MONROE, La. -- Special team's players are a
different breed. Stepping onto the field in only the most pressure filled
situations, they have to be.
For the Warhawk football team, Alex Chace, Scott Love, and Radi Jabour have found the way to remain cool under pressure, embracing the ?different breed' moniker. With increased scrutiny and pressure accompanying them every time they step onto the field, the trio has come together beside the team to form a cohesive, self-appointed unit known as ULM's ?Bomb Squad'.
“When we mess up it makes the team look bad,” Love said. “It is one of those things where you have to know your role. We know what we do is important.”
Without question the quarterback is the most glamorous position on a football team. An offense must have a quarterback to lead a team to victory, but is it the special team players who are last on the field after a game-winning field goal is made.
Because of the importance of the specialists to a team's success, the players in this position also come under close scrutiny and are forced to play under greater pressure than many of their teammates. The ability to play under pressure is a vital part of a specialist's makeup.
“Yes, it is pretty tough because everybody is counting on you,” Jabour said. “Everybody is expecting you to make it so we can win the game. It is a lot of pressure. You have to try to make it as if you were kicking an extra point so that pressure doesn't get in your head.”
In order to survive, a team needs a successful kicking game that can handle pressure on a constant basis. At the end of the day it is the kicker who is looked at as the person who won or lost the game, but his teammates also must share the responsibility of the team's success or failure.
“There is pressure,” Chace said. “You have to just go out there and do your thing because it is what we do everyday in practice. Even though we don't get that many plays, we get out there and just do our thing.”
Depending upon the location of the contest there can be anywhere from 10,000-100,000 fans yelling and screaming at the kicker or the punter. With the magnification of plays ? such as field goal attempts and punting from the end zone ? it would bother most players, but the Warhawk specialists tune out all the noise.
“It is just like every other play on the football field,” Love said. “I go out there every time knowing exactly what my job is. In my mind I know where I want to punt the ball and how I want to do it.”
Love has responded to the pressure of punting in clutch situations. During the 2007 season in a 21-14 win at Alabama he pinned the Crimson Tide inside their 20 yard line five times.
He was named to the Ray Guy award watch list ? the nation's top punter ? this past season. The season prior he was named 2007 all-Sun Belt first team after leading the conference in punting at 42.1 yards per punt. Love also set the ULM school record with 23 punts inside the 20-yard line and was two-time Sun Belt and Louisiana Player of the Week.
There aren't a lot of words that can describe the pressure the specialist are under, mainly the kicker.
On any given field goal or extra point attempt they have 1.25 seconds to get the snap, hold and kick off before 11 defenders rush through the line for a block.
Even though a game-winner is not included in Jabour's kicking resume, he feels a lot more is needed in the future for his teams success. Last season, he kicked a career-long 48-yard field goal against Troy during a conference victory. He also kicked a career-high three field goals (42, 19, and 39) against Louisiana-Lafayette at Malone Stadium.
“People look up to you like you are going to score every time,” Jabour said. “They don't realize that our position is worse than a quarterback because we only have one play to succeed and not four plays. You just have to deal with the pressure and try to not let it bother you.”
Great kickers and punters bring an air of confidence to the field and locker room that is sometimes perceived as different. Sometimes their mere presence conveys a message that makes people wonder what they are thinking and if their job is really hard at all.
Are they a different breed?
Do they think differently from the rest of the team?
Even the specialist themselves aren't sure if they are ?different'.
“I don't think we are different,” Jabour said. “I don't get offended when people say things because I know who I am. I am not really crazy when somebody says ?hey you are weird.' I don't think we are all weird, I just think we are different people because of our job.”
“Well in certain aspects we are,” Love said. “I have changed to fit the role as a special teams player. You just gotta roll with it. It is one of those things that you have to take it as they come because it is the same thing over and over.”
While there are very few special teams players on each NCAA roster, those that are part of this group see themselves as family. That is evident when watching Chace, Jabour and Love during practice, games and in the community.
“Radi, Alex and I are like family,” Love said.
“Being from Virginia they were the first people I met and I hang out with them all the time,” Chace said. “We call ourselves ?the bomb squad.' You can't catch us anywhere around this state without each other.”
The backbone to every kicking operation is the unknown deep snapper. After serving as a backup the past two seasons Chace has been thrusted into one of the most important positions on the team. Even though the position has little glory Chace has no problem with it.
“I know that when the kickers kick the game-winning field goal it is going to be Radi Jabour with the kick and not Alex Chace with the snap,” Chace said. “I am fine with that. I am completely fine with it because he is the one kicking it and the one winning the games.”
