Texas Tech football may have a placekicking problem heading into 2024

Few things car derail a season in a more maddening way than college football kickers. Over the years, thousands of broken remotes smashed to pieces after watching wayward footballs kicked inexplicably wide from short range attest to the fact that fans have little patience for kickers. Unfortunately, for Texas Tech football fans, there are serious questions about the program's placekicking game halfway through fall camp.

Monday, Texas Tech special teams coordinator and running backs coach, Kenny Perry met with the media and he didn't have the most positive update on the placekicking battle taking place in Lubbock.

"Can any of you guys kick?" he sarcastically asked the assembled media members when asked about the kicking competition.

"We've had good days and bad days," he continued. "There's definitely a competition. One day Gino [Garcia] does good and one day Reese [Burkhardt] does good. You know, I wish someone would take it to be honest with you."

It is a bit surprising that the door has even been opened for an off-season kicking competition. That's because, last year, Garcia was excellent after the second week of the season.

While he did miss four of his first seven FG tries a year ago, he rebounded to make 13 of his final 15 FGs over the remainder of the season. That's an 86.6% success rate after week two. What's more, he was perfect on 40 extra-point tries.

Meanwhile, Burkhardt was only Tech's primary kickoff specialist. On the year, 40 of his 64 kickoffs went for touchbacks but he didn't attempt a FG.

However, there hasn't been enough separation between the two kickers this offseason for Perry to anoint one as the man. That seems to be a bit concerning for him.

"We've got a good football team," he said. "We just got to get to the point where we can't start like we did last year. But you know what, we're going to be fine. We're working it.

"You know, those guys, it's not that they're not trying. It's just, we got to start hitting kicks, you know. That's what it all boils down to. You're a college football player, you got to make kicks, you know. If not, somebody else is going to do it.

Last season, Garcia's early woes could have cost Tech two wins. He was only 2-5 in a 35-33 double OT loss to Wyoming and he was 1-2 in a 38-30 loss to Oregon that was just a one-point game in the final minutes.

This year, Tech wants to avoid a similar script. However, Perry doesn't know who he's going to go with at this point. What' more, he indicated that he is a bit surprised that he has to hold a placekicking competition this fall given how Garcia ended 2023.

"A little bit," Perry said when he was asked if he was surprised about the turn his kicking situation has taken. "I think Reese got serious in the spring. You know, when he first got here, he was just, he thought he was going to be the kickoff guy, and then last spring...Reese had a better spring and that's just kinda the way it's gone. But I don't have any doubt that one of them is going to step up."

Figuring out the kicking game before August 31 is a must. While two of the first three games should be blowouts being as they are home games against FCS opponent Abilene Christian and Group of 5 member North Texas, being able to rely on the kicking game early is critical, especially in week two when the Red Raiders travel to Washington State.

The kicking game can be the undoing of a good football team. Fortunately, in most of Tech's recent seasons, the results from the placekickers have been solid thanks to players like Garcia, Jonathan Garibay, Trey Wolff, and Clayton Hatfield.

Now, though, it seems like that critical position group is struggling to find consistency in fall camp. Hopefully, Perry will get his wish and either Garcia or Burkhardt will seize this opportunity because no one wants to go through a season where the kicking game is a liability. Plus, Texas Tech fans have only so many remote controls to smash.