Iowa’s Drew Stevens is reading books, kicking with conviction amid possibly best season of his career

IOWA CITY — Drew Stevens “roughly” followed the ball with his eyes after he launched a booming kickoff against Washington before losing it amid the crowd.

He heard the crowd react and was like, “Whoa, what happened?”

“Then I saw it bouncing back in the end zone,” Stevens said. “I did see that on the field. I’m like, ‘Dang, I must have killed somebody because they’re all cheering.’”

The powerful kickoff — with enough oomph to dome a fan in the first row of the south-end-zone sections — is one of many areas of growth and improvement for Stevens in his third year as the Hawkeyes’ kicker.

“D, all of the above is what he’s improved upon,” Iowa special teams coordinator LeVar Woods said earlier this year, as if it was a multiple-choice question on a test.

Stevens has aced his in-game opportunities, going 10-of-12 this year. He has the second-highest field-goal percentage among Big Ten kickers with at least 10 attempts, trailing only Michigan State’s Jonathan Kim. The third-year Hawkeye kicker’s only two misses this season have been from 50-plus yards.

The North Augusta, S.C., native technically had a higher field-goal percentage as a true freshman, when he was 16-of-18. But those two misses in 2022 were from 44 and 45 yards out, whereas Stevens is 9-for-9 within 50 yards this season.

Stevens’ 2023 numbers are undoubtedly a major improvement from 2022, when he went 18-of-26 on field goals (69.2 percent). He missed attempts from 24 yards and 30 yards in Iowa’s season finale against Nebraska, prompting Iowa to bench him in favor of a walk-on who thought his football career was over months earlier.

How Stevens has grown

Woods said last month during the bye week Stevens is “much more mature” than in past years.

“He’s actually reading now,” Woods said. “Never thought I’d get Drew Stevens to read, but he’s reading. I’m sure his mom will be pleased to hear that. It’s probably a page or two a day, but working on it.”

You won’t hear any argument from Stevens, who agreed it “probably averages out” to Woods’ estimate.

“I don’t really like to read,” Stevens said. “It’s one of those things where it’s like, ‘Dang, God, I really don’t want to do this, but it does help you.’ At some point, it’s a business decision. … There’s things I’ve figured out in my game that I read from books.”

His reading list includes Peter Drucker’s “The Effective Executive” and David L. Cook’s “Golf’s Sacred Journey.” The former — a recommendation from former Hawkeye Jason Baker — hits on time management and getting things done while the latter has helped with the psychology of kicking.

“If you hit the kick one time, now you know that you can hit it,” Stevens said of the golf book.

Stevens has taken other things from Baker, who punted in the NFL for 11 seasons after he was done in Iowa City.

“If there is a board laying across the ground and he told you to run right across it, you would run across it, right?” Stevens said. “Now let’s stay the stakes are the board’s way up there. You got to run right across it. It’s the same board. … You might wobble a little just because of the pressure, and that’s a choice that you’re making to think that way.”

Now, Stevens feels “a lot less tense in the game.”

“I feel much more confident in my kicks,” Stevens said.

Woods talks in the special teams room about confidence “being a feeling, emotion” versus conviction being “there’s no other way to see it.”

“Drew had confidence last year; I think it was false confidence,” Woods said. “I think he would be the one of the first to tell you that last year. … I think Drew now is convicted with what he’s doing. He’s convicted with his routine in practice. He’s convicted with his routine away from the building.”

Iowa has turned to the more-convicted Stevens for three 50-plus-yard attempts this season — two from 51 yards and one from 58. His missed the 58-yarder and one of the 51-yarders, but both had plenty of distance and were not far off from an accuracy standpoint either.

“Drew has a very strong leg,” Woods said. “I don’t want to talk specific numbers, but we’ve all seen him make it from the logo and beyond in practice.”

Stevens’ increased reliability from longer distances poses an interesting what-if from Iowa’s Week 2 loss to Iowa State. Quarterback Cade McNamara’s Hail Mary heave landed well short of the end zone; if Iowa attempted a field goal instead, it would have been roughly a 67-yard attempt.

Woods said the coaches “weren’t thinking about a field goal at that time because we weren’t quite in range.” But there have been discussions about “situational football” and what Iowa would do if that scenario happened again.

“Would I bet on myself in that situation? I would love to have seen me take a crack at it,” Stevens said. “I tell them my lines pregame, and my line didn’t go that far back. But I also wasn’t planning on a desperation end-of-game (attempt).”

For now, he will have to simply show off his kicking strength on fan-endangering kickoffs.

“We need to put like a little warning sign,” Stevens said.

As much as attention (and entertainment) as Stevens’ kickoff drew on social media, his “highlight of the game” was later when he made a tackle on a kickoff that Washington’s Keith Reynolds returned from the 1-yard line to the 27.

“Forget the four field goals, forget killing the guy on the kickoff,” Stevens said. “I’ve never made a tackle. … Coming off the field, I was like, ‘Dang man, getting a lot of respect for my defensive teammates because it kind of hurt.’”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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