Ohio State football: Mike Nugent reflects on hall of fame career
How does one become a hall of fame kicker?
Well, obviously making a lot of kicks is essential, but that was only part of the formula for Mike Nugent.
“Luckily I played for a coach who was very satisfied with kicking field goals,” the Centerville native said this week while discussing being selected for the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame.
Nugent made 25 of 28 field goals during Ohio State’s 2002 national championship season and ended up 72 for 88 in his career, including 8 of 9 from 50 yards or more. He was a two-time All-American and won the Lou Groza Award in 2004 as the nation’s top kicker.
He is Ohio State’s all-time leader in field goal accuracy (81.8) and all-time leading scorer with 356 points.
Those are hall of fame numbers, of course, but more than that the complete story of Ohio State football in the first decade of the 21st Century can’t be told without a mention of those days when calls of “Nuuuuuuge!” would reverberate throughout Ohio Stadium on fourth downs.
That coach he referenced was Jim Tressel, whose legendary conservatism was no doubt burnished by having a kicker as reliable as Nugent early in his 10 years on the sidelines in Columbus.
Nugent wasn’t the only standout kicker Tressel coached at Ohio State, but he was the first.
“You know what I can’t really speak for too many of the other guys, but for me we had a very good personal relationship,” Nugent recalled. “Especially on the field, we would always have good talks before the game. After warmups I would have a little meeting with him like, ‘Hey, how do you feel each direction? How is the wind looking to you?’ So we would break things down.
“I can’t speak for him, but I feel like he had a good amount of confidence in me, like once we get to this yard line we’re good to go. Hopefully my practice and games gave him that kind of confidence in me.”
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