UCLA's Sailer does it all

Sporting News, The, August 17, 1998 by Jim (American politician) Hodges

Chris Sailer figures he was a kicker who became a punter. Chronologically minded UCLA coaches remind him that he was a punter who became a kicker.

And then he began kicking off, becoming a triple threat and one of college football's best bargains: three skills, one scholarship.

"In our opinion, he is the best kicker in the nation because he fills three roles for us and does them all extremely well," Bruins coach Bob Toledo says. "As a place-kicker, he has greatly increased his range without sacrificing accuracy. As a punter, he had his best year in terms of average. And he also helped out the defense by putting so many of his kickoffs into the end zone."

Three years ago, Sailer was a one-dimensional player, averaging 42.2 yards per punt as a freshman while chafing at the downtime, waiting for incumbent kicker Bjorn Merten's career to end. Sailer had kicked seven field goals of 50 yards or more as a high school senior, then found himself called upon only when it was time to give up the ball.

As a sophomore, Sailer averaged 41.6 yards per punt while watching Merten kick and Greg Andrasick kick off. Sailer vexed coaches because rather than kicking through the ball, his leg swing was across it. Basically, it was a kicking motion taken from vertical to horizontal. The way Sailer figured it, he was a place-kicking punter. And then he was a punting kicker.

As the first UCLA player to handle all three skills since Frank Corral in 1977, Sailer averaged 43.7 yards per punt, converted 19-of-24 field-goal tries and put 47 of his 75 kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks last season.

"I've been ready," he says. "I was always a natural kicker."

And largely a self-taught one, though his success has several high school coaches standing in line to claim credit for recruiting him from a physical education class and the school's soccer team.

"I've never had a coach," says Sailer, a native of Burbank, Calif. "I've become my own coach. I can tell the second I kick a ball if I'm going to make it or miss it by my mechanics."

And sort of by experience.

He missed his first field-goal attempt, at Washington State in UCLA's season opener in '97, then hit his next 15. Along the way, he piled up experience and victims.

One was Mike Bellotti of Oregon.

With 6:27 to play in the second quarter of last year's game in Eugene, Sailer lined up for a 40-yard try into a stiff October wind. Bellotti called time out to let him ponder the situation.

"It's the first time anybody's ever called time out to `ice' me," Sailer says. But it's hard to ice a cool man. Sailer and holder Joey Strycula decided to chat.

"Me and Joey just talk when we go into the game anyway, talk about different things," says Sailer, who has a 3.6 grade-point average in communications studies. "We had some time on our hands, so we talked about the Northwestern-Michigan game we had seen on TV that morning. A guy (Northwestern's Brian Gowins) kicked a 52-yarder."

Time in, and Sailer kicked a 40-yarder, the second of four field goals he kicked that evening. The last covered a school-record 56 yards and was kicked without the aid of an Oregon timeout.

"I kind of liked it, actually," Sailer said of the respite. "It gave me time to make sure everything was perfect."

Most of last season was perfect for Sailer, who was a finalist for the Lou Groza Award (the other finalists were seniors) and picked up knowledge along the way. "One thing I learned is not to kick so much in two-a-days, and not so much in practice," Sailer says. "After all, this is the first time I've done all three since high school, and college is a lot different from high school."

Not different enough to make UCLA coaches change anything. The Bruins did not recruit a punter or kicker this year.

They know a bargain when they see one.

Jim Hodges covers UCLA for the Los Angeles Times.

RELATED ARTICLE: CONFERENCE RANK 2

Predicted order of finish

1. Arizona State 2. UCLA 3. USC 4. Washington 5. Arizona 6. Oregan 7. Stanford 8. California 9. Washington State 10. Oregon State

Conference "bests"

Offensive player: Brock Huard, QB, Washington.

Defensive player: Chris Claiborne, ILB, USC.

Coach: Bruce Snyder, Arizona State.

Offensive newcomer: Kevin Brown, TB, Washington State.

Defensive newcomer: Toalei Mulitauaopele, T, Washington.

Conference game: Arizona State at USC, October 3.

Non-conference game: Washington at Nebraska, September 26.

Offensive backfield: Arizona State.

Offensive line: BOLA.

Wide receivers: Arizona State.

Defensive line: California.

Linebackers: USC.

Secondary:. Washington.

Special teams: USC.

Recruiting Mass: UCLA.

Coaching staff:. Arizona State.

While Sailer is the best in the Pac-10, here are the best in the other conferences:

ACC: K Sebastian Janikowski, FSU; P Rodney Williams, Georgia Tech.

Big East: K Shayne Graham, Virginia Tech; P Jimmy Kibble, Virginia Tech.

Big Ten: K Brian Gowins, Northwestern; P Brent Bartholomew, Ohio State.

Big 12: K Martin Gramatica, Kansas State; P Shane Lechler, Texas A&M.

Big West:. K Garrett Courtney, North Texas; P John Baker, North Texas.