U-Md. Grad Keeps Gridiron Dreams Alive

Nomadic Kicker Trying for a Permanent Spot Lands With Redskins -- for Now

Ryan Balow, 6, and Redskins kicker Nick Novak toss a football in the Gaithersburg neighborhood of Novak's girlfriend's sister, where Novak is a popular visitor. (By Jahi Chikwendiu -- The Washington Post)

Nick Novak is not unlike many other recent college graduates trying to establish themselves in the real world. Okay, calling the National Football League the real world is a bit of a stretch, but maybe not so much of one for a young kicker whose life has consisted of bouncing from team to team with weeks, and sometimes months, of unemployment in between.

Last month, Novak, 25, a former star kicker at the University of Maryland, landed a dream job with the Washington Redskins that came with the slim, slim, slimmest of security. For Novak, one, or at most two, bad games kicking could mean he'd be unemployed again and probably back living with his parents in Indiana, which is where he was until a few days before he got the call to try out for the Redskins.

In fact, on the day the call came, Novak was in the street in front of his girlfriend's sister's house in Gaithersburg, kicking a ball to some guys in the neighborhood. He had come east to work out on his own at Maryland. The next day, he auditioned for the job, signed a three-year contract that is not guaranteed and then had to find somewhere to live that was closer to the Redskins' practice facility in Ashburn.

He found the perfect place there -- the guest room in his cousin's house. "I consider myself very independent, so living with someone else is not my ideal," he said. "Of course I want to buy a house, but right now my focus is just playing well, and I'm not worried about getting a house. So they have been helping me out by letting me live there, and I give them tickets. Pretty much my rent is tickets."

Novak, like other Redskins players, gets two comps to every game and can buy as many as four other tickets. His girlfriend, Blair Lashley, whom he met while both were students at Maryland, usually gets a ticket, and so do one or both of his parents if they are in town for the game.

His situation is unlike those of many of his teammates because he has friends and family in the area, went to college here and spent much of his life growing up in Charlottesville. Both of his parents taught at the University of Virginia.

In the Gaithersburg neighborhood, Novak is a football god in the eyes of some of the kids. "My nephews and niece are all over him when he comes," said Lashley, 21. "Ryan is like, 'Throw me one, Nick.' And Alex is the same way, or he is always saying, 'Pick me up, Nick.' And Gracie is always right there, saying, 'Me, too.' It is great to have him back here."

Novak spent Halloween evening in Gaithersburg, and as soon as he arrived in his Ford Escape, Ryan Balow, 6, who was wearing a Clinton Portis jersey and a Redskins helmet, stuck to him like glue.

"Nick," he asked, "where is your jersey?"

Novak is so new to the team that his Redskins jersey is not available, although some of the parents in the neighborhood have done some research and discovered that they could special order one from the manufacturer, although no one has done that yet.

"I have my Maryland jersey in the back of the car," Novak told the young boy. He got his Maryland practice jersey out of the car, and the boy slipped it over the Redskins jersey. "But it doesn't have your name on it, Nick," Ryan said. He started to run away to show off Novak's jersey to the other boys in the neighborhood but stopped and came back to Novak. "Nick," he said, "tie my shoe."

Novak smiled, bent down and tied the shoe. The boy ran off, the jersey flapping around his knees.