Kicker Brad Craddock prepares to kick a field goal during the Terps’ game against Bowling Green on Sept. 12, 2015 at Byrd Stadium.
Brad Craddock found himself in an unusual position halfway through the third quarter Saturday as he stood 5 yards behind the midfield stripe.
The Terrapins football team kicker was preparing to punt for just the second time in his career despite rarely working on it in practice. In warm-ups, Craddock didn’t even attempt a punt.
But seconds later, Craddock exchanged high fives with his teammates after pinning Bowling Green at the one-yard line with a 39-yard pooch punt. It marked yet another weapon in Craddock’s arsenal, which includes kickoffs, extra points and field goals, and forced the Falcons to start the drive deep in their own territory.
“We knew that he could always do that,” coach Randy Edsall said. “As we watched [punter Nicolas Pritchard], we just felt, ‘Brad’s better at that, so Brad’s going to do that for us.’”
While Craddock wasn’t accustomed to the punting formation, the kicking motion came naturally to the former Australian rules football player. The senior has been practicing that end-over-end punt, which is part of the Australian game, since he was 4.
“It’s what I grew up doing,” Craddock said Tuesday. “I guess that’s why I got put in.”
Craddock has constantly worked on his kicking motion since arriving on the campus three years ago, but he’s largely refrained from punting during practice. It wasn’t until two weeks ago that Craddock began pooch punting, albeit sporadically.
And while Bowling Green responded with a 99-yard touchdown drive, Edsall said Craddock did his job of putting the Terps defense in a position to succeed.
The pooch punt capped off a bounce-back performance from Craddock, who made both field goals and went 3-for-3 on extra points. In the season opener against Richmond a week earlier, Craddock shanked an extra point and a 28-yard field goal.
Last season, Craddock missed one field goal and was perfect on extra points en route to winning the Lou Groza Award, an honor given to the country’s best kicker.
So in response to Craddock’s unfamiliar outing against Richmond, Edsall said it reminded everyone the kicker was human.
“I got a little bit too excited and keen to be out there and put a lot of pressure on myself to perform,” Craddock said Tuesday. “I just need to sit back and relax and trust what I do.”
Since arriving in College Park, Craddock has a history of showing substantial improvement in various areas of special teams.
He struggled with his consistency over his first two seasons but developed into the nation’s premier placekicker a year ago, connecting on 18 of 19 field goal attempts. Plus, he smashed a school record 57-yard field goal through the uprights Oct. 4 against Ohio State. This summer, Craddock worked to redefine his kick-off technique. So far, he has 11 touchbacks on 16 attempts after he had 29 on 75 tries in 2014.
While kickers often go unnoticed, Craddock’s work ethic has drawn praise from Edsall. And Saturday, Craddock debuted his newest skill to the Terps’ faithful.
“That was well-executed.” Edsall said Sunday. “That’s just one example of executing the proper way.”
