Carpenters leg is D1 caliber

John Carpenter isn't your normal football player. He's not a weight-room warrior, he doesn't care about his 40-yard-dash time and he doesn't break down film. He's not overly competitive, and he's doesn't relish big hits. In fact, he'd probably rather be playing soccer than pacing the Allegany sidelines.

So how in the world does John Carpenter, a junior at Allegany High School, have Division 1 schools sending him letters?

He's a kicker, of course. And a good one at that.

Carpenter's coaches all say he could kick at the Division 1 level. He is ranked No. 22 on Ray Guy's Top 50 Junior Class Kicking Prospects for 2009. Last year, he went 42-for-43 on extra points and connected on 80 percent of his field goals (6-for-9). That includes the "infamous" 48-yarder he hit right before halftime against Mount St. Joseph's.

"It was fourth down, and I asked him what his range was," Allegany coach Tom Preaskorn said. "And he was pretty confident he could make it. So we gave him the opportunity. It was a pretty clutch kick under pressure."

Carpenter laughs. Confident? He was scared as hell.

"I was very nervous," he said. "In practice I normally hit around 3-of-4 from that range. So I was praying the kick wouldn't be that 25 percent when I miss. And the game pressure added to [the difficulty]."

What about the kick itself?

"It was a decent hit, and I barely made it. But it was enough, and the three points still count the same," he said, laughing.

Carpenter says his maximum distance is 50 to 51 yards, but that will improve with weight training and practice. He's already been to several kicking combines and plans to attend even more this spring.

Currently, he's working with Allegany soccer coach Ray Kitty on kicking without the two-inch-high holding block. At the high school level, the holder is allowed to place the ball on a block during field goals and extra points. That block helps kickers get leverage, but it's not allowed in college. So if any kicker has aspirations of kicking beyond 12th grade, he has to learn without the block.

"The Division 1 schools would like John to play his senior year without the block, but Preaskorn isn't too high on it," Kitty said. "Preaskorn is concerned about John's chances in college, but he's also concerned with game-winning field goals at Allegany."

Carpenter used the block in his junior year, and no decision has been made for this upcoming season. But just in case, he spends an hour two days a week with Kitty kicking "natural" field goals.

"I've been training without the block since the end of the season," Carpenter said. "I'm almost to the point where I'm almost as good without it as I was with it."

Carpenter has a set routine he repeats each week during the season. To improve his accuracy, he makes the field goal posts as skinny as possible by kicking from outside the hash marks. He even attempts kicks from the sidelines at 10 yards out, which gives him a narrow window to punch the ball through.

For distance – in addition leg work in the weight room – he practices one- and two-step approaches as opposed to the normal three-step approach (two steps back, two to the side, line up the ball at a 90-degree angle).

He kicks about 30 balls on Monday, but decreases the amount each succeeding day so his leg doesn't wear out by Friday night.

"He's very mechanical and he's good with strength," Kitty said. "He's very consistent."

Now, if only he could be that consistent on game day. Carpenter admits that he sometimes lets his emotions get the best of him – the ultimate sin for a kicker.

"When I make it I'm elated. It's jubilation on the sidelines," he said, "But when you miss you're supposed to stay cool ... Sometimes I get down and it screws up my form… it's definitely something I need to work on for college."

So in other words, you're no Matt Stover out there, huh?

"Who?"

You know, former kicker for the Ravens.

"Uh, to be honest, I don't pay attention to that much football. I couldn't tell you another kicker. I've always been a soccer player at heart. And I'm a ski junkie. I love extreme sports."

Alas, all kickers are oddballs in some respect, and Carpenter is no exception. He says he's on the lower end of the social hierarchy and often separates himself from his teammates.

Kitty laughs when asked about Carpenter's demeanor. "He tends to zone out sometimes."

Carpenter hasn't completely adopted the kicker stereotype. He's not scared to lower his shoulder and make a tackle on special teams. Preaskorn has even toyed with the idea of letting him play another position.

But that would probably hurt Carpenter's chances of landing a scholarship. Right now, those chances seem fairly good. Purdue, Connecticut, Maryland, West Virginia and Michigan State have sent letters, and the Spartans even asked him to kick at their spring practice.

"Princeton and Harvard sent me letters, too, but that's more for academics than football," Carpenter said. "I've got relatively high SAT scores for a student athlete."

Well, he is a kicker.