A Bruin by Chance : Freshman Punter Maggio Was All Set to Attend Maryland, but UCLA Scholarship Changed His Mind

It’s not unusual for a freshman to look around the football field on the first day of camp and say to himself: “I can’t believe I’m really here.” But there was a freshman punter on Spaulding Field in a UCLA uniform early this week who had excellent reason to question his surroundings.

He was supposed to be in freshman orientation at the University of Maryland.

At least that was the plan until Bill Rees, the Bruins’ recruiting coordinator, saw him at a punting camp in Ohio a few weeks ago.

“The whole thing is just unbelievable,” Kirk Maggio said. “A week ago I was at the Holiday Inn in Brentwood with my parents and I didn’t know what to do. The University of Maryland coaches even called me there.

“Everything has happened in such a rush.”

These things are usually settled early in the spring, when high school seniors sign letters of intent. But Maggio, who was primarily a quarterback at Calvert Hall College High School in Towson, Md., was not offered a football scholarship last spring.

He talked to coaches from both Boston College and Maryland, but Boston College lost interest after a while, and Maryland simply invited him to walk on and try to make the team as a punter.

“The policy at Maryland is not to give any of the kickers scholarships right away,” Maggio said. “You have to earn it first.

“I was going to go to Maryland on a partial art scholarship (in fine art). But I was looking forward to playing football there--I am from Maryland, you know.”

Maggio went to Ray Pelfrey’s kicking camp in New Jersey to work on his punting skills so he would be able to earn that football scholarship at Maryland.

That’s how UCLA got into the picture. The UCLA coaching staff had advised Pelfrey that they were looking for a punter.

Coach Terry Donahue had saved one scholarship for a punter and nothing but a punter.

After watching Maggio for a few days, Pelfrey called the UCLA coaches and told them he thought Maggio was the punter they were seeking. The coaches went about the business of getting Maggio, a 3.2 student, admitted to the university and made plans to look at him at another of Pelfrey’s camps in August.

Donahue’s need for a punter has long been at the top of his list of concerns. Kevin Buenafe, an all-conference punter for UCLA last season, has used up his eligibility, leaving a big hole to fill. Senior Ted Henderson and second-year freshman Harold Barkate competed for the position last spring, but neither has ever played in a game for UCLA, and Donahue came out of spring drills still in the market for a punter.

He now lists the punting position as “so unsettled” but he did mention Maggio first when asked which freshmen might break into the lineup this season.

Rees, asked what had impressed him about Maggio at the camp in Ohio, said: “He’s an outstanding athlete, and he’s very smooth in punting the ball. He was very consistent and he looked as if he would have a real legitimate chance to win the job.

“But it is a one-day deal. It’s hard to make an evaluation based on one day, so we had to make a decision based on what Ray Pelfrey said and what some of the other coaches at the camp said. It seemed like a good gamble.”

When Maggio got back home to Maryland, he received a call inviting him to come and see the campus. If he had made an official recruiting visit, paid for by UCLA, he would have had to fly back to Maryland before coming to California for fall camp. So he and his parents came on their own.

He was offered the scholarship last Tuesday, and he was in uniform with the freshmen on Wednesday.

Maggio punted in only three games last season before his high school coach decided that he should concentrate on being a quarterback. In those three games, his punts averaged 42.2 yards. He also kicked extra points all season, making 29 of 30.

With All-American John Lee back for his senior season, Maggio won’t be asked to kick extra points for UCLA. The Bruins need a kickoff man, too, now that Ken Potter is gone, but Maggio is not doing any kicking off, either.

“A factor in punting is keeping your leg straight,” Maggio said. “I kick soccer-style. So the coaches don’t want me to kick at all. They just want me to punt.”