Going From Famine to Feast : Merten Almost Lost His Job Before Becoming an All-American

It’s a feast-or-famine existence. One week a kicker is carried off the field on teammates’ shoulders, the next he’s riding out of town on a rail.

He has one job, and he gets 1.35 seconds, give or take an eye blink, to do it. If he fails, an entire team often fails with him. If he succeeds, he gets to do it again--until he fails too many times. He’s always one swing of the leg from oblivion.

Bjorn Merten became UCLA’s kicker because of three successful efforts in the last week of practice before the season’s first game. He kept the job with three field goals at Stanford, became an All-American only after he convinced himself he would not lose it the next time he missed, and will play against Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl on Saturday because his two field goals provided enough points for the Bruins to beat USC, 27-21.

Make it famine to feast.

Merten made 20 of 25 field-goal attempts, the highest percentage among the nation’s kickers, and was second overall with 1.82 field goals per game.

But he almost lost his job.

“After the Nebraska game, I was on thin ice,” he said. “I missed two field goals in that game, but I came back and had a good Stanford game, and for the first time, I got my confidence up and said, ‘It’s my job.’ So I relaxed.”

He had recruited UCLA, rather than vice versa, because his family was moving to San Diego from Virginia after the retirement of his father from the Navy.

Tapes he sent had impressed Bruin assistant coach A.J. Christoff enough for him to recommend Merten for a scholarship, and he had come to UCLA in 1992 because he could put kickoffs into the end zone.

But Merten suffered a thigh injury and kicked off only once, to the 14-yard line against Brigham Young. He sat out the rest of that season as a redshirt.

“It was probably the worst kick of my life,” he says. “I was discouraged. I was hurt, and yet I wanted to impress the coaches, because I didn’t want them to think bringing me here was a mistake or a wasted scholarship.”

There was doubt aplenty. UCLA recruited Jason Lesley from Palacios, Tex., beating Notre Dame, Baylor and Oklahoma for his services. He was going to be the barefooted kicker of the future, and Merten seemed the one-kick past.

But Merten decided to consider himself the incumbent, anyway, and in August he and Lesley engaged in a daily kicking duel, with a student manager charting every effort. Still, on the Saturday before the season opener against California, Coach Terry Donahue announced that Lesley would kick placements and Merten would kick off.

Then Donahue thought about it a few more minutes. The pause paid off.

“He said the next three days, Monday through Wednesday, we were going to have a kicking contest,” Merten said. “Whoever makes the most, or whoever misses the least, would get the job. That’s pressure! And I got lucky--by three kicks.”

His luck would wax and wane. Merten kicked field goals of 36 and 30 yards against Cal, and of 39 and 27 against Nebraska. But he missed from 53 and 44 yards against the Cornhuskers in a game UCLA lost, 14-13.

Nobody told him he was in trouble. Nobody had to.

“He missed two field goals, one from a good distance, one down in there close,” said Bob Field, who oversees the kicking game in addition to his duties as defensive coordinator. “You miss two field goals like that and you lose by one point, yes, your job is probably in jeopardy. It’s certainly under a close watchful eye.”

Merten spent Thursday of the next week at Carson High, kicking for Ismael Ordonez, who coaches Carson kickers and has worked with former Bruins Louis Perez, John Lee and Norm Johnson.

“He was struggling,” Ordonez said. “He came down here with a few problems, and I corrected them. He was too close to the ball with his left foot, and he was getting his body in front of the ball instead of behind it. Kicking is timing, and you get more power if you are behind the ball.

“He listened.”

And learned. And kicked field goals of 45, 22 and 20 yards against Stanford, missing only from 39 yards.

He made 13 of 15 the rest of the season.

“A young player like that, you need to encourage them, rather than put doubt in their mind,” Field said. “So, it was never a case of sitting him down and saying, ‘Bjorn, you’ve got one more game to show what you can do, and if you don’t do well, we’re going to make a change.’

“But if he had continued not to produce, if he had (made) one of four instead of three of four at Stanford, I’d say Jason Lesley would have been kicking the next week to see if he could do well.”

And Merten would not have been the fourth freshman to make first-team All-American, joining Tony Dorsett, Herschel Walker and Marshall Faulk. Rare company.

“That was a quick turnaround,” Field said. “In eight weeks, he went from being on thin ice to being a first-team All-American.”

With field-goal success, Merten’s kickoffs got longer. “I wasn’t scared of losing my job anymore, and I just went out to kick the ball,” he said. “Once you get accustomed like that, your kicking goes to a new level. About 5% of kicking is physical attributes, but after that it’s all mental. If you go in there thinking you’re going to miss, chances are you’re going to miss.”

He had a 34-yard field goal against San Diego State, 46- and 36-yarders against Brigham Young and a 24-yarder against Washington before he missed again.

That was at Oregon State, where his 37-yard attempt sailed wide, but he came back to kick two 35-yard field goals in the second half to win the game. Five of his six kickoffs against the Beavers sailed into the end zone for touchbacks. On the sixth, he made the tackle at the Oregon State 35.

That got him a warning from coaches and advice about his job description. UCLA wants him to be like a linebacker on the kickoff, laying back while others go after the ball. Merten wants to blitz, figuring it shows teammates that kickers can be athletes, too.

“Some kickers do fit the stereotype of just being kickers,” he said. “But there are some who were football players, who have played other positions, other sports, who are athletes. Unfortunately, they get stereotyped, too, and I kind of resent that.”

Merten played quarterback in an option offense in high school in Virginia, passing for 735 yards and 10 touchdowns. He also played cornerback until his senior season and punted for an average of 39.4 yards. William & Mary wanted him to play quarterback. The Naval Academy liked the idea, too.

“I feel like if I had to, I could play any position out there on the field--except the line because of my size,” he said. “I think if I practiced for a year and concentrated on a position, I could play it adequately.”

No chance. Still, kicking allows time for fantasy, and he throws passes on the sideline during practice, hoping a coach might notice and consider the possibilities.

“I’m still waiting for the fake field goal, where I throw the ball or run the ball or do something to show I have athletic ability,” he said.

It’s something to think about if the feast ever goes back to famine.