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K Ryan Pretorius (official thread)

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Low Trajectory

The block?s suffered :smash:by the kicking game are not all of Ryan?s fault; however, IF you watch some of his kicks he has a tendency to drive the ball creating a low trajectory. This makes it difficult for interior O-lineman because our competition knows this as well and they are overloading which only adds to the problem. In one game last year, a defensive lineman was standing hands raised just on our side of the ball and blocked a kick of the 20-30yard variety. He has to get more lift on all of his kicks and especially on shorter kicks. The occasional fake may make teams play more honest and not overload.
:evil:
 
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Times Leader
OSU's Pretorius has a lot to kick about

By BETTY POKAS, Eye on the Bucks POSTED: August 10, 2008

"OSU's Pretorius has a lot to kick about"

With more than 105,000 pairs of eyes watching him week after week during the regular football season, Ryan Pretorius has proved he certainly knows how to block.
And, his blocking is not physical but mental.
The Ohio State place-kicker isn't on the field for every play, but he definitely draws attention as he tries for extra points.
"When you're out there, you just block everything else out," said Pretorius, who went on to emphasize the importance of concentrating on the job at hand.
Pretorius, who has a 50-yard range and a reputation for accuracy, didn't arrive on the OSU campus, just out of high school. He was offered a spot as a preferred walk-on and enrolled at Ohio State in the fall of 2004.
While attending high school in South Africa, Pretorius earned honors in soccer and rugby. He was in France when he decided to visit the United States and explore the possibility of playing collegiate-level football.
Gary Anderson, a former NFL player who is a friend of the Pretorius family, suggested he make a video of himself and send it to various universities.
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Blade
Article published Monday, August 25, 2008
urlget
Pretorius has toe pointed to Big Ten title for OSU

The family dog probably wasn?t safe at the Pretorius house in Durban, South Africa. After all, the kid, Ryan, would kick anything. A soccer ball was the early favorite. Then he followed his dad, a rugby coach, around and by the age of 3 he could kick that goofy thing from flat off the ground over the posts.

He would play something, something that provided him with a ball to kick, that was a certainty from Day One.

At age 14, a new ball entered his consciousness. His mom dropped Ryan and a friend off at the movie theater and the featured presentation was Rudy. Ryan Pretorius, meet American college football, courtesy of Hollywood.

?It was so inspirational,? Pretorius said last week after Ohio State University?s annual kick scrimmage. ?I didn?t know much about American football but I wanted to know more. My dad got me a rule book on football, on kicking through the uprights. I was fascinated by it.?

But Pretorius was a boy for all seasons and American football was half a world away. There was tennis and track and field, both of which he excelled at. He skied for fun. He was a pretty good soccer player. And, as all this played out, he became especially proficient at rugby, a vicious tackling sport, the historic forerunner of our brand, but one that comes without blocking and without much in the way of pads and protection. Pretorius was good enough to play rugby professionally in Europe, despite standing just 5-foot-9 and weighing less than 170 pounds. He started in England and later played for teams in Spain and France. He traveled the world.

All the while, though, something was nagging at him ? American college football. Was it a ridiculous notion to imagine he could be another Rudy?

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Dispatch

Pretorius kick-starts year with 4 FGs

Sunday, August 31, 2008 3:20 AM
By Ken Gordon, Tim May and Bob Baptist


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


After kicking a career-high four field goals yesterday, Ohio State's Ryan Pretorius came into the interview room with a bare right foot and a bandaged big toe.
No, he was not sore from overuse.
"I just cut my foot in the shower," he said. "As I stepped from the carpet onto the tiles, it was really wet, and I slipped and I hit the drain with the front of my foot, and it just took a little skin off."
Pretorius said he figured he'd be fine for the next game.
Only three Ohio State kickers have made more field goals in a game -- Josh Huston (2005), Mike Nugent (2004) and Bob Atha (1981) each had five.

Continued.......
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Guess I forgot to give Ryan a shout-out after the YSU game, but he definately deserves some props. Looks like he's worked pretty hard in the off-season. Great start to the year...a perfect 4-4!

Special teams is looking much more special so far this season!
 
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Dispatch

He's alive and kicking
Ryan Pretorius is 29, has been there and done that, yet he still relishes his role as Ohio State's place-kicker
Saturday, September 20, 2008 3:01 AM
By Ken Gordon


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

http://www.dispatch.com/gameday
OSUPUR_RS_-_10_31_2007_-.1_09-20-08_T16_MEBBQ6B.jpg
RENEE SAUER | DISPATCH
Ryan Pretorius, being congratulated by teammates after kicking a field goal against Purdue last season, has taken a longer journey than most to be a place-kicker for Ohio State.




He didn't know there were such things as kicking tees, so Ryan Pretorius would bend down on the Denver high school field he had sneaked into and scoop out a divot in which to place the football.
Sometimes the wind would blow the ball over. After each kick, he had to retrieve it himself. He figured he got in about 10 kicks an hour this way.
Everything was new to the South African expatriate -- the nation, the sport, the poverty. He was crashing on a buddy's floor, living hand-to-mouth, tarring roofs and cleaning construction sites.
"I was basically scum of the earth, just trying to survive," Pretorius said.
But this is the life he had chosen. He had turned his back on wealth and privilege back home to chase his dream of someday putting a football between the uprights for an NFL team.

Continued........
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I don't know that we attempted any in the Meatchicken game last year. But not for a while in a game where we scored more than 21 points in a game. scUM 14 and Illinois 21, I don't know if there were missed field goals on those games though.
 
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Dispatch
OSU notebook: Rivalry opened kicker's eyes
Pretorius thought rugby was big before arriving at OSU
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 3:05 AM
By Tim May


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH



Before coming to the United States, Ohio State senior kicker Ryan Pretorius thought he had a pretty good idea what a major sports rivalry was. "South Africa playing New Zealand in rugby," said Pretorius, who grew up in South Africa. "That was probably the biggest rivalry I knew of."
Now he's getting ready to kick for the final time in Ohio Stadium, in the 105th Ohio State-Michigan game Saturday. He said the past five years have opened his eyes to what a rivalry really is.
"The biggest thing I could compare it to is like the World Cup final in rugby," Pretorius said. "And that hasn't been around for nearly as long as this rivalry. That in itself speaks volumes."
He admits he was a little naive about the scope of college football in this country when he arrived six years ago.
"When I came to college, I thought college football isn't going to be as big as the NFL, and I don't know any NFL stadium as large as ours or Michigan's," Pretorius said. "There's nothing bigger than college football in my books."
The Ohio State-Michigan game is one of its premier rivalries, which, one would suppose, adds pressure for a kicker. But Pretorius said that pressure is there every week as a Buckeye.
"When you decide to come to Ohio State, you know you have to win virtually every game at all costs," said Pretorius, who is 14 of 18 on field goal attempts this season, and teammate Aaron Pettrey is 5 of 5. "It's just another kick. I understand the importance of it. Every point counts, especially on the road, especially in this game, as coach (Jim) Tressel always stresses.
"There's not going to be any extra pressure. I'm just going to be relaxed out there and do what I've done for the last four or five years."
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