Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Penn State's Fera focused on kicks on the field

ALMOST BY definition, kickers are football's most obvious neurotics. They can stand on the sideline for long stretches, barely called upon and with uniforms pristine, then be told to rush out onto the field to attempt a game-deciding field goal with seconds remaining. With one swing of the leg, they're a hero or a goat, their successes or failures starkly evident to tens of thousands of spectators.

Anthony Fera was named the Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week. (Charles Fox/Staff Photographer)
Anthony Fera was named the Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week. (Charles Fox/Staff Photographer)Read more

ALMOST BY definition, kickers are football's most obvious neurotics. They can stand on the sideline for long stretches, barely called upon and with uniforms pristine, then be told to rush out onto the field to attempt a game-deciding field goal with seconds remaining. With one swing of the leg, they're a hero or a goat, their successes or failures starkly evident to tens of thousands of spectators.

Some kickers fold under that kind of pressure. Others thrive on it. But if you're Anthony Fera, just getting the opportunity to put foot to football this season is a privilege. You can't be a hero or a goat if you're not granted the opportunity to succeed or fail, and for several months, Fera - who has become Penn State's most versatile leg since Chris Bahr in the mid-1970s - was consigned to coach Joe Paterno's legendary doghouse for offseason infractions of team rules and local laws.

Until 2 weeks ago, Fera, a redshirt sophomore from Cypress, Texas, by way of his birth city of Philadelphia, was wondering if he would ever be set free from the JoePa dog pound. Now, he's the Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week for his work in last week's 16-10 conference opener at Indiana, a game in which he kicked three field goals (from 22, 27 and 33 yards), averaged 39 yards on seven punts, three of which were inside the Hoosiers' 20-yard line, and kicked off four times for a 66.5-yard average, including a touchback.

"I had to face some adversity," Fera, who will handle all the kicking chores when Penn State (4-1, 1-0 Big Ten) hosts Iowa (3-1, 0-0) on Saturday, said of his summer in limbo. "But what's in the past is in the past. You just have to take things day by day. I made some mistakes. I learned from them. Everything's going great right now. I'm happy to be out there."

Fera was not allowed to participate in preseason practice. On Aug. 4, the day the rest of his teammates officially gathered to begin practice, Fera was in a Bellefonte, Pa., courtroom, pleading guilty to two summary offenses, for which he paid $650 in fines plus court costs. According to court documents, he was charged with purchasing alcohol as a minor and fighting in June.

It was his second alcohol-related offense at PSU. In April 2010, he also was cited for underage possession, a charge that was dismissed. Even a player with a big leg (Fera once drilled a 58-yard field goal in high school) can't immediately kick his way out of the Paterno doghouse with a pair of incidents like that hanging over his head.

Fera was allowed to rejoin the team during the first week of classes in August, but he found himself behind punter Alex Butterworth on the depth chart. It wasn't surprising that he also was behind Evan Lewis as the kicker; he hadn't kicked field goals in 2010, with Collin Wagner ably handling those duties, and the Lions also had added a highly touted recruit, true freshman Sam Ficken.

But Lewis connected on only one of his five field goal tries and Ficken was 1-for-2. Butterworth also failed to make an impact, so Paterno had to look elsewhere for a quick fix. And there stood a chastened Fera, eager to make amends after his mandated absence.

"Basically, I had to wait for Joe to call me," Fera said of his separation from the team. "He told me what my punishment was. I had to accept it and not argue.

"Then Joe came up to me before practice 2 weeks ago and told me to kick some field goals."

On Sept. 24, against Eastern Michigan, Fera became the first Penn State player since Bahr in 1975 to kick off, kick field goals and punt in the same contest. He is 4-for-5 on field goals, his only miss a 52-yarder into a stiff breeze at Indiana.

"It was a real windy day, and I didn't hit that one as well," he said of the miss. "But I definitely feel that I have a strong leg. Hopefully, I'll get another opportunity [to try a long one]."

Paterno said he is convinced Fera won't repeat the off-the-field mistakes that led to his temporary banishment.

"Let he who is without sin throw the first rock," JoePa said. "I try not to overreact. I just wanted to make sure that Anthony and the rest of the squad understood that there are certain things that we just can't tolerate."