Iowa's kicking game remains consistently inconsistent

IOWA CITY - Watching Iowa's kicking game is like driving in western Nebraska. No matter what you see and when you see it, the scenery never changes.

For three years Daniel Murray and Trent Mossbrucker have battled to a near stand-still in their kicking competition. In 2008, the players split time with Mossbrucker kicking 31-of-33 extra points, while Murray converted on all 14 tries that year. Mossbrucker kicked 13 field goals, while Murray kicked six.

Last year, Iowa coaches decided to red-shirt Mossbrucker and go with Murray. The results were mixed. Murray kicked 32-of-33 extra points but missed seven of 26 field-goal attempts.

This year, the kickers are competing once more. And, just like in the other two seasons, they're almost completely even.

“The depth chart is basically everyone for themselves,” said Murray, now a senior. “They don't really have anything decided at all.”

Even in Saturday's open scrimmage at Kinnick Stadium, the players were even. Both connected on 8 of 11 field-goal opportunities (Murray had one blocked by Adrian Clayborn but was allowed to try again). Murray missed from 41, 45 and 46 yards, while Mossbrucker missed twice from 41 and once from 23.

Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz told reporters in the spring he's “underwhelmed” with the kicking situation. He didn't offer many glowing adjectives to describe their performance on Saturday, either.

“We're proably about where we were the last time I met with you on this field which was last April,” he said. “We're capable, but we're not consistent.”

Mossbrucker was offered a scholarship in 2008 and kicked right away as a true freshman. But his confidence waned late in the season, and Murray replaced him on a game-winning 31-yard field-attempt against Penn State. Mossbrucker struggled again the following week against Purdue, missing two extra points. He kicked seven extra points in the season finale against Minnesota, but did not play in the Outback Bowl.

While Mossbrucker red-shirted last year, Murray experienced some ups and downs. He kicked his a career-long 48-yard field goal against Wisconsin but whiffed on a chip-shot 22-yarder at Ohio State in a 27-24 overtime loss. He was named honorable mention all-Big Ten following the season.

 “I really believe with any of the skill positions, with any football player, it just comes down to consistency,” said Lester Erb, Iowa's running backs and special teams coach. “Both guys have shown at times they've been excellent, and then there's times when it's been subpar. Both of those guys realize that and they're striving; they're working hard to be more consistent.”

Mossbrucker and Murray are listed as co-No. 1 kickers, but Mossbrucker is certain he must clearly beat out Murray to win the job.

“Dan's contributed to this team a lot over the past few years, so it's a tough situation to be in,” Mossbrucker said. “But at the same time as a competitor, it's not really what I'm focused on right. I'm focused on coming out every day and doing the best that I can.”

It's possible freshman walk-on Mike Meyer could enter the competition as well. Meyer, an all-state kicker last year at Dubuque Wahlert, connected on 7-of-11 attempts Saturday.

“We think he's got good potential,” Ferentz said. “We've only had 11 practices, but we're really impressed with him. I think he might make the competition even that much more interesting.”

Erb, who talked about the competition during Iowa's media days last week, said Meyer has a chance to earn the position.

“He's going to be in here, and he's going to compete for the job,” Erb said. “If he's the most consistent guy, he may be the guy.”

HERE'S MORE FROM THE PLAYERS AND COACHES

Trent Mossbrucker

• On red-shirting last season: "It was a chance to reflect and a chance to break down everything that I do mentally on the field, and off the field. I'm a lot more calm coming off that red-shirt year. I'm not fired up too much anymore, I'm pretty calm with my demenaor and I think that was a great thing for me."
• On getting more consistent: "Being comfortable back before the snap and the hold. Just feeling comfortable all throughout my motion and being smooth."
• On competing with Daniel Murray: "I think it's like iron sharpens iron. We're trying to go out, and we're trying to win a job. That's what it ccomes down to. We help each other and we push each other to the limit, and I think that's going to make us better at what we do and help the team out."

Daniel Murray

• On the first couple of weeks of camp: "It's been going all right. We've been doing well but there's still room for improvement. It's just a matter of going out and trying to improve each time and it's getting better.
• On how he could improve: "It's easy to say more consistency, I guess. How do you get that? I think the main thing right now is every once in a while I get a little slip or a hook or a fade on my ball and that's what I've been trying to eliminate. It's just kind of the way my foot contacts the ball sometimes I will bring my foot up a little bit, without boring you with technical stuff."
• On the mental approach to kicking: "The main thing I've been working on is if you miss one, try and get back and make the next one. So far I've been able to to do that. On almost all of my misses, I haven't missed the next one."

Special teams coach Lester Erb on Iowa Media Day

• On the tighhtness of the competition: "It's like that today and its' probably going to continue like that through camp. Obviously the one good thing is we're fortunate to have two good guys that have a tremendous amount of experience. Obviously with Trent his freshman year doing what he did and Danny coming back last year and kicking. It's going to be an open competition all through camp and hopefully somebody steps up and takes it. If not, it's something that goes through the beginning of the seaosn again. We'll wait and see."
• On improving their technique: "I think they've both really improved in that area last year. Their technique is continually improving, and you've got to be on top of your technique at a specialist position, especially kicking position. If you start to let it slide at all, it's like a golfer. He can hit the fareway 10 straight drives but on the 11th if he's distracted at all, that thing's in the woods. It's really the same thing with kickers. They've got to go out there focused every single day and stay working on their techniques.