Penn State has a glaring issue on its hands. Sander Sahaydak, who won the starting kicking competition in the preseason, is 2-for-5 on field-goal attempts this season. He missed two attempts, both from at least 40 yards out, against Illinois on Saturday before he was replaced by walk-on Ryan Barker. It’s become clear that a change is needed.
It’s an eerily similar situation to what Sahaydak went through last season. He won the starting job out of camp, missed two field-goal attempts in the season opener against West Virginia and was benched the rest of the year. Sahaydak is now 3-for-9 for his career.
“After those two kicks, maybe the first day or two, you start to lose confidence in yourself and what other people think of you,” Sahaydak said on Sept. 18. “And after that, it’s straight back to work. … It’s got to be the same preparation every week, and when that time comes, you know, maybe it’s not my year this year, you got to do everything you can to be the best backup you can be.”
Sahaydak competed against Barker and Tulsa transfer Chase Meyer in the preseason, and came out on top in both regular field goals and pressure competition field goals made, special teams coordinator Justin Lustig said on Sept. 11. That was ultimately the deciding factor in awarding Sahaydak the job.
There appears to be a decreasing confidence in Sahaydak, who has been statistically more reliable in the practice than the other two. That’s likely the reason the Nittany Lions opted to go for it on fourth and 3 at the Illinois 17-yard line in the third quarter instead of kicking a field goal that would’ve put them up by two scores if it was made.
It’s also worrisome that if Sahaydak is this unreliable, that could say something about the abilities of the team’s other two options, who were outperformed in camp. Either way, a change is inevitable.
“I love Sander Sahaydak. He’s been awesome for us here, and we just won a game and he should be celebrating this win like everybody else,” James Franklin said postgame on Saturday. “But ultimately, we’ll have a competition, and all these things will factor into some decisions that we’re going to have to make moving forward.”
Here’s a look at the options to replace Sahaydak against UCLA on Saturday.
Ryan Barker
The only other placekicker to appear in a game this season, Barker presents himself as the favorite to replace Sahaydak. Barker has nailed both of his extra-point tries, one against Kent State and another against the Fighting Illini.
Since the preseason, Barker — a redshirt freshman, brought on as a walk-on out of Landenberg — has been tied to a similar tier as Sahaydak.
“I think Sander and Barker are probably a little bit further ahead, but Chase’s numbers are good too,” Franklin said. “Those two guys have a little bit stronger legs, but all three of them have been very consistent under tough situations.”
Chase Meyer
An intriguing option, Meyer appeared a logical favorite to win the job after transferring from the Golden Hurricane this offseason. Meyer has more game experience than both Sahaydak and Barker, and was highly efficient in his lone season with Tulsa in 2023, a year in which he made 17-of-20 field-goal attempts with a long from 47 yards out.
There are questions about Meyer’s ability to hit long attempts, but with Sahaydak seemingly unable to convert from at least 40 yards, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to give Meyer a try next weekend. It doesn’t appear Meyer was too far behind Sahaydak or Barker in camp, either.
“The percentage points were very, very close. We’re talking, like, three to five percentage points between the top guy and the bottom guy,” Lustig said. “So that’s a good thing for us because we’ve got depth. We’ve got three guys that can really do it at a high level, in my opinion.”
