Punter Ready to Do Kicking

The motions are as different as horizontal and vertical, or they are supposed to be, but Chris Sailer figures why complicate things?

He punts and kicks pretty much the same way for UCLA, the Bruins using one person to handle both skills for the first time since Frank Corral in 1977.

Sailer figures getting to handle placements and kickoffs is gravy, after two seasons as the Bruin punter.

“That’s what I came here to do,” he said Monday. “I just became a punter in high school because I had the strongest leg.”

He did at UCLA too, averaging 42.4 and 41.6 yards per punt in two seasons of waiting for kicker Bjorn Merten to graduate. In his final year at Notre Dame High, Sailer made field goals of 58, 57 and 54 yards, and he was ready to handle kicking when he arrived in Westwood.

Two years later, it’s his turn.

The transition back to placements hasn’t been difficult because, instead of swinging his punting leg through the ball, he has always swung across it, vexing coaches until they see how far the ball goes.

Now the ball is on the ground, but the leg still swings across.

The only difference is preparation during a game--he’ll actually have to pay attention to field position to figure whether to be kicking the ball from his own hands or those of holder Joey Strycula into the sideline net--and kicking a few extra balls a day in practice. Actually, very few, because he has never stopped working on his kicking.

“I’ve been ready,” he said of his two-year wait. “I was always a natural kicker.”

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Practice was interrupted when a fight broke out between the tag-team of offensive guard Andy Meyers and tackle Kris Farris, and solo performer defensive tackle Josh Webb. During a shorts-and-shoulder-pads scrimmage, Farris threw down Webb, who was chided by about 30 defensive teammates and encouraged to retaliate. When he did on the next play, Meyers and Farris responded until Coach Bob Toledo stepped in and sent the whole team to 15 minutes of running sprints. . . . The Bruins take this morning off and begin work in full pads Wednesday.