Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU to Get Kicks from Freshmen
August 18, 2006 | Football
Aug. 17, 2006
By MAUREEN FULTON, Blade Sports Writer -
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BOWLING GREEN - They room together. They grew up in Florida and started out as soccer players.
Placekicker Sean Ellis and punter Alonso Rojas are freshmen, and they're first-stringers for the Bowling Green State University football team.
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"Our kicking game is going to be vastly improved," BGSU coach Gregg Brandon said. "I feel very confident in both those kids' abilities."
In 2004, with Shaun Suisham finishing up a record-setting career, the Falcons' kicking game was an afterthought. But last year's seniors Joe Timchenko and Nate Fry lacked consistency, to a painful extent. The two combined to go 5 of 9 on field goals and missed eight extra points. Fry averaged 38.5 yards a punt, eighth in the conference.
The Falcons won't expect the freshmen to produce like Suisham in '04, when he made 69-of-69 point-after attempts, but the starting jobs are still a great deal of responsibility for two athletes in their first semester of college.
"The experience factor, we'll have to overcome that, but at those two positions, I don't think youth is as big a deal as it is at linebacker or secondary or wherever," Brandon said. "It's not uncharted waters." Rojas, who kicked four years for Killian High School in Miami visited Bowling Green this past January.
"They asked me, 'Can you be here during the winter?'•" Rojas said. "I like challenges, that's why I came here."
Rojas averaged 46 yards per punt his senior year, including a 75-yard blast. Scout.com ranked him the No. 1 punter recruit in the country.
"Alonso Rojas is really an outstanding young punter who I think we were fortunate to get," Brandon said. "He's very talented."
Brandon has repeatedly expressed his excitement over signing Rojas and Ellis. It's one of the topics he's been most enthusiastic about during fall camp.
"To have the coaches 100 percent at my back, it's a great feeling," Rojas said. "It feels great knowing I'm the guy."
Ellis, from the central Florida town of Merritt Island, is 6-foot-6. He hit a 49-yard field goal as a sophomore playing for Cocoa (Fla.) High School, and was good on 93 percent (60 of 64) of extra points his last two seasons.
Since arriving at BGSU, Ellis has heard from his teammates, coaches, "everyone" about the kicking game's problems last season.
"I'm not really worried about what happened last year, but I think Alonso and I will both be successful," Ellis said.
A groin injury he suffered during his senior year was a slight concern, but Ellis has taken an easy pace in practice to make sure he won't be overworked by the time the season begins.
"He kicked a ton in high school, he probably kicked too much," Brandon said. "We backed off him a little bit earlier, and now he's come back and done a nice job."
The two have fast become friends, helped by their common home state and love of their "second" sport, soccer. Their teamwork has helped them make a positive impression on their coach thus far. Not that Brandon had to be swayed much.
"I love those two kids," Brandon said. "I feel good about them."
