Jordan Stout knelt simply past the 50-yard line with nothing in entrance of him however a protracted snapper, open grass and a set of uprights. No lineman twice his measurement bearing down on him, no wind, no followers watching.
Along with his thumb and index finger practically pinched collectively, Stout made a small indent within the floor. The mark was minuscule, however the particulars of holding, the rookie has discovered, must be good: Catch the ball. Spin it, laces aimed outward. Put the purpose of the ball precisely on the pinch-sized mark and maintain it together with your proper index finger.
Over the previous decade in Baltimore, giving the NFL’s greatest kicker the very best ball to kick was by no means as straightforward because the Ravens made it look. It took hours in follow of doing the identical factor over and over and over. Earlier than Tucker might be correct, holder Sam Koch and lengthy snapper Morgan Cox, and later Nick Moore, needed to be exact.
In order Stout practiced at obligatory minicamp, the fourth-round decide from Penn State wore a GoPro on his helmet. The digital camera would present precisely what he noticed, revealing the minute margin of error between a make and a miss.
“Hey, man, they’re all about millimeters and inches and all that stuff,” coach John Harbaugh mentioned. “You need the whole lot to be good.”
Stout caught Moore’s snap on the 50 and positioned the ball on his mark. Tucker began his windup, taking one step earlier than planting his left foot and swinging his highly effective proper leg. Tucker at all times has to finish on a make.
The kick missed proper. They’d must hold going.
A brand new function
Each kicker needs the ball held in their very own means. These small variations matter. And for the primary 10 years of his profession, Tucker knew to belief his holder. Probably the most correct kicker in NFL historical past nearly at all times had Koch, whom former Ravens particular groups coordinator Jerry Rosburg thought of the sport’s best holder.
That modified when Koch retired this offseason after 16 years. Stout, although, didn’t know he’d been drafted as Koch’s alternative. Stout had gotten a way the Ravens had been going to choose him within the fourth spherical. However he additionally knew Koch was nonetheless on the roster.
“I had no concept Sam was going to retire,” Stout mentioned. “They instructed me in all probability 5 - 6 days earlier than he retired that it was going to occur.”
On the day of the draft, basic supervisor Eric DeCosta and Harbaugh known as Koch to inform him they had been contemplating taking a punter. That’s when he knew his time because the longest-tenured participant in Ravens historical past is likely to be coming to an finish.
“Me and my spouse had had many talks, however I admire them giving me that decision,” Koch mentioned. “I keep in mind saying to them, I used to be like, ‘Look, this can be a enterprise resolution, and that is your corporation. You guys must do what you assume is greatest for the Ravens.’”
“Sam couldn’t have been higher about it,” Tucker mentioned. “He understood. He’s content material.”
Tucker and Stout shortly started working collectively, trying to copy what Tucker and Koch had constructed over their decade-long partnership. The Ravens enlisted Koch’s assist, too, hiring him as a particular groups marketing consultant.
“We’ve already labored on some punting and holding elements of his recreation,” Koch mentioned on the information convention Might 20 saying his retirement. “So, I’m simply going to attempt to train him the whole lot I've and put the whole lot I've into making him the perfect punter this league has seen.”
That veteran expertise is invaluable for the rookie.
“He was within the league for 16 years; I’ve barely been alive that lengthy,” Stout, 23, mentioned of Koch. “Every day I believe I've all of it found out, after which he comes out with one or two new issues I had no concept that I ought to even take into consideration. Over the previous month and a half, my consistency has gone by means of the roof.”
Regardless that Stout didn’t maintain in a recreation till he was in school, he at all times practiced. His coaches instructed him from a younger age in Virginia to make himself priceless by figuring out easy methods to punt, deal with discipline targets and kickoffs and maintain. Stout served as a holder for just one season at Penn State, in 2020, earlier than giving up the job final season to tackle extra kicking roles. Now a holder once more, Stout mentioned he looks like he’s selecting up the place he left off.
‘Get behind the eyes’
Every kicker is totally different, and Tucker is a nerd for the small print. It begins with the snap.
Tucker mentioned that in his 9 years with Cox, and now his second with Moore, he’s loved constant snaps, making it straightforward for the holder to spin the laces towards the purpose publish. If the kick must go left, the laces will face barely left, and the other for a kick heading proper.
“The ball can primarily kick itself at that time,” Tucker mentioned. “I’ve joked earlier than: I’m a system kicker. In a way, it's true. When the totally different sides of the system all work precisely how they’re imagined to, it does make my job a lot simpler.”
But there’s stress in holding the ball for somebody as achieved as Tucker, a five-time All-Professional. If Stout makes only one mistake, Tucker may do the whole lot proper and nonetheless miss his kick.
“That’s what I considered it first: ‘That is going to be irritating. Holding Justin Tucker, I should be good,’” Stout mentioned. “However then you definitely have a look at it as a possibility. I’m about to carry for Justin Tucker. I’m going to be nice, after which that’s going to make Justin higher, after which I’m going to go down in historical past as the perfect holder. So it’s fairly cool.”
A part of the problem of holding, Stout mentioned, is spinning the laces. That’s the place the GoPros are available.
The cameras weren’t initially for finding out movie. A couple of years in the past, Tucker mentioned he wore one on his helmet as a result of he thought it seemed cool. He’d get to see himself kicking the ball simply as he did in follow, and that was entertaining. However he shortly realized what an vital instructing device it might be.
“We decided that each every now and then, we have to put the GoPro on to get behind the eyes, get the perspective from the kicker and punter or the holder and even the snapper,” Tucker mentioned. “Typically we’ll put the GoPro on the snapper’s head, and it’s all a bunch of upside-down video, which might simply actually simply greater than something simply make you dizzy. Nevertheless it began off as, like, leisure worth, after which we determined that, ‘Hey, we will we will actually see what Jordan is seeing.’”
The Ravens file each kick and punt they take, however the video is often taken from a distance, captured by cameras on poles excessive above the follow fields at their Owings Mills facility. If Tucker and Koch ever disagreed in regards to the spot of the ball, they’d don't have any means of figuring out who was proper.
With Stout’s GoPro, now the Ravens do.
“One would assume with Sam, it was this factor that simply clicked after which it was ingrained in us, and in a way that’s true, nevertheless it’s one thing that we needed to work at each single day,” Tucker mentioned. “Jordan is basically making an attempt to make amends for 16 years’ price of arduous work and continuity and the consolation of being out on the sphere and holding the ball.”
Finish with a make
Stout and Tucker lined up once more. Stout knelt on the 50, needing that one closing kick from Tucker to sail between the purpose posts.
As he had earlier than, Stout marked the spot and held his arm within the air whereas Tucker lined up. Three steps again, two to the left and a fast stab of his proper foot into the turf. Stout seemed up at Tucker to catch his gaze, ready to see within the kicker’s eyes that he was prepared.
This was the seventh try from 60 yards throughout the closing minicamp follow, and Tucker was annoyed. He anticipated to make these kicks. His 66-yarder to defeat the Detroit Lions final season was an NFL file.
On this scorching Might day, Tucker had made two of his first 4 makes an attempt, however had simply missed two in a row. So he lined up yet one more time.
Stout caught the snap and spun the laces ahead. Tucker took a step ahead earlier than planting his left foot and driving the ball.
The kick had loads of distance, and this time it was good. Tucker appeared relieved. He and Stout had been in sync on that one. Their GoPro footage wouldn’t inform them any in another way.
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