Less than a week before Ball State University's first football game, coach Brady Hoke announced Monday freshman Jake Hogue will be the Cardinals' place kicker and kickoff specialist.
Hogue will fill the position after Ball State lost former kicker Brian Jackson to graduation. Fellow freshman Ian McGarvey will be Hogue's backup.
"We practiced on Friday night and Jake really kicked the ball well," Hoke said. "Jake right now is a little better accuracy-wise and his kickoff is better."
As a senior last year at Plainfield High School, located in northern Indiana, Hogue connected on six of seven field goal attempts and 30 of 31 extra point attempts. His longest field goal connection was 49 yards. In addition, he was an honorable mention on the All-Mid-State Conference team.
Hogue was unavailable for comment.
Hoke said he made the decision to start Hogue Thursday.
"We charted everything that happened through camp," Hoke said. "We looked at the mechanics, timing, percentage of kicks made, all those things and we tried to put a lot of pressure on those guys."
With all the aspects going into successful field goal kicking, Hoke said it was Hogue's ability to bounce back from a shaky beginning at fall camp that won him the position.
"I [liked the way] Jake handled some of the adversity of not kicking as well early," Hoke said. " Jake really came back and fought through the adversity."
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