WATCH: Ole Miss kicker Jonathan Cruz out to prove SEC arena not too big a stage
New Ole Miss kicker Jonathan Cruz is familiar with his head coach and with one of his teammates, but the Southeastern Conference is a very new experience.
Transferring in from Charlotte and Conference USA, Cruz is tasked with being the one to fill a void created when Caden Costa was suspended for a full year.
Costa will miss nearly the entire 2022 regular season, if he does not win his appeal to the NCAA. That outcome is growing less and less likely as the weeks roll by without any update.
The more concrete and solid evidence of Costa’s absence being a sure thing is the fact Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin went into the portal and brought in a kicker who defeated him once during Kiffin’s time at Florida Atlantic.
“I’ve talked to (Kiffin) maybe twice about it,” Cruz said. “It was pretty cool. When I first got here it was one of the first things we talked about. Just a good laugh. I don’t think he took it very lightly. There’s another coach on this staff that keeps reminding me of it everyday. It’s good to have those memories.”
Conversations such as that one is just another example of the transfer portal world college football exists in now.
Cruz has also beaten teammate and offensive lineman Mason Brooks when Brooks was playing for Western Kentucky.
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Jokes aside, Cruz knows the reason why Ole Miss brought him in and is ready to prove they made the right decision.
In desperate need of a consistent and reliable kicking game Ole Miss was hopeful Costa would be the fit it was looking for. Unfortunately it will not be this season so Cruz is now the guy.
“I think there’s pressure on everybody and I’m just here to compete,” Cruz said. “Me and Christian (Schanefelt) have been battling it out. Snappers have, too. So it’s just, we’re all competitive and I think we all have pressure on each other just to perform the best we can.”
Even though Cruz is coming from the C-USA do not expect him to be timid when walking into the large stadiums of the SEC.
During his time at Charlotte Cruz played in some of the largest college football environments the country has to offer.
“I don’t think it plays a factor that much,” Cruz said. “I’ve played at Clemson and I also played at Knoxville. So, I’m familiar with playing in big stadiums.”
