John McDonnell/THE WASHINGTON POST - Virginia place kicker Robert Randolph is 8 for 8 on field goal attempts this season.
CHARLOTTESVILLE – Virginia senior Robert Randolph is the Cavaliers’ place kicker, a breed of football player so rare the team’s coach and special teams coordinator acknowledge not knowing how to instruct him on the technical aspects of the job.
During the season, Randolph is left to his own devices whenever problems arise with his kicks, and last year he had to work through early-season struggles that diminished his standing as one of the best in the nation at his position.
But through two games this fall, Randolph has regained his reputation. He has converted all eight field goals he’s attempted,including a 23-yarder as time expired in a 34-31 victory at Indiana on Sept. 10 that pushed Virginia’s record to 2-0.
On Saturday, the Cavaliers open ACC play at North Carolina (2-0) and, again, Randolph will rely on a renewed sense of confidence to provide his team reassurance whenever the offense stalls short of the end zone.
“We’ve talked about where the cliff is, meaning where the offense would have to get the ball to in order for him to have a successful shot at it,” Virginia Coach Mike London said. “Last year, we had to get to the 25- or the 27-yard line. Sometimes even the 30-yard line. But now it’s the 33-, 35-, 36-yard line. And it helps.”
The Cavaliers utilized a dual-kicker approach last season, sending out Randolph to attempt all field goals from 42 yards and in. For tries longer than that, Randolph split attempts with Chris Hinkebein. Randolph missed two of the three field goals he attempted that were longer than 42 yards in 2010.
But from the start of training camp in August, Randolph has demonstrated an outward conviction in the strength of his leg. One of the first things he told his holder, senior Jacob Hodges, was that he was looking forward to proving he could make field goals from beyond 50 yards in games. Randolph delivered the same message to London and special teams coordinator Anthony Poindexter.
While Randolph has yet to attempt a 50-yard kick this season, four of his eight makes were from at least 42 yards. One was a 48-yarder that had distance to spare.
“I’ve been working out hard and I’ve definitely gotten stronger, but every summer I’ve been able to hit field goals around 60 yards,” Randolph said. “And for some reason every time I get here I just can’t really tie it into the snap and the hold on the live kick. I’m not really sure what it is.
“I’m not sure why this year is different. I just feel like I’m playing more confident than anything. I’ve always been able to kick that far. I’ve just never had the confidence to do it for some reason.”
When Randolph went home to Naples, Fla., during the summer, he met with his high school kicking coach, Tony Perez-Benitoa, to work out a few kinks in his execution. Rather than flying end-over-end vertically, the ball was slanting to the left off of Randolph’s foot, which decreased the kick’s distance.
Randolph’s plant foot was sliding too far to the left, and so Perez-Benitoa had Randolph practice planting his left foot an inch closer to the ball. Small corrections, Perez-Benitoa said, often boost a kicker’s confidence.
“I can’t give a kid more strength. I can’t give a kid more foot speed,” Perez-Benitoa said. “But when they’re confident, their technique doesn’t get hampered by their brain, and their ability to be smooth isn’t interfered with. I tell my guys: ‘You can’t try harder. You have to try smoother.’ ”
In late July, Randolph attended Kohl’s Kicking Camp in Whitewater, Wis. There — amid 11 kickers with NFL experience and more than 80 college kickers — Randolph stood out, according to camp director Jamie Kohl, who first worked with the player six years ago.
“He has not put together a season that has really shown the repeatability I’ve seen from him,” Kohl said. “I’ve said to him: ‘This is your year, Robert, to really show people . . . that you are that consistent guy who can be depended upon.’ When he’s on, he’s as good as there is in college football.”
Following a 2009 sophomore season in which he made 17 of 19 attempts, Randolph was named to the watch list of the Lou Groza Award, given to the nation’s top place kicker. But Randolph missed the first three kicks of his junior campaign, and even though he finished 10 of 14 on the year, the national acclaim disappeared.
Until recently, that is. Randolph was not named to the same watch list entering this season, but one organization named him the national place kicker of the week in each of the past two weeks.
“I think the distance is more of just the confidence in the snap and the hold and in myself,” Randolph said. “I just don’t hold back at all on my kicks now.”
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