds at Florida State.
"That's my worst nightmare," Brice said. "He'll [Welsh] get you, too. If he's coming on the field to tell me something, I'll know I've messed up."
by CNB