Georgia Kicker Faces Adjustment as He Moves to Professional Game

Georgia kicker Kevin Butler is preparing for a career in the pros, and that means learning a new way to kick a football.

For four years, the Bulldog star--like all college kickers--kicked the ball off a two-inch-high tee. The National Football League does not allow tees on field goals and extra points, and the United States Football League allows only one-inch models.

The difference is “about 10 yards,” says Tom Braatz, general manager of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons. “Your distance isn’t the same off the ground. Those 60-yarders Kevin kicked in college will probably be 50 in the NFL.”

Butler leaves the University of Georgia as the school’s leading kicker and likely the best college kicker in the country this year. But the end of tee time can cause problems for talented kickers.

“It’s the most ridiculous transition from amateurs to pros in sports. You don’t see amateur golfers using tees in the fairway,” said Allan Leavitt, Georgia’s kicker from 1973-76, who washed out in the NFL with Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Green Bay and now works for IBM in Florida.

“There’s no question a lot of dollars were taken out of my pocket. ... If they’d had a tee in the NFL, I’d still be there, and I’d be one of the most accurate there is.”

Flying off a tee, a ball gets more lift and goes higher and farther. And the “sweet spot”--the part of the ball kickers aim for--is more exposed.

Butler has been practicing his pro-style kicking near his family’s suburban home since the Bulldogs’ season ended. Before that, he didn’t want to ruin his college-style technique.

“I didn’t want to lost a game because I was worrying about the pros,” he said.

Braatz, who has seen Butler practice, says his lift “isn’t the same kicking off the ground.” Still, Braatz said, “He’s going to make an NFL team. Period.”

“I’ve heard I might go in the first or second round (of the NFL draft),” Butler said. “but whenever I go, I don’t have any doubts I’ll make it,” Butler said.

Butler was selected by the Jacksonville Bulls in the USFL’s territorial draft.

“My accuracy is fine,” he added. “I need to work on getting the ball off the ground quick, but I’ve got enough time.”

Meanwhile, Georgia has until next fall to find a new kicker. The leading heir to Butler, Rex Robinson and Leavitt is redshirt freshman Steve Crumley from Athens’ Cedar Shoals High School.

“Steve’s leg is just as good as our other kickers’ were,” said kicking coach Bill Hartman. “He’ll kick off 8 or 9 yards deep in the end zone, and he made 68% of his field goals between 30 and 55 yards in practice this year. The only negative on him is that he’s a toe (straight-ahead) kicker.”

Butler, Robinson and Leavitt were all soccer-style sidewinders, who may hook the ball more often, but generally kick farther.