While senior punter Jakob Trestik and freshman kicker Jack Simonetta have helped lead the team to its impressive 6-1 start, football wasn’t always in the cards for either player.
“Ask any kicker,” Trestik said. “Everyone starts with soccer.”
Both players grew up on the soccer field and only transitioned to football during high school.
“A week before the season, [the coaches] were like, ‘We need someone who knows how to kick a ball,'” Trestik said. “So I tried it.”
The stakes got higher for the players when they realized their role could elevate their college prospects.
“Junior year I realized this could get me into a good school and help with college and I just took advantage of that,” Simonetta said.
The special teams unit arrives earlier than the rest of the team for practice in order to utilize the whole field for kicking and punting. They then attend the periods of practice that deal with special teams strategy.
Trestik’s punt routine is a simple one: three steps and a clean kick.
“I take my first step with my left foot and I catch the ball,” Trestik explained. “Everything’s kept away [from your body] and then it’s a short step with the right foot, a short step with the left foot, then drop it — it’s floated out almost level — and then just swing and kick the ball.”
“You’re supposed to kind of kick the meat of the ball,” Trestik continued. “When you have the ball in your hand, it’s tilted about ten degrees inward just like the shape of your foot. That’s what gets the most height and the most spiral.”
His proudest punting achievement came during last season when the team played Temple University at Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles. Trestik’s 56-yard punt there was one of the longest of his career.
“Just being able to go back and watch that on film and seeing that I was able to do that in the stadium was a very big high, and then it flipped our field position,” Trestik said. “Our defense got a turnover and ended up scoring [after] that.”
For Simonetta, his routine begins before he takes the field for an extra point or field goal attempt. After completing a few practice kicks into the net and running a few sprints down the sidelines, he takes the field — preferably from a distance.
“That way, the uprights look bigger,” he said.
Once on the field, he takes three steps back and two steps to the left from where he will kick, then prepares for the snap. The whole process, from snap to kick, occurs in just 1.2 seconds.
“When that unit goes on the field, usually everyone’s just looking at me kicking the ball, but no one else really knows the other work that my teammates are putting in,” Simonetta said. The efforts include the long snap by sixth-year senior linebacker Billy Shaeffer and the hold by freshman wide receiver Carson Persing.
Simonetta was named Patriot League Special Teams Player of the Week following his performance in the Leopards’ 24-3 victory over Columbia in their home opener.
“I want to get all-conference, but … I just want the team to do [well].”
