Discussions surrounding the tortuous Arizona heat frequently make the rounds during fall camps in Tempe. As players adjust their bodies to the overwhelming heat of August, most of the conversation focuses on how the dry heat impacts conditioning and fatigue. But for Arizona State kicker Logan Tyler, the weather has an impact on his performance.
When Tyler made the move from Florida State to ASU ahead of last season; the change in humidity was significant. For reference, Phoenix had a 43 percent humidity level despite the rain on Wednesday, while Tallahassee saw a modest 80 percent.
“It really is a factor,” explained Tyler. “The wet air kind of weighs the ball down, but here it tends to fly a little longer, stay up in the air a little higher. It’s better kicking conditions.”
As Tyler adjusted, the left-footed kicker was relegated to kickoff duties as Michael Turk handled the punting, and Cristian Zendejas handled the place-kicking. In preparation for this season, Tyler has gotten reps as the first-string place-kicker, and looked more than capable of doing the job during the first two weeks of camp.
At Florida State, Tyler held the punting and kickoff work, tallying 209 punts as a Seminole. The talented Sun Devil specialist was superb in his time in the ACC, finishing in the top five of total punts, punt yards, and average punt yardage as a Seminole. Now, he’s being asked to take on the role of place-kicker, something he hasn’t done since his time in high school.
“It’s night and day from last year to this year,” said Tyler of his adjustment and comfort level at ASU. “It’s been kind of hard… You kind of get into that rut sometimes of ‘why am I doing this? I feel like I’m banging my head against a concrete wall and not getting anywhere.’”
Guidance from special teams coach Shawn Slocum has blossomed success in past Sun Devil specialists, something Tyler said is continuing in his development. Slocum’s technical work with Tyler is helping the Sun Devil graduate student in his quest to re-build confidence in his field goal-kicking abilities.
“He’s helped to keep me positive and keep me motivated that (success) is going to come if you keep working at it,” Tyler said. “Really near the end of spring ball, I started to find my stride and find everything to get back to where I was coming out of high school, which I was probably the most confident I’d ever been. Now I’m feeling good.
“Last year really was a struggle. It was a really hard transition to come back to kicking (field goals) after I hadn’t done it for three and a half years.”
Outlining his goals for this season, Tyler cited a 90 percent success rate on field goals and a four-second mark for hangtime on kickoffs. As an accomplished punter who was named to the Ray Guy Award Watch List prior to the 2017 season, Tyler said he would like to be a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award – which honors the nation’s best kicker – this year.
Arizona State expected to hold one of the country’s greatest advantages with punter Michael Turk returning for the 2021 season. After the first practice of fall camp, Turk entered the transfer portal and announced on Aug. 13 that he would join the Oklahoma Sooners. With his departure, ASU turns to freshman Eddie Czaplicki for punts and junior Ethan Long for holding duties.
“There’s not really pressure on me,” remarked Czaplicki when asked about stepping in for Turk, whose name was frequently on award watch lists for punters. “I’ll go out there and do my job to the best of my ability. There are people saying, ‘oh, it’s a big loss,’ but it’s next man up. I have high expectations for myself and lofty goals for where I want to be, so I internalize that versus having external expectations.”
Czaplicki turned his focus from all three kicking disciplines to focus his attention on punting once Turk left.
“It has been a challenge adjusting to the speed of the game, but I feel like I’ve prepared really well over the past few years for it,” said Czaplicki of his new position in the depth chart. The versatile freshman specialist said he expected to come to Tempe and compete for playing time early, but he had no preference for what position it would come from. “I did all three (punting, place-kicking and kickoff) in high school for four years. I always trained equally and was highly ranked for both.”
Both Tyler and long snapper Erik Dickerson spoke highly of Long’s preparation and desire to improve as a holder.
“First off, Ethan is a great athlete, he’s a great teammate, he’s a great competitor, and he wants to be great and wants to help me be great,” explained Tyler when asked about his new battery mate, who’s constantly asking for tips to help make things easiest for Tyler. “Having that want for feedback and constructive criticism is huge. From the first day that he’s held, he’s made such a monumental leap.
“We go out now, and it’s spot on. It normally takes guys a long time, but he’s a great athlete with great hand-eye coordination, and now he understands what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and what I prefer.”
As with such a repetitive position, Dickerson said time would continue to refine the abilities of the former quarterback. It’s a mentality shared by Slocum which remains on the forefront of his unit’s minds.
“One of the things that Slocum loves to say is ‘repetition is the mother of skill,’ and Ethan’s kind of new at it, but he’s getting reps, and he’s got the skill,” said Dickerson. “I trust him, and the more that I work with him, the more that I trust him. I fully trust Ethan Long.”
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