University of North Carolina Athletics
Jeff Reed Getting His Kicks This Year
September 12, 2000 | Football
Sept. 12, 2000
y Joe Bray
TarHeelBlue.com
TarHeelBlue: A lot of fans have probably been surprised by how well you've kicked this year. Have you been surprised?
Jeff Reed: "Not really, I knew I could get the job done. It's mainly a matter of getting the fundamentals down.
"I was a little bit nervous on my first kickoff, extra point and field goal attempts, but they ended up pretty well. I actually feel as much pressure in practice. You've got the coaches looking at you, the players are yelling at you, it's pretty much a game situation in my mind.
"Everybody would say, 'can you do that in front of 60,000 people?', and I'd just say, 'yes, why not?' It's different, but I just tune the crowd out and focus on what I have to do. If you let the crowd get to you, you sure as heck can't get the job done."
TarHeelBlue: The past couple of years, did you look at the other kickers and think, 'hey, I can do that?'
Jeff Reed: "Yes, I did. What I really noticed was how calm they would seem, they were so relaxed. It made me realize that if I got nervous, I would miss every time.
"Josh McGee was a huge help. He was very encouraging, he taught me a lot. He let me know that if I stayed focused and relaxed, I could get the job done.
"I'm trying to follow in their footsteps. I'm certainly not there yet, but I feel like I'm on my way."
TarHeelBlue: Did you kick as well in practice in the past as you have in games this year, or have you stepped it up this year?
Jeff Reed: "I think I'm a lot more consistent this year. The height and distance have been good, but now I'm kicking it straight. More practice is going to make you better."
TarHeelBlue: Did you consider going anywhere else after high school where you could have kicked sooner?
Jeff Reed: "I could have been a recruited walk-on at Notre Dame. I could have gotten a full ride at Appalachian State.
"I just always wanted to go to Carolina. I've always been impressed by the class of the school. It's a class act. In many ways it's just so different than other schools."
TarHeelBlue: Did Carolina recruit you at all in football?
Jeff Reed: "They were aware of me, but they didn't recruit me."
TarHeelBlue: When I watch you stretch on the sidelines, I'm amazed at how flexible you are. Is that something you work at a lot?
Jeff Reed: "That's a huge part of kicking. It's mostly about your fundamentals and your flexibility. If you're a smaller guy who is flexible and has the fundamentals, you're going to kick the ball as far as a bigger guy.
"Flexibility is so important. When you bring your leg up high, the ball is going up high with it. Where ever you follow through is where the ball is going, so if you have a little jab, that's where the ball is going.
"I've always been pretty limber, but I'm really limber now. Sometimes when guys watch me stretch they almost get sick, they're like 'how in the world do you do that?' I go as far as I can on every stretch."
TarHeelBlue: Do you do a lot of strength work with your legs?
Jeff Reed: "Bulldog and his staff work a lot with me, and I pretty much do the same workouts as the rest of the team. I do explosive drills with my legs.
"I do pretty much the same workouts as Brandon Spoon and those guys, but obviously without as much weight. I like it when the strength coaches work one-on-one with me in my workouts, and make me work really hard.
"Our strength coaches understand what a kicker needs. I've had people say to me, 'you don't do upper body work, do you?', but I do. Upper body is 50% of kicking, lower body is 50%.
"If you have a strong lower body and weak upper body, you may kick the ball far, but you won't have the fundamentals because you need your body to be in proportion. These guys here actually know that. They push me on every single exercise to make sure I get a full-body workout."
TarHeelBlue: You've lost a good bit of weight since last year. Has that helped your kicking?
Jeff Reed: "I've lost about 30 pounds, but I didn't lose any distance. I'm more flexible now.
"I was told that I needed to keep up my work in the weight room, but to get my weight down. It's something I wanted to do anyway. I'm at about 205 now.
"It wasn't an ultimatum from the coaches, but I knew if I ever wanted to play here, I'd have to get in the best possible shape."
TarHeelBlue: I know you can kick your kickoffs farther that you have so far. Have you been disappointed in your distance?
Jeff Reed: "Yes, that's come up in the meetings. The coaches know I can kick the ball farther, I know I can kick the ball farther. It's something I have to work on.
"It's not like I'm kicking them poorly, but I know I can do better. I want to get it in the end zone, but I know that if I don't our guys will make the tackle. They're a good group.
"I hope to get better starting this Saturday."
TarHeelBlue: You're a big guy. Do you like contact on kick offs?
Jeff Reed: "I do, but it's obviously best if I don't have to make contact.
"They coach me to be 15 yards from the ball. If the returner shifts one way, I shift with him. If I run up in the mix and get knocked down, there goes our last line of defense.
"I don't really want to be put in the situation where I have to make the tackle, but if I do, I'm ready for it."
TarHeelBlue: When did you realize you could kick a ball so much farther than the other kids?
Jeff Reed: "I've played soccer all my life, so I never really thought that much about being able to kick a ball a long way. My friends asked me to come out and kick my sophomore and junior years, but I didn't. I worried about soccer.
"The summer after my junior year my dad told me I needed to consider it, that I had a great chance to be a good kicker. I really didn't have any kind of form, but I went to a camp and worked on fundamentals.
"I kind of surprised myself because the motion of kicking a football is quite different than kicking a soccer ball.
"Coach Rucker works with me on my technique here."
TarHeelBlue: I know you're a good student. What's your major?
Jeff Reed: "Journalism, with a minor in communications. This is my fourth year, but I want to be back next year.
"I plan on playing next season, then graduating in either December or May. I'll probably wait until May of 2002 to graduate. I love it here."
TarHeelBlue: Do you do any kind of mental imagery or visualization before a kick?
Jeff Reed: "Josh used to do that. What I do is think this is what I've been waiting for, and when the ball goes through the uprights, it's time to celebrate.
"That's how you have to think. You don't want to get too excited, because then you'll over rotate. My mindset is that this is what I've been waiting to do.
"If you're out there worried about missing it, then you don't have much of a chance. My focus is that this is what I've been waiting for my whole life."
