K Ryan Pretorius (official thread)

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Ohio State football
After long wait, Pretorius steps into kicking job

Thursday, August 23, 2007 3:49 AM
By Ken Gordon


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Doral Chenoweth III | DISPATCH
Ryan Pretorius makes a field goal during the kick scrimmage in Ohio Stadium. He hit 5 of 6 before protection breakdowns led to three straight blocks.



Told that his coach named him Ohio State's probable opening-day kicker, Ryan Pretorius felt the goose bumps rise on his arm.
"That's great," he said. "I've just been blessed. God's really looking after me. I've gone through a lot of personal problems in the last year, and I've overcome those obstacles and just been kicking like I've never kicked before."
Pretorius backed up Aaron Pettrey last season but impressed coach Jim Tressel with an outstanding performance in spring practice and through the first two weeks of fall camp.

Continued....

[RugbyBuck]

That's great to hear. I hope he does really well. He didn't hang his head, that I know of, last year and worked hard to get better. Never hurts to have a kicker who can tackle. Good on ya, Ryan.

[Steve19]

If the South Africans have a trait as a people, it is the ability to find a way, to persist and keep at something until a solution can be found. Don't forget that the political problems there once were considered to be less tractable than the Palestinians and Israelis.

Ryan exemplifies a lot of that and I admire the way that he has gone about this.

Ryan, ons is baie trots vir jou! Baie, baie trots! Nou, wit Zulu: "Impi! wo nans impi iyeza, obani bengathinta amabhubesi?"

[MililaniBuckeye]

Originally Posted by Steve19

Ryan, ons is baie trots vir jou! Baie, baie trots! Nou, wit Zulu: "Impi! wo nans impi iyeza, obani bengathinta amabhubesi?"

And a Shaka Zulu to you, too...

[osugrad21]

Lima

Pretorius kicks his way to the top Jim Naveau | jnaveau@limanews.com - 08.24.2007

COLUMBUS ? Ohio State kicker Aaron Pettrey has apparently lost his job despite making 8 of 11 field goals last season, including just one miss in his last 11 games.
Ryan Pretorius, a 28-year-old former South African rugby player, is the Buckeyes? No. 1 kicker right now, coach Jim Tressel said after a kick scrimmage on Wednesday.
Pretorius, a junior, was regarded as the favorite to take over for Josh Huston last season but kicked poorly during preseason practice and lost the job to Pettrey. He attempted two field goals during the regular season, both from more than 50 yards away, and hit one.



Cont...

[BB73]

It's worth noting that Thoma gets moved to the first unit as the holder. The kickers/holders are working as pairs, and stay together.

This info was contained in some of the linked articles, but wasn't cut/pasted into the thread.

[Buckskin86]

Bloomin' kicker is boomin'
JASON LLOYD, Morning Journal Writer
08/27/2007

At 28, Pretorius is easily the oldest player on the team. When he graduated high school in 1996, Beanie Wells was 7 years old.

''I've been around for awhile,'' Pretorius said. ''I see freshmen walking around on the team and I say ?Damn, I'm a decade older than you!'''

Pretorius is still adjusting to American way of life. He still isn't entirely clear on all the rules of football, and don't even ask about baseball and basketball.

Words like ''mate'' and ''jeepers'' are part of his every day vocabulary in his thick South African accent.

''He has more quirks than you can imagine,'' said Thoma, who benefits the most from Pretorius' promotion. Thoma has been his holder for two years and now becomes the No. 1 holder since Pretorius is the No. 1 kicker.

Pretorius gave thought to transferring and even had a school picked out. Alabama had kicking woes last year and Pretorius considered going there, but decided against it because of the transfer rule. He would have been forced to sit out this year and was afraid another kicker would have jumped him on the depth chart and left him in the same position he was already in.

He liked Ohio State, he liked his teammates and he liked Tressel. Ultimately, that was enough to keep him here.

''I was just praying coach Tressel would open up the competition again,'' he said.

The Morning Journal - Bloomin' kicker is boomin'

[jrbonz2]

The competition at the kicker position is great for the team. But the facts are hard to ignore. Pettrey went 8-11, making 9 of his last 10, 53 of 54 on extra points last season. Above average season for a kicker, especially in his first year. These guys need to build confidence and I don't think switching it up at kicker is going to give us a solid, consistent kicker.

[NightmaresDad]

Originally Posted by jrbonz2

The competition at the kicker position is great for the team. But the facts are hard to ignore. Pettrey went 8-11, making 9 of his last 10, 53 of 54 on extra points last season. Above average season for a kicker, especially in his first year. These guys need to build confidence and I don't think switching it up at kicker is going to give us a solid, consistent kicker.

Would you rather have a guy (Pettrey) who had a rather outstanding season last year, take the job for granted a little bit, struggle some this year, and still be your only viable option at kicker?
You don't want them paralyzed by the fear of missing, but you don't want them complacent either.
I think in this case, both guys would be chomping at the bit to have the opportunity to succeed, not dreading at the opportunity to fail.

[Steve19]

I think we need to be careful about "facts" or assumptions about what has prompted Pretorius reclaiming the top kicker position. None of us know what has happened and suppositions don't really move us forward on that.

As an American South African and Buckeye alumni, I was very proud of the way Pretorius handled his disappointment last year. Likewise, I am pleased to hear of his promotion to first team. Nevertheless, I feel considerable sympathy for the disappointment that Pettrey must feel. Anyone who counts Aaron out is making a mistake.

What we must all remember is that Ohio State has one of the best coaching staffs in college football and a decision like this will not have been made lightly. However, their decision will not have been made for the reason that jrbonz22 has raised in his first post. They will have made their decision based on their best projection of performance this year.

The job apparently is now Pretorius's to lose. If he performs well, it will be his to keep. We can count on seeing both of these kickers at times this year, no matter who carries the major load.

[jrbonz2]

I think NightmaresDad and Steve 19 made some very valid points about the kicking change. I wholeheartedly agree that both kickers are likely chomping at the bit to succeed and not submit to the other's abilities, and that decisions have been made based on sound judgment by the best coaching staff in the country. But I think my point here was mainly that these two kickers, even if they perform well, do not necessarily have the job wrapped up. I say this because Pettrey did perform well last year and there is still a switch being made. I understand of course that decisions are made on pre-season performance, but I was surprised that he was not given the opportunity to prove himself once again in the season before an adjustment like this was made. First and foremost, I hope that the kicker who takes the field for the Buckeyes will exude confidence in their position without the lingering fear that even succeeding does not guarantee the position. I personally will support whatever decision is made in hopes that it will bring success to the special teams and especially the team as a whole. I have confidence in both Pettrey and Pretorious and am proud of their competition and perseverance.

[RugbyBuck]

Welcome to the board, jrb. It seems to me from what we've seen and JT's comments that the pre-season is as much about competition as conditioning. Certainly, the most that any player can ask is for the opportunity to compete for and keep a position. My guess is that at kicker, where you're not getting forty plays a game, there is a different kind of personal pressure on you, and so much of the job is confidence, JT wants to go with the hot leg going into the season. Can't really fault him for that, but if RP takes the opportunity for granted, AP will and should be right back in there.

That said, I absolutely like the idea of a twenty-eight year old South African rugby player back there in case something goes wrong and we need some defense.

[Zurp]

Originally Posted by BB73

It's worth noting that Thoma gets moved to the first unit as the holder. The kickers/holders are working as pairs, and stay together

That would suck if someone was a great kicker, but couldn't make the first team because his holder was a goon.
I'm sure the coaches are smart enough to see if a bad kick is the kicker's fault or the holder's fault. But maybe a kicker might be a bad bloke and blame his not starting on his holder.

[Yertle]

Originally Posted by Zurp

But maybe a kicker might be a bad bloke and blame his not starting on his holder.

The Buckeyes don't take British football players... even as kickers or holders. The coaching staff learned long ago that all they do is flop for yellow cards and yell "FIELD GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!" as they pretend to be an airplane while running around in circles after a kick.

[BB73]

Congrats to Ryan on being named the Buckeyes' Special Units Player of the Week.

From JT's presser yesterday, explaining why Pettrey didn't do kickoffs.

official.site

It's very important for this football team to get better every day and to learn more about what their role is and what it's going to take to be a good football team and I feel good about the way that they approach things. We did have some guys with outstanding performances. Our special units player of the week was Ryan Pretorius. Ryan had battled his way into earning the place kicking starting job for field goals and then during the week Ryan -- Aaron Pettrey stretched a groin or something on the kicking leg and we just didn't feel as if it was safe to have him do the kickoffs which we had originally planned for him to do, so Ryan Pretorius took that chore over as well and we thought he did a good job, five for five extra points, one for one field goal, we thought his kickoffs were solid. Kind of a swirling wind, a wind where you hit it up there and it kind of stopped dead and he powered it through a couple times very, very well, so he was our special units player of the week.