LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -Alex Henery is a reliable kicker on the field and a reluctant celebrity off it.
Kickers typically don’t attract much attention until they miss a big field goal. It’s just the opposite for Henery.
Since he launched a school-record 57-yarder late in the fourth quarter against Colorado last year, Henery has been one of the more recognizable faces for Nebraska. This season, he keeps adding to his legion of fans.
All the backslaps, ‘attaboys and autograph requests have taken him aback.
“He’s a real unassuming, good guy,” quarterback Zac Lee said. “I don’t think he realizes he’s kind of a little superstar.”
Henery kicked five field goals last week to account for all of Nebraska’s scoring in a 16-15 loss at Virginia Tech, and he goes into Saturday’s game against Louisiana-Lafayette having made 19 in a row from inside 50 yards.
ll who has a higher success rate with more attempts. Henery also is the only player in the Big 12 to handle both place-kicking and punting duties.
“He’s invaluable,” coach Bo Pelini said. “I always say he has ice water in his veins. He just walks out there and does his job. His demeanor never changes. You add the punting to what he’s been able to do as a place-kicker, and he’s been pretty exceptional. I wouldn’t trade him for anyone in the country.”
Henery, a junior, was 26 for 29 on field goals and 101 for 102 on extra points entering this season, and Pelini rewarded him with a scholarship in August.
“I never had expectations for it,” Henery said. “If it comes, it comes. No rush. I wasn’t too worried about it.”
Henery grew up playing soccer and never had kicked a football, at least seriously, until he was a freshman in high school. He wasn’t very good at it, so he winged it, just walking to a random spot to begin his approach on kickoffs and not counting his steps in prepping for place-kicks.
When it became apparent that he would be Burke High School’s starting kicker his sophomore year, he put all he had into the endeavor.
“I’m someone who doesn’t want to go out and just be OK at it,” he said. “I want to be the best. It was something I worked on.”
out Adi Kunalic for extra-point and field-goal duties. Kunalic handles kickoffs.
Henery made all eight of his field goals in 2007 and 18 of 21 last season. The biggest one was his longest, the school-record 57-yarder that gave Nebraska the lead in the fourth quarter against Colorado.
“He’s kind of like a closer in baseball,” Lee said. “You look at guys who come in and make pitches consistently and just do it because it’s their job. That’s how Alex is. He knows his job is to kick field goals, and he’s real good at it.”
Henery is almost robotic in his routine, going out on the field, kicking and returning to the sideline with little emotion.
“It kind of freaks me out sometimes,” Pelini said.
Henery said he’s getting more comfortable as a punter. He had a 31-yarder and a 23-yarder that was partially blocked in the opener against Florida Atlantic, but averaged 43 yards on three punts against Arkansas State and 42 yards on six punts against Virginia Tech.
He had an adventure on his first punt against the Hokies, catching a high-and-wide snap and running to his right before getting off a rugby-style, 76-yarder for a touchback.
“I thought he was running the football, and I was like, ‘Good God,”’ Pelini said. “Then he hit a mortar shot off his foot.”
Henery said he likes punting and kicking, but identifies himself as a place-kicker first and a punter second.
it’s his kicking that has made him famous, at least in these parts.
“I can’t really go anywhere without someone recognizing who I am,” he said. “It’s different, because I’m just a kicker.”
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