Oct. 19, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; -
No. 30 - Anthony Fera, Sophomore, Kicker
Q: Have you talked to Northwestern's kick returner Venric Mark and did you ever expect to run into an old (high school) teammate in a Big Ten game?
A: I never thought about that (happening). Venric is one of my best friends from back home. We were really good teammates. We always stayed after practice together and I would always punt and kickoff to him. We would get extra work in and I would give him a ride home. It should be fun kicking to him again.
Q: How difficult is it to man both the kicking and punting responsibilities?
A: It's not too difficult. I worked through it in high school and I'm pretty used to it, so it's not a big deal.
Q: Out of kickoffs, field goals and punts, what do you feel most confident doing?
A: I think I feel more comfortable doing field goals than anything. Last year; I punted all last year, which definitely helped a lot because I just got to focus on that and kickoffs, I've always been comfortable doing that.
Q: How much has your work in practice picked up this year from last year as you are now handling all of the kicking duties?
A: I'm not going to say I'm bored in practice. Joe (Paterno) always has us doing stuff. He doesn't want us sitting around on a knee and stuff. If we're on a knee he's going to yell at us, so we're always up and doing stuff.
Q: Any difference kicking during the day or at night with the only night game of the season coming up?
A: Not really, no.
Q: Can you explain drop time with punts and how much you focus on getting the ball off quickly?
A: With punts, basically you want to get it off in under two seconds. If you're over two seconds, you have a greater risk of getting it blocked. I've been getting a lot faster with that and Coach (Larry) Johnson has been on us about that.
Q: How fast are getting the ball off now?
A: Around 1.8 or 1.9 (seconds).
Q: Is kicking off as important as field goals and punts in a lot of cases?
A: Yeah, definitely. Like you guys saw this past weekend, they (Purdue) took a kickoff 80 yards or something like that. So, they can definitely be a game changer, so I'd say they're pretty important.
Q: What do you work on with kickoffs and do you look at who is returning the kick?
A: Yeah, we definitely look at who is back there and try to kick away from certain guys, but if I can kick it out of the back of the end zone, (the coach) just tells me to kick it.
Q: How often do you work on putting punts inside the 5-yard line?
A: We do that all the time. Actually, that's all we did yesterday because I have like nine touchbacks this year, which isn't too good. I'm definitely going to work on that a lot.
Q: Who are all of the coaches that you work with for all of your kicking duties?
A: Coach Johnson, he works with me with punting. Coach (Mike) McQueary does field goals and Coach (Kermit) Buggs helps me out with kickoffs.
Q: Do any coaches get more of your time than others?
A: I mean, kickoffs, you can't really kickoff that many times a week because that's what really wears you out. I only do like four kickoffs a week; live kickoffs with the team. I'd say I spend more time with field goals and punting than kickoffs.
Q: Do you ever get their advice mixed up?
A: Not really because it's two different kicking duties. You just listen to both of them for each one.
Q: Do you have any other kicking coaches from home or something?
A: I've been to several guys, Chris Sailer, Brandon Kornblue and Jamie Kohl. Those are the three guys I've been through and they're all really good.
Q: Have you ever talked to Chris Bahr, the last guy to handle all of the kicking duties at Penn State?
A: I talked to Matt Bahr. He came by a couple of weeks ago. He helped us out and gave us a few pointers. That helped out a lot.
Q: What kind of pointers did he give?
A: Just basically techniques. He noticed how I was off balance sometimes on field goals. It's just like the basic things, just pick a target in the background, stay smooth and calm and just focus on making the kick.
Q: Did you expect to be this successful, getting the Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week two of the past three weeks?
A: I think it's an advantage for me because I'm doing all three kicking duties. I'm definitely honored that I got, two out of the last three weeks, Big Ten Specialist of the Week. I'm pretty happy with that.
Q: What was it like sitting out for that time period?
A: I mean, it wasn't fun. You just have to learn from your mistakes. Once I got back out there, you've just got to make the most out of your opportunities so that's what I'm trying to do.