In the Huddle: Purdue kicker Ben Freehill

His longest field goal in high school was 50 yards.

Early in his career, Ben Freehill played receiver and defensive back. He preferred kicking.

The Oklahoma State transfer from Gibson City, Ill., made two tackles against Tennessee in the Music City Bowl in 2021.

The first time you kicked a ball? Any ball?

I started playing soccer in kindergarten because every kid played soccer. I started kicking a football when I was in second grade and my uncle from Seattle, Washington, him and my dad welded together three pieces of scrap metal at my grandma’s house. Every Sunday, I would go there and had a little orange youth football tee and kick through the uprights.

Is that when you knew you wanted to be a kicker?

No. I think eighth grade going into my freshman year is when I decided that’s what I wanted to do. I haven’t looked back.

Have you played other positions?

My freshman and sophomore year of high school, I played receiver and corner and I remember telling my coach I just wanted to kick and punt. I regret it now. He tried to change my mind and he loved to tell me how stupid it was. He was just messing with me; he wasn’t serious. Looking back, I wish I would’ve stuck with it just for the memories.

What type of receiver and corner would you have been?

Not a good one. My freshman and sophomore year, I was scared to hit. If they ran toward me, I was praying somebody else made the tackle. As a receiver, we were a run-heavy team, and it was a lot of blocking.

The kickoff return team sometimes has a guy who takes out the kicker. How many times has that happened to you?

I haven’t gotten blown up, thankfully. There’s been a couple of close calls I can remember. I remember at Nebraska this year when we got the fumble on the opening kickoff, but I don’t remember it happening – some guy comes out of nowhere and he doesn’t blow me up, but you see me getting thrown out of the way. I don’t remember it all. I’ve yet to get blown up, and hopefully, it stays that way.

Last time you were credited with a tackle?

I think it was the Music City Bowl. I got two or three there. They had an All-American returner.

Velus Jones Jr?

Yes.

Career high for tackles in the Music City Bowl, right?

Yes. I think they gave mine to somebody else. There was somebody else who was No. 39, but it was my tackle.

Did you get a shout-out when you went over the film, or did you even go over the film?

I don’t think we went over the film.

If you didn’t play sports …

I’d probably be back home working on the farm. I grew up on the farm; my dad farms corn and soybeans and I’d be there helping him.

You originally went to Oklahoma State. What led you there?

I didn’t have major offers out of high school, and I knew in my head and my heart that I was built for the Power 5 level. When I got the offer, I was young and dumb and when I visited there, I told my mom this is where I want to go and didn’t want to see anywhere else. I don’t regret it at all.

What led you here?

I wanted to be closer to home. The starting kicker there had hurt his knee and they said, he wasn’t going to lose his job to injury, but he wasn’t going to be ready until fall camp the next year. Regardless of how I would do in spring ball and the summer, if it was going to be his job, I thought it was the right time to come back home and start somewhere new.

What have you liked about your time at Purdue?

The people I’ve met. We have a really good locker room and just certain guys – Jack Ansell. He’s one of my best friends. Just getting close with the guys, especially this year getting close with a lot of people I haven’t been close with in years past and it’s been really special this year.

How do you handle being the kicker when there’s a love-hate relationship? They love you when you make it and hate you when you miss.

It gets frustrating sometimes because people don’t know the whole story. You look at the stat sheet and it might be 0-for-1, but there might be other stuff that went into it. Not all the time. I love what I do, and I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t. Every time I get out on the field and help this team win games, I love that.

It’s called an operation, and everything has to work, right?

I’ve been blessed this year. Nick Taylor and Brendan Cropsey, they’ve done an unbelievable job with the snapping and holding. They make my job really easy.

In the past offseason, how many times did you kick? What was your daily routine and how many kicks did you try in a day?

Coming into this year, it was an awkward situation with a whole new staff. Knowing I hadn’t kicked field goals in a game before, there was a possibility somebody else could be brought in. For me, it was putting as much work in as I could. I had one class early Monday morning but then I would come to the facility and kick by myself for about an hour. I tried to get out Wednesday and Friday, but I had to be smart because I dealt with some injury stuff last year and not overdo it. I didn’t want to tweak something.

Do kickers have pregame routines, but not from a kicking standpoint? How do you get yourself ready for a game?

It’s bad to really tense for kickers, punters, and long snappers. We’ll be at the pregame meal – and we got in trouble this past week. Everybody is super serious, quiet, and locked in and we’re joking around. One of the coaches came over and told us to quiet down. We all hang out together before the games or in one of our rooms, laughing and joking. Even through the warmup, it’s lighthearted but there’s a time when you need to lock in.

A lot of players listen to music, and they’ve got to have their headphones on and trying to get focused, but I can’t say if I’ve seen kickers with headphones.

Every once in a while you will. I listen to music on the bus, but I grew up on a farm and my dad is an old-school type of guy and he raised me old school. If you can’t get fired up just from the opportunity that’s in front of you, I don’t think you need music to fire you up. That’s what I think, even though I listen to it every once in a while. That’s not driving me to do what I do.

Longest field goal you made in high school?

In high school, it’s 50 yards.

Wind or no wind?

I think there was a tiny amount of wind. I went to a super-small high school, and it was the only team in our conference that had a turf field. I lucked out.

How many game-winning kicks?

Zero. I about had one in the state championship my junior year. It would’ve been a 45-yard field goal. It was third-and-I-don’t-know-what and our tight end – a D-lineman at the University of Illinois right now – did a full layout, full extension dive in the end zone and caught the ball for the game-winning touchdown with 40 seconds left. I still give him crap to this day. I was just messing with him, but he was all over town with his picture everywhere. I told him, ‘It should’ve been me.’

You wanted that moment.

I did.

In 20 years, you’ll be doing what?

Back home, working on the farm.

How will your major help you on the farm?

I got my first degree after graduating this past December in Ag Business and I’m working on my second one in Crop and Soil Science.

What was it like growing up on a farm because people don’t grow up on farms today?

I liked it. To be honest, for the longest time, I didn’t want anything to do with it. When I went to Oklahoma State, I was a management major. After a semester, I was like, ‘This sucks.’ I thought I wanted to wear a shirt and tie to work every day and it took me a semester to realize that’s not at all what I wanted. When I transferred here, I switched my major and a lot of the credits transferred over.

You can wear a suit and tie on the farm.

You could, but it might not last very long.

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