By Pat Miller / Bemidji Pioneer

BEMIDJI – Kyle Fodness grew up kicking a soccer ball but he always dreamed of booting a football for the University of Minnesota.

“My grandfather and my dad are both Gopher fans and kicking for the Gophers was a life-long dream,” Fodness said. “But that dream died a little when I went with soccer instead of football.”

Last fall, however, the prospects of kicking for the Maroon and Gold resurfaced when fate enabled Fodness to play both soccer and football.

Lumberjacks kicker Jon Henry injured his knee prior to the season and the football team was looking for someone to handle the place kicking duties.

Fodness volunteered and his ability to boot the football was among the reasons Bemidji advanced to the Class 4A championship game.

As fate would have it, the Gophers were looking for a future kicker and they considered Fodness a candidate.

Gophers officials watched and instructed Fodness during a couple of kicking camps and also viewed videos of Fodness in action.

Those officials were impressed with what they saw and in late April Fodness received a phone call from Gopher coach Jerry Kill.

“Coach Kill called to say that he wanted me to come to Minnesota,” Fodness said. “I’m very excited to kick for the Gophers but it’s a bittersweet moment because I am ending my soccer career.

“But I also am going to kick for a great program.”

Fodness expects to red-shirt his first year and hopes to challenge for the starting kicking job in 2013.

Matt Micucci, who was quarterback, kicker and punter for Stevenson’s football team last fall, has been accepted for admission into the School of Engineering at Northwestern University in Evanston, according to the Lake Kelly News Sun.

As a result, Matt be a walk-on (non-scholarship football player) and will try to win the kicking job for the Wildcats next fall.

As a junior in 2010, he made 50 consecutive extra-point kicks for Stevenson and also booted six field goals.

Last season, he kicked 25 extra points, made eight field goals, and 90 percent of his kickoffs from the 40 yard line went into the end zone for touchbacks.

Not surprisingly, he was a first-team selection on The News-Sun’s All-County Football Team last fall.

Last September, Matt literally had a leg, arm or foot in every point of his team’s 24-21 double-overtime win over Warren.

He ran for two TDs, threw a TD pass in the first OT period, converted three PATS, and then on fourth down in the second OT, kicked the game-winning field goal.

By Travis Baugh | The Exponent

By CHRIS HAYES / Orlando Sentinel

When Ashley Mosher first took a hit on the football field, she braced herself for a more painful collision.

That's right, she.

“It wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be,” Mosher said.

Amazingly, she only got hit twice in the year-and-a-half she spent as the kicker for the Mount Dora varsity football team.

Mosher, a soccer player for as long as she can remember, just signed a letter of intent to play soccer for two-year private school South Georgia College, located in Douglas, Ga., next year. She joins three other local signees at SGC in Orlando Olympia’s Caroline Clarke, and Groveland South Lake teammates Taylor Ness and Kaylee Woodling.

But Mosher will still have that secondary passion of kicking the other football; that of the oblong variety in a sport usually dominated by boys.

In fact, she says after her stint at SGC, she would likely entertain the option of trying out as a football kicker again if she happened to end up at the right school.

South Georgia does not have a football team. She already checked on that.

“I think I would to be honest,” Mosher said of trying it again. “A lot of girls looked up to me and I like to be a good role model … anything is possible if you put your mind to it.”

She certainly found that out at Mount Dora. Her arrival at the position of kicker for the Hurricanes was certainly not without opposition. It took awhile for her to gain the acceptance within her own household. Brother Bryant, a backup quarterback last season who is likely the incumbent starter this year, wasn’t too keen on the idea in the beginning.

“I asked him first, and he was just kinda like, ‘No!’” Ashley said. “He said, ‘It’s my alone time.’ The time he gets away from us, but then I guess he figured I would annoy him, I guess, like I do at home. But after a while he started to become more protective and supportive.”

The Hurricanes were struggling in the kicking game two seasons ago and Ashley was asked to come in and give it a try.

“When they first asked me to try out, I was a little nervous to do it,” she said. “I didn’t want to invade their privacy. When the coach asked I was honored and I couldn’t think of anything better to do.

“I wasn’t able to play soccer for two years because me and my old coach didn’t see eye to eye and he wouldn’t let me play. I just didn’t want to waste my life not doing anything.”

So she decided to give it a try. And she loved it.

“I’ll never forget the first time I went out [to practice],” Ashley said. “They were all looking at me like, ‘What is she doing here?’ “

Bullock was a freshman at Klein High School in Houston in 2004 when he and his older brother, Rhett, went on a hunting trip to South Texas with their father, Rich. On the final day of the trip, two days before Christmas, Rich died of a heart attack. He was 53.

"It was tough, but at the same time, my mom and brother were very supportive of me the whole way," Bullock said. "I can't thank them enough for all the support that they've given me. They are a big part of my success."

In his locker, Bullock keeps a picture of his dad, to whom he dedicated his senior season. Bullock won the Lou Groza Award as the nation's best kicker after making 29 of 33 field goals.

For his career, Bullock made 63 of 80 field-goal attempts.

Still, he isn't likely to be drafted.

"It's tough, but at the same time, I think I have what it takes," Bullock said. "Draft day, I might not get a phone call, but I think I'll get an opportunity to go to camp somewhere and compete for a job."

Just in case, though, Bullock has a backup plan. He is on track to graduate in May 2013 with a degree in petroleum engineering and a minor in petroleum geology. His father was a petroleum engineer who graduated from Ohio State. His brother has a mechanical engineering degree from A&M.

"I have a lot of help in that industry," Bullock said. "I have a lot of contacts, so that definitely helps when looking for a job. Right now, though, this takes the cake. It's kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If I didn't chase it, I didn't think I would ever forgive myself."

By D. Orlando Ledbetter / The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Even for a kicker, Kevin Butler had major swagger back as he became a Georgia legend in the 1980s and plied his wares in the NFL for 13 seasons.

Butler was known for his long-range field goals, his antics and for making clutch kicks. He was widely accepted by his teammates, who nicknamed him “Butthead.”

Fast forward a few decades and three of Butler’s former Chicago teammates are NFL head coaches, and two are looking for a punter.

“If you want somebody who’s been there and knows what to expect of it, Drew falls into that category,” Kevin Butler said of his son, one of the top-rated punters in the NFL draft. “I think [Rams coach] Jeff Fisher and certainly [Panthers coach] Ron Rivera know what kind of person and kicker they are going to get out of my son.”

The Butlers haven’t heard from Leslie Frazier, another ex-Chicago Bear, who is the head coach at Minnesota.

Drew Butler averaged 45.2 yards on 168 career punts for Georgia. He placed 60 punts inside the opponent’s 20-yard line and was not charged with a blocked punt.

All of that, makes Kevin Butler, who became a Bulldogs legend after making a 60-yarder to defeat No. 2-ranked Clemson in 1984, a very proud father.

“As a parent, you are just so very excited for the opportunity that he has put himself in a position for after school,” Butler said. “We’ve been supportive of everything that he’s done, certainly as the draft gets closer, I always just try to keep him balanced and keep his expectations in check.”

Butler was a fourth-round pick (105th overall) in 1985. Times have changed and teams don’t draft punters or kickers that high. However, Drew Butler is projected to be a fifth- or sixth-round pick. Last season, the Falcons made Matt Bosher the only punter drafted, in the sixth round.

“He’s worked his way into a position where a team is not going to bring him in to push somebody,” Kevin Butler said. “Drew has proven that he can kick it long and strong.”

Drew Butler, since punting in the Senior Bowl and at the scouting combine, has had six private workouts.

“They don’t waste the money on visits with kickers, but they do come and to see you,” the elder Butler noted.

Drew has worked out for the Jets, Panthers, Rams, Jaguars, Browns and the Texans.

“It’s a very specific job, and they are in high demand every year,” Butler said. “I have to be able to show that I can help a team or maybe upgrade them.”

Butler, a Peachtree Ridge High grad, has leaned heavily on his father for help throughout his career.

“My dad has been my best friend and my coach,” Butler said. “He’s definitely helped me out in college from a mental standpoint and a technical standpoint. He’s been a huge help. He’s already walked in these shoes and to be able kind of pick his brain and see how these things work and these coaches think, and how the business of the NFL goes, has been very helpful.”

The Butlers could become only the second father-son kicking specialists to reach the NFL, joining English place-kickers Bobby (1968-74, Denver, New York Jets) and Ian Howfield (1991, Houston).

In addition to Butler, one of the top kickers in the draft is Blair Walsh, another ex-Bulldog. Walsh struggled last season, making only 21 of 35 field-goal attempts, but his three previous seasons were highly productive. A strong showing at the combine helped his draft status.

Because Drew Butler and Walsh are buddies, the elder Butler has helped mentor Walsh through the process, too.

For the Butlers, it was tough watching Walsh struggle.

“Certainly, all of the Georgia fans, we kind of cried and hurt with him as the year went on,” Kevin Butler said. “He got into a little bit of a jam out there on the field. He never really let it bother him to a point where he became distracted and didn’t keep concentrating.”

After the season, Walsh worked on the leg motion on his kicks.

“He changed his kicking a little bit,” Kevin Butler said. “He worked on it with his coach, and he’s continually working on it. His combine was the best by far of the kickers.”

Walsh believes his woes are over. “We’ve been doing intense training to make sure that I’m in the best shape of my life, and we’re making sure that my technique is fundamentally correct,” Walsh said. “I have to maintain my power and speed.”