Ready to kick it up a notch

Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, August 15, 2006

SEATTLE – If nothing else, Michael Braunstein is not short on confidence.

Though Braunstein hasn’t attempted a field goal in a game since 2004, the University of Washington junior kicker said he believes he’s one of the best kickers in the nation, and has as good a chance as anyone of winning the Lou Groza Award.

Braunstein says he’s still the same guy former coach Rick Neuheisel thought highly enough about to give him a scholarship coming out of Gilbert High School in Arizona.

“I never changed,” Braunstein said. “I missed a couple kicks here and everyone wrote me off like I was some burnout. I’m not. I’m still one of the premier kickers in the country. I just haven’t been able to get out there. I know I have the leg strength and accuracy to do it. Now the last piece is the confidence I lost after my freshman year. You can’t (lose) confidence as a kicker. My swagger is back, my confidence is back and I’m where I need to be.”

More than anything, Braunstein said, the last couple years have been annoying. It was annoying going through three coaches. It was annoying feeling like if he missed one field goal, he would lose his job. It was annoying hearing the only reason he has the job now is because heralded redshirt freshman Ryan Perkins blew out his knee in the spring – which Braunstein said wasn’t the case. He said the job was his even before Perkins was hurt, and he intends to show that the job should have been his all along.

“This was how it was supposed to be when I got here, me kicking and Sean (Douglas) punting,” said Braunstein, who admits that he did not get along well with the Keith Gilbertson coaching staff. “When things went bad, I was looking at myself like, ‘Am I really any good?’ But I am, and that’s what I had to get back. I had an attitude problem because I wasn’t starting and I had to get over that. Now I’m in the right spot and I’m going to have a breakout season. It’s going to be back to, ‘This is why we recruited this kid.’ “

So why did Washington recruit Braunstein? In high school, he set a school record with a 54-yard field goal. He made 71 of 74 point-after tries in his career, and 95 percent of his kickoffs went for touchbacks.

After redshirting his first season, Braunstein shared kicking duties with Evan Knudson in 2004, going 3-for-7 on field goals but 0-for-4 on anything beyond 30 yards. He made 11 of his 12 point-after tries. He said the lack of stability in the kicking game that year was what led to his loss of confidence.

“I was 18, and you’re going to miss some kicks here and there,” Braunstein said. “It’s not like I was missing by much. One was blocked, the rest were just a little off. It was the same thing with the quarterbacks; you throw an interception and you come out. That’s what we’re getting past now. It’s not in the back of our minds that if we make a mistake, we’re on the bench for the rest of the year. You have to have that stability to develop. You have to be able to learn from your mistakes.”

Last season, Braunstein said he was battling an injured hip and the fact that Knudson was kicking well. The now-graduated Knudson was 11-for-15 on field goals, including 5-for-6 from beyond 30 yards, and 28-for-28 on extra points. But Braunstein said he’s now healthy and thriving under the stability, which includes new long snapper Danny Morovick and holder Carl Bonnell. He also said he found a flaw in how he was lining up to kick on longer field goals and that has been corrected, improving his accuracy from long range.

“Danny smokes the ball back there and Carl and I’ve been working with him for a couple of years,” Braunstein said. “When we have those three things going good together, we get in a good groove.”

Braunstein said he considered transferring but the combination of having a good spring and getting into the UW’s Business School convinced him to stay. He said he is ready to show everyone that the job should have been his all along.

“I’ve finally got my shot and I’m taking it,” Braunstein said. “I’ve got my eyes set on the Lou Groza Award. If the Oregon State kicker can win it, then I can win it. I have everything down exactly how I want it now. The kicking game is going to be strong.”