CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Of all the early season questions Penn State has had, Alex Felkins might be giving the Nittany Lions an answer at kicker.
Following Sander Sahaydak missing his first two — and Penn State’s first two — field goals of the year from fairly modest range in the opening week of the season, Felkins has stepped in and given the Nittany Lions a bit more stability at the position. That stability was all the more evident on Saturday as Felkins booted home a season-long 45-yard attempt against Illinois en route to a three-of-four outing during Penn State’s 30-13 win. Felkins’ only missing came in the form of a first half 52-yard attempt that was blocked at the line.
“I just chunked it pretty bad,” Felkins said of the block after the game. “It was just bad ball contact.”
The missed 52-yarder is less of an issue for Penn State than the broad uncertainty of what it can expect out of its field goal unit moving forward into bigger and bigger games. Facing the unavoidable fact Big Ten games will come down to important field goal makes, Penn State trotted out Felkins to see if he could continue some early season success, and he made good on that trust, nailing field goals from 45, 20 and 28 yards in the process.
“It feels great. I’m just doing my job,” Felkins added. “Just like any other game obviously, you don’t necessarily expect four field goal attempts in the first half. When you get put out there you have to do your job.”
Felkins, an Ivy League transfer from Columbia, hasn’t looked particularly fazed in the moment, a good sign for a high pressure situation that is kicking, a job that is inherently a solo gig in a sport full of teamwork. Sure there’s a snapper and a holder, but only one of them is kicking the ball. So when it comes to a White Out at Beaver Stadium that has to be stressful, right?
Well, maybe not. Helps sometimes that there are so many strangers.
“Kicking in the Ivy League is almost harder,” Felkins said. “Because you walk out and you run out of the tunnel and you might know half the people in the stadiums. You get to Penn State and it’s almost like a white mass. At Columbia, I was scared to miss when I went out in the field. But now I see it more as an opportunity to succeed.”
Hey, whatever works. And speaking of working, if Felkins’ leg starts acting up and it’s his turn to miss some kicks (according to coach James Franklin this summer’s competition was neck-and-neck) Felkins wants to make sure his counterpart is ready for that moment too.
“The reality is the same exact thing could happen to me next week,” Felkins said of missing kicks. “So it’s important for [Sahaydak] to be ready to hop right back in there, and I think he’s in that spot.”
For now though, Penn State will happily take some consistency.
