'He came back strong': Inside the mindset of Illini kicker James McCourt
There was a point Saturday at Minnesota where Illinois kicker James McCourt literally looked around and he was all by himself.
Near the end of the first half of the Illini’s 40-17 loss last week, McCourt stood by himself, yards away from his teammates in drizzling rain and gusty wind conditions for what he said felt like several minutes.
“In the Minnesota game, I felt like I was out there forever because apparently something happened to the balls that they switch out for kicking,” McCourt said. "It was like I was out there for 30 minutes just standing there."
The Illini (2-3, 0-2 in Big Ten) were trying to get its first offensive points of the afternoon and McCourt, who had missed on a 43-yard attempt, said he knew Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck had timeouts left and would likely use it. The junior from Parkland, Fla., was correct. Before he missed the 46-yard attempt, Fleck used a pre-snap timeout in an attempt to give the Illini big-leg kicker more to think about. McCourt says he heard the referee whistle as he planted his non-kicking leg.
“I heard the whistles on the first kick and pulled out of it a little early but we practice those situations all the time with Coach Leg (Illinois special teams coach Bob Ligashesky) since the start of training camp,” McCourt said.
Following McCourt nailing what was essentially a re-do kick, Big Ten Network cameras caught Fleck pointing at himself with a “my fault” gesture apologizing to the 11-player field goal block unit.
McCourt said Tuesday he’s fortunate to be able to talk to Ligashesky but also special teams analyst Garrett Schwettman about his mechanics. Shwettman is a former Lou Groza Award semifinalist at Western Kentucky and while not able to be an on-the-field coach with McCourt, can go over his video and assess his mechanics similar to how a swing coach evaluates a pro golfer. Most even highly successful Power 5 Conference programs don’t have a coach with specific kicking expertise so college kickers usually rely on text, phone and video chat communication with their home area private coaches. McCourt is similar in how he said Tuesday he’ll chat with St. Thomas Aquinas High School kicking coach Tim Conrad, who has previous experience privately coaching local kickers.
“I go to (Schwettman) a lot for mental technique stuff and I’ll Coach Conrad at St. Thomas Aquinas if I need a second opinion on things,” McCourt said.
Illinois head coach Lovie Smith, who McCourt says constantly does icing the kicker drills and end-of-game fire drill kicking simulations in practice, said Tuesday he has been incredibly pleased with his specialists in the kicking game. After waiting three years for playing time, McCourt is currently 4 of 6 on field goals including two conversions on kicks 50 yards or longer.
“The first thing I learned coming here is playing in the Big Ten, the wind and conditions are a big deal so you have to have a constant conversation with your coaches throughout the game whether it is about field goals or kickoffs,” McCourt said. “I can tell you that in the Minnesota game last weekend, the wind must have shifted three different times. At one point the optimal distance was 20 yards shorter than it was at the beginning of the game.”
The 57-yard field goal converted in the loss to Eastern Michigan is tied with Penn State’s Jordan Stout and Texas’ Cameron Dicker for the longest among all Football Bowl Subdivision schools this season.
“Our specialists have been the best part of our team and I’ll say that in all aspects,” Smith said. “We even put Ethan Tabel on scholarship as our snapper and in all aspects, it’s just been steady play. We require that when you’re number is called, doing your job and that’s happened.”
Smith said Tuesday the one thing that has impressed him most about McCourt is his maturity to withstand the pressure moments of the kicking game including any distractions from the sidelines.
“No kicker has ever been 100 percent in his career,” Smith said. “Receivers are going to drop some balls. Quarterbacks are going to miss some passes. Linebackers are going to miss a tackle from time to time. You have to come back after those things and (McCourt) came back strong.”