It’s not often that a team misses a kicker as badly as the ASU football team did in 2009.
The Sun Devils lost four contests last season that were decided by five points or fewer, including a pair of games that could have been decided by a game-winning field goal.
It was frustrating for ASU fans to watch the Sun Devils fall in so many close games, leaving many asking one question:
How many games could ASU have won with a healthy Thomas Weber?
Some may think that a kicker wouldn’t have made that much of a difference, but in 2009 it certainly hurt ASU.
The Sun Devils made just 11 field goals last season. Weber made 24 in 2007 and 19 in 2008. That is a difference of 39 points from 2007 and 24 points in 2008.
To put that in perspective, ASU lost four games by a combined 13 points last season. Things could have been different if Weber didn’t suffer a groin injury early in the year that nagged him the entire season.
“It was very, very frustrating,” Weber said of last season. “It was something I was just happy to get through; it was definitely a learning experience for me. It taught me how to deal with an injury, for myself and for the team.”
Weber got off to a great start in 2009, connecting on five field goals in the season opener against Idaho State. Then the injury struck, causing Weber to miss the next four weeks. He returned in mid-October, but was never really healthy, and made just three field goals the rest of the season.
“I sat out those four games and I was feeling good enough to try to do something,” Weber said. “If the coaches and the team wanted me out there, I wasn’t going to say ‘no’. I had to give it my best shot.”
Even with Weber giving it his best shot, it was obvious he wasn’t the same kicker that took home the 2007 Lou Groza Award for college football’s top kicker.
Fast forward to the present and the old Weber is back. The senior is drilling kicks in practice, some that would be good from at least 60 yards.
“It has been a huge difference,” Weber said of finally being healthy this season. “It has been a huge confidence boost, especially for me and the team.”
ASU coach Dennis Erickson is just as excited and knows how much Weber means to the team. Erickson chose Weber to accompany him to Pac-10 Media Day in Los Angeles in July.
"Thomas Weber…shows you what happens when you don't have a kicker,” Erickson said. “Last year, he pulled up right before we played at Georgia, and we missed three field goals.”
In the midst of a lost season last year, something good did happen to Weber. Then-junior Trevor Hankins emerged as the team’s punter, which will allow Weber to focus solely on kicking, unlike years past.
“It is nice not to have to do it,” Weber said. “It relieves some stress. When I go out there for punts, I’m just having fun. If need be, I will, I can do it. I think Trevor is going to be leading the nation this year, or be close to it.”
Just because he doesn’t need to punt, doesn’t mean Weber can’t. In one of the team scrimmages at Sun Devil Stadium, Weber launched a 65-yard punt.
“He likes it,” Hankins said of Weber and punting. “He doesn’t want to punt, he tells me, but sometimes he doesn’t kick for a few weeks and he comes in and punts a 65-yarder to try and make me look bad. It is a little heart crushing. I’m glad he’s doing well and if he has to step in and do the job because I’m not doing my job, then so be it.”
Hankins couldn’t imagine trying to do both jobs himself.
“Kicking is one of the hardest things to do,” Hankins said. “I can punt, but I have tried to kick and it is one of the hardest things.”
That experience gives the ASU punter an accurate read on Weber’s impact to the team and how Weber can help the team win those close games.
“Oh my goodness,” Hankins said of Weber’s impact. “He is a great asset to the offense and the all around demeanor of the team. I think if we are put in that opportunity that we will have a great chance to win those games.”
Weber won’t admit to being a difference maker on this year’s team, but he will admit that he is eager to start 2010 and erase last season from his memory.
“I am excited and anxious for that day to come,” Weber said of Saturday’s season opener. “I think our team is going to shock the world this year and surprise a lot of people.”
Reach the reporter at andrew.gruman@asu.edu
