Florida Gators kicking competition could go into the season opener
There aren’t many starting jobs left open with two weeks left before the 2022 opener. The Florida Gators will host No. 7 Utah to kick off the season and one of the main questions will be, well, who will literally kickoff.
The Gators have a couple of kickers, neither with any college football experience, vying for the job. Redshirt freshman walk-on Adam Mihalek and 2022 signee Trey Smack.
“I think a lot of that is to be determined. We’re going to be evaluating that as we approach the opener,” Napier said on Sunday. “I could see two guys doing two different jobs and I could see it go the other way, too. The good thing is that I don’t think we have a problem. I think we’ve got two guys that are very capable. There’s healthy competition there. I’ve got confidence in both players.”
When asked if it’s a possibility that the competition could go into the season opener, Napier joked that there would be additional press conferences before the first game.
Mihalek converted both of his field goal attempts in the spring game. One from 52-yards and another from 48-yards. Smack has performed well this spring but neither has played a snap of college football.
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Who will the Gators go with?
Mihalek has been around longer but Smack is the only scholarship kicker. Not that a scholarship versus a walk-on will factor into Napier’s final decision. Starting punter, Jeremy Crawshaw, was asked his opinion at the Gators’ media day earlier this month.
“He’s done a really good job coming in,” Crawshaw said of Smack. “Obviously it’s normal for guys to come in during this part of the year as high school finishes, but he’s done a good job at adjusting, following up with Adam, because Adam was here last year. He was able to learn the ropes, and just those two sharing experiences, bettering themselves off each other, yeah, they’re doing really well, those two.”
Football is a game of inches. The schedule makers didn’t do the Gators any favors in 2022 so who is kicking extra points and field goals will certainly factor into the final scores. It may seem inconsequential, but as one of the final starting job battles left before the season, it’s an important one to keep an eye on.
