Henery Holds Kicking Job

April 30, 2007 by Steve Hanway

Alex Henery came to Lincoln as a walk-on punter. Now he has emerged as Nebraska’s top field goal kicker. Sure, he could lose his spot in the fall, but considering his only new competition for the job next year will be the strong-legged true freshman Adi Kunalic (who’s said to have had some accuracy issues at times), he’d seem to have a good opportunity to become the starter.

You’d think that Henery would be a dropoff from Jordon Congdon, a player who was the top rated kicking prospect in 2005. But for one reason or another Congdon lost the faith of the coaching staff and attempted only seven field goals all season (making five). The lack of attempts by the Huskers was often a point of contention with fans, who felt that head coach Bill Callahan squandered scoring opportunities by attempting fourth down conversions over field goals.

With his 36 yard kick in the Spring game, Henery showed the kind of range that Congdon had in 2006. Congdon went 3-3 on kicks inside 35 yards but went only 2-4 between 36 and 42 yards. It’s a puzzle why Congdon’s production (or from another perspective “opportunities”) dropped off so much from one year to the next. In 2005, Congdon hit 19-23 field goals and seemed to get better the further away from the uprights he was.

Whatever the reasons, the Huskers seem to enter the 2007 season no worse at kicker than they were in 2006. Add in the likelihood that Kunalic can elevate the Huskers performance in kickoffs, and things may actual look better. If Kunalic or Henery can expand the Huskers range on field goals, then they might look a lot better. With new starters at quarterback, they may have to.

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