Watch Oklahoma Sooners kicker Zach Schmit meet the press after practice on Monday, Aug. 21, 2023.
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00:00 The offense needs me for that next kick, so I've just got to be ready.
00:03 So it's really just a mental game of me telling myself,
00:06 just forget about the last one.
00:07 Every kick is independent from another.
00:10 It does not matter.
00:11 For offense, first and second down, they're kind of dependent on one another.
00:14 For me, that last kick and that next kick aren't dependent on one another.
00:17 Very interesting.
00:18 >> Is that going back to the low,
00:20 did you notice anything in particular that you did on those kicks?
00:24 Was it mechanic, was there running from my tap?
00:26 >> So no, in the West Virginia games, that was just some tough weather that I was,
00:31 the 54 yarder was short, it was still a really good hit.
00:34 I just didn't drive it enough through the winds.
00:37 And then same thing with the 46 off the upright.
00:40 I just didn't play the wind correctly enough, and
00:43 I pushed a little bit too much right than I was expecting it to.
00:46 And so on those, it's just, it's unfortunate.
00:49 But for me, it's like I didn't just shank them.
00:51 I didn't miss them by a lot.
00:52 They were both really close kicks.
00:53 And obviously, you want them to go in.
00:55 Now I'm never gonna justify a miss, but at the end of the day,
00:59 it's something I can learn from and say, okay, hey, I missed them.
01:02 But now I can learn from it.
01:04 I can see, okay, hey, maybe next time, just a little bit more left for the wind.
01:07 Or maybe I can get my foot wrapped around a little bit more to drive it through
01:10 the wind, through that wind.
01:12 >> New defenseman for a new holder, how do you adjust to each new player?
01:16 >> That's what the summer's for.
01:18 And thankfully, I was able to get a lot of good work with both Ben Anderson and
01:20 Josh Plaster this past summer.
01:23 And we were able to get a great cohesion and
01:26 great chemistry together through the summer.
01:27 And then once fall camp hit, it just kind of all clicked.
01:30 And I trust those guys just as much as I trust Casey and Turk.
01:33 So those two guys, I mean, as a kicker, you're controlling maybe 10% of what you
01:39 can, holder, snapper, in the balls of the air for 85% of what we do.
01:44 So I trust those guys pretty much my life.
01:46 And I say, you know what, I'm gonna control what I can control.
01:49 And I trust them to get their jobs done.
01:51 And this fall camp, they've done exactly that.
01:53 >> What about kickoffs?
01:54 Kickoffs are up for you.
01:55 Have you changed anything up with that?
01:57 >> No, kickoffs have always been my bread and butter, I feel like.
02:00 Always through high school and even through this past year.
02:03 I haven't really changed much.
02:07 I do think Schmidty, Coach Schmidty has got me a lot stronger in the weight room.
02:10 So I've actually been bombing kickoffs even more,
02:12 I felt like, through fall camp.
02:14 >> From an outside perspective,
02:16 it seems like kicking can be kind of an isolated position.
02:19 But when you are going through those lows last season,
02:21 just who are some players in your area that were telling you exactly what you
02:23 needed to hear to help you get through that?
02:25 >> So one of the biggest contributors to that was Casey Kelleher.
02:27 Last year, he was a sixth year guy.
02:29 And I had grown up with him through my freshman year, my sophomore year,
02:32 when I didn't play and I was behind Gabe.
02:34 And then as well as last year for my first year, he was there as my snapper.
02:38 So he was really there, he was close to me, we were really close.
02:41 And he was always just telling me, you know what, you just gotta move on,
02:45 respond, the team's gonna need you.
02:46 And he had been through his highs and he'd been through his lows, and
02:50 he'd seen Gabe through Gabe's highs and his lows.
02:53 So he knew all the details to tell me just to get my mind right for
02:57 the next kick and make sure that I'm not beating myself up too much on those lows.
03:00 And also not getting too high on the highs,
03:02 cuz he also knows that that can also kill you if you get too high on the cloud nine.
03:06 >> Do you guys still keep in touch, try to get him out?
03:07 >> We do, yeah.
03:08 I actually was at an old punter's wedding this past summer,
03:13 I got to see him there.
03:14 I know he's getting married, so hopefully I get that invite.
03:17 But we'll see if I'll be able to go, but yeah, we definitely keep in touch.
03:20 I'm always making sure that he's doing well, asking how he's doing.
03:23 So it's always good to keep in contact with him, cuz him and I are really close.
03:27 >> Sure, a couple of successful trick plays last year,
03:29 how more equipped do you feel to do that maybe this time around,
03:32 if you're asked to do it, kinda thing?
03:34 >> I don't know what we'll do.
03:36 I'll be shocked if teams let us run those anymore.
03:39 I don't think I can get too much into that, but
03:42 Coach Nunez does a great job with all of that, with all of his schemes.
03:46 And I felt like we did a great job of executing those this past year.
03:50 So maybe we'll get to run some this year, but I mean, it was his first year last
03:55 year, maybe some of the coordinators will make sure he doesn't get any tricks on
03:59 him this year, but we'll see.
04:01 >> You mentioned your legs feeling pretty strong after a season.
04:06 Has that kind of changed in that brief time?
04:08 Do you have more strength?
04:10 >> Yeah, I would say a little bit.
04:11 The thing with a lot of kickers, and you'll see this around Division I and
04:16 college, and even Division II, and pretty much any collegiate kicker,
04:20 a lot of guys' ranges are like 65 plus, and they can be 65 and in,
04:25 and occasional 70 and in.
04:28 I mean, if you put me out here on sticks,
04:30 on a regular field I can probably hit from 70.
04:32 But in a live operation, I feel really comfortable with hitting 60 in,
04:35 65 in, if they ever needed a desperation kick at the end of a half or
04:39 end of the game.
04:40 But yeah, I would say my range is probably the same.
04:42 It's just more of that ball flight and that ball height, and
04:46 how much power I can get on that ball.
04:47 So it takes less time to get from my foot to the goal post.
04:52 So the wind and all the raining conditions, those don't affect it as much.
04:57 That's where the leg power, I feel, comes in the most.
04:59 [BLANK_AUDIO]
05:02 >> Appreciate it, man.
05:03 >> Perfect, thank you, guys.