Ball State football’s kicker Scott Secor says he thinks he’s the best kicker in the country.
One look at the statistics and it’s hard to blame him. Secor is ranked first in the nation in field goals made with ten, tied with just three others.
It’s still not good enough for the redshirt senior.
“It’s not where I want to be,” Secor said. “Even though I’m at No. 1, I have two misses that I could have easily made. I’m not happy about that.”
Secor connected on 3-of-4 field goals on a soaked field Sept. 20 against Toledo, keeping Ball State in the game when drives faltered deep in opposing territory. A 49-yard field goal in the first quarter was a new career long for him.
But that’s only during game action. Secor said during practice, he’s hit from 63 yards away. And when he’s practicing alone, it’s 68.
There’s some power behind that top-ranked right leg, but Secor says all the success comes from what happens before the ball is snapped from the holder, before he runs onto the field and before the lights come on at Scheumann Stadium.
“My confidence and preparation are keys,” Secor said. “During camp, we kicked a lot of deep field goals, so it’s just knowing I can do it and executing during a game.”
Special teams coordinator Justin Lustig is in his first season working with Secor. When Secor is pacing the sidelines during practice and booting practice field goals at the south end zone of Scheumann Stadium, Lustig leaves him alone.
He compared kickers to golf players, saying he doesn’t want to become too involved with Secor and end up messing with his head.
He said when Secor is doing well, he’s mostly hands-off and tries to stay uninvolved. But if misses start creeping in, Lustig isn’t afraid to tell his kicker what’s going wrong. After Secor missed against Toledo, Lustig noticed something off about his footsteps.
“It was just a small thing I pointed out to him about his steps,” Lustig said. “Just the angle of his steps was a little bit off and it’ll make you push the ball right, and I’m pretty sure that’s what happened. Next time he’s on the right hash, he’ll have to think about that.”
Secor hasn’t thought about misses too much lately. The miss against Toledo was just the third of his season, during a season in which he’s attempted more field goals than any other kicker in the country, according to ESPN.com
Sometimes, impressive performances come with added value. A tattoo that looks similar to thick barbed wire wraps around his left bicep and tricep. He said it’s a tribal band he drew one day that represents eternity and that he’ll live forever, and he came up the design when he was bored.
His senior year of high school at Lincoln-Way Central, he placed second during a national competition with Kohl’s Kicking. As a result, his dad bought the tattoo for him.
Secor may get another tattoo if he finishes the season first in the country in made field goals, but his sights are set on something larger.
“Hopefully I’ll be getting a shot at the next level,” Secor said.
But right now, he said he’s hoping to get Ball State back on the winning track, and he’s not concerned with personal glory. He said he never looks at his stats during the game, but always looks later on because it helps keep him grounded.
If he were to look at the statistics for made field goals, then look at his jersey number, he’d see the same thing.
No. 1.
