Deacs' Newman has ideas kicking around in his head

What goes on in the head of Jimmy Newman this season will play a big role in what happens on the field for Wake Forest.

Sam Swank, in his four years spent rewriting the Wake Forest record book for kickers, taught everyone just how valuable a kicker could be. But what set Swank apart was not so much his booming right foot as his healthy and loose, que sera, sera attitude that allowed him to face pressure without folding.

Newman, a sophomore who will begin his second season as regular kicker when the Deacons start practice tonight, proved last season that he has the physical ability by converting 11 of 17 field-goal opportunities -- including 11 of 14 from inside 50 yards. But he was young and green, and from time to time it showed.

"Sometimes last year I could feel I was just nervous," Newman said. "Someone was asking me the other day ‘What is the hardest kick?'

"I didn't tell them the distance. I told them ‘The hardest kick is the one right after you've missed.'"

So after reaffirming his talent by winning the head-to-head competition among college kickers at Chris Sailer's highly-regarded kicking camp in June, Newman turned to another tutor to help him with the mental approach of his craft. His father, Bill, who played soccer at Furman, set up a three-day session on the shores of Lake Lanier in Georgia with Morten Andersen.

That's the same Morten Andersen who kicked more field goals (565) than anyone in NFL history.

Newman had spent one day working with Andersen previously. This summer, on July 1-3, he spent three days.

And they were three days he plans to remember.

"It's just crazy how much he had made it into a science," Newman said. "For him it worked."

Mornings were spent kicking, afternoons absorbing the wisdom that Andersen accumulated during his 25 seasons with the Saints, Falcons, Chiefs, Vikings and Giants.

"We'd kick every day and he'd bring me back to his house and get me to lie down and walk me through how I needed to visualize before games -- just to try to get that confidence," Newman said. "He was talking a lot about muscle memory. And that's the most I've learned."‘

The main truth that Newman learned is that muscle memory can lie -- or at least send off false signals under duress.

"I think the mental part is what's going to help me." Newman said. "Hopefully I'm going to have that translate into the season.

"But everything we did had a reason. There wouldn't be one kick where he didn't put a scenario on it -- like Duke 10, Wake Forest 9, third quarter. He said ‘You don't realize it, but your subconscious mind can't differ between what's real and what's not.' He said it would help me.

"And there was a lot of other stuff just to help with muscle memory."

Newman spent last August and early September not knowing whether he would play his first season or not. Coach Jim Grobe said he wanted to redshirt Newman to preserve the season of eligibility, but after sophomore Shane Popham missed a 33-yard attempt in the second game against Stanford, Newman was activated for the third game against Elon.

This year he has spent the offseason knowing what's expected of him as a kicker. The only uncertainly is whether he will also handle punts and kickoffs. He enters fall camp listed as first-team punter, but Popham and Alex Wulfeck will challenge for the role.

And if the season turns out as well as the offseason, then Grobe might have another kicker to remember.

"I think I'm going to try to (work with Andersen) every summer because I can't even describe how much it helped having a one-on-one with someone like that," Newman said. "If you're stressed out and feel a lot of pressure your muscles will tense up, and a lot of times you'll lose your muscle memory. A lot of people don't think about it, but it really has a huge effect even physically if you let yourself get rattled.

"So I'm going to try to take that proactive approach to do the mental exercises just as much outside of practice as I do kicking in practice."

dcollins@wsjournal.com


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