Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham will hold kicking tryouts

After three straight games without a field goal, Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham is at the end of his patience.

“Our kicking game is atrocious,” Dillingham said after ASU’s 24-14 loss to Cincinnati. “So if you can kick and you’re at Arizona State, shoot me an email. We’ll be doing kicking tryouts on Monday, so join us.”

When asked if he was serious, Dillingham doubled down on his statement.

“I am absolutely serious. We will publish it on our social media channels. We will have a kick and tryout on Monday,” he said. “We have to find someone who can make a field goal. This makes it even more difficult late in games when it's clearly a kicking scenario. Then it becomes really difficult.”

Sun Devils kicker Ian Hershey, who began his career at Idaho State, badly missed attempts of 48 and 41 yards on the Sun Devils' last two drives of the game. Hersey is 7 of 12 field goal attempts this season and 18 of 19 on extra points. Redshirt freshman Carston Kieffer missed his only field goal attempt of the season in the opener against Wyoming.

“(Hersey) played well before the game. So I felt good about it, but it is what it is,” Dillingham said. “We have to do a better job getting him into a better mental state. But at the same time I have to do a job and put people on the field who can perform in such situations.”

Dillingham acknowledged that an open tryout won't necessarily result in change. In this case they would remain with the status quo.

“If someone is (good enough), then you’re welcome to join the team and we’ll rock and roll from there,” Dillingham said.

It is not without controversy that people turn to the student body for help when it comes to kicking.

In 2022, Ole Miss added player Charlie Pollock to the roster, after which coach Lane Kiffin said, “I don't know much about him. I think he was down at the frat house at a keg party or something where they were.” I brought him over.

In 2008, the late Mike Leach recruited student Matt Williams to the Texas Tech team after watching him kick a 30-yard field goal during an in-game contest. Williams would remain with the team through the 2010 season.