Sept. 23, 2003

By Sam Walker

Punter and place-kicker Ryan Plackemeier says his job is not noteworthy - as long as he's doing it. There must be some truth to that twisted logic, although it seems to be the antithesis of how most football players are recognized for their contributions on the field. Then again, kickers have long had a reputation for being a little quirky. But Plackemeier wants to remain virtually anonymous. The way he figures, as long as he's tilting field position in his team's favor with booming punts and converting extra point and field-goal attempts, nobody will ever know who he is.

At this point in the season, Plackemeier remains pretty invisible to everyone except maybe Coach Jim Grobe and the Wake Forest football staff. At the beginning of the season, Grobe pinpointed a strong kicking game as one facet that would be essential if the 2003 Deacons were to be successful. Plackemeier has provided a consistent leg through three games. The true sophomore is averaging 48.4 yards per punt, a figure that ranks first in the ACC and third nationally. Central Florida's Matt Prater leads the country with a 52.4 yard per punt average.

Plackemeier came to Wake Forest from Bonsall, Calif., as a little-known talent. His uncle, Jim Israel, played football and basketball at Wake Forest and still lives in nearby Clemmons. That family connection was how Plackemeier learned of Wake Forest, and after deciding he wanted to become a Demon Deacon, he began sending tapes and making contacts with the coaching staff in hopes of earning a scholarship.

"I'm from a small town near San Diego, and Wake Forest reminded me of my hometown team when I watched them play," Plackemeier said. "My uncle played baseball and basketball at Wake Forest, and he told me about the school and said that the football team is up and coming, so I just said, 'why not' and I took a visit out here. I was the last person to sign (that year). I signed three days before the last day. The academic opportunity was huge regardless of what was going to happen on the field, so I decided to come here. I sent out videos of my high school games and kept calling here. Eventually, Coach (Billy) Mitchell saw the tapes and told Coach Grobe that they needed to get me here. I'm just happy to get the opportunity. I got my shot and I haven't looked back."

Plackemeier was one of three true freshmen to play in 2002. While most of his classmates received a redshirt, Plackemeier was called to action because Wake Forest's kicking game wasn't as stable as the coaching staff would have liked. As a result, Plackemeier received playing time that most players don't see until their junior or senior seasons. His presence gave the Deacons more depth at both place-kicker and punter although he was brought in to serve primarily as a punter. Plackemeier debuted during the N.C. State game and averaged 43.2 yards per punt for the 2002 season, an average that would have ranked first in the ACC had he had enough attempts per game to be ranked statistically.

"Coming in, I was hoping I wouldn't have to play him as a freshman, but we ended up having to," Mitchell said. "That was a good experience for him because he got to do a lot of playing that a lot of kids don't get to. In that respect, he's about where he needs to be, but I don't think he's hit his full potential yet. If he continues to do the things he did this summer and get stronger in the weight room then he's going to become a great punter."

So Mitchell sent him home for the summer with specific instructions for improvement. Plackemeier's high school coach, Dave Chasse, helped him train for the 2003 season while he was back home in Californina. Plackemeier described Chasse' as a 92 year-old, 100 pound "short guy" who has had a profound influence on his life. "He's still there coaching and he's even taken hits on the sidelines during games and gotten up and said 'I've gotten better hits than that,'" Plackemeier said. "I've always had the leg strength to hit a long punt, but they wanted me to work on my consistency. So I worked with Coach Chasse', and he just really developed my ball drop so it's real consistent. Ninety percent of the punt is the ball drop. I have to give a lot of credit to him."

Plackemeier's off-season improvements were evident from the first game. He averaged 50.6 yards per punt for the contest (five punts) and took over extra-point duties when Matt Wisnosky was struggling with his kick consistency. He's kicked field goals, extra points, and handled punting duties ever since. His most memorable punt from the Boston College game has become known as the infamous pretzel punt. Standing deep in his own territory, Plackemeier flubbed a punt that traveled only 20 yards in the air, but rolled for about another 30 yards for a 55-yard net. The news media reported erroneously that the he slipped on a pretzel thrown from the stands.

"We looked (on video tape), and they did throw one out there, but it was about five feet away from him," Mitchell said. "It was a situation where he was backed up in the end zone and was rushing a little bit trying to get it out, and he slipped and went down. But the pretzel didn't have anything to do with the kick. I told him here we have all these big guys coming at you and you slip on a pretzel. Now it's joke and he just laughs at it."

"I didn't slip on any pretzel," Plackemeier said. "The Boston Globe got it mixed up a little bit. There was a pretzel thrown in, but I was just trying to get the ball off quickly and I had to lean back to get under it and I scraped the ground during the kick. It still didn't go very far except for the way it bounced. There was a pretzel, but it was thrown in over my shoulder right as the ball was being snapped. I saw it, but it didn't have anything to do with the kick. It was one of the worst punts. I'd rather forget it. It's a great joke on the team now : no pretzels on the field today coach. But I guess you've got to look at the results. I'd rather not get the results that way, but sometimes it's better to be lucky than good."

Through three games, Plackemeier had been nothing but good. He has a spot on the preseason watch list for the Ray Guy Award, an honor annually given to the nation's top punter. He has put three of his 14 punts inside the 20, and had a 58-yard boot in the game against Purdue. Plackemeier was named ACC Specialist of the Week honors after he averaged 49.5 yards on two punts with both landing inside the 20 against N.C. State. As a place-kicker, he is a 8 of-8 on PATs and 2 for 3 in field goals.

But as well as he's played, Plackemeier isn't guaranteed his place in the lineup. Mitchell evaluates his kickers daily and doesn't announce his starters until just before game time. Punter Steve Hale and placekicker Matt Wisnosky compete with Plackemeier weekly for a chance to play. Wisnosky is currently handling kickoff duties.

"They compete every week to determine who is going to be kicking, and then I look at pregame warm-up, because they're that close, and that's what I go with" Coach Billy Mitchell said. "It's good for them to know that because they know if they don't get the job done somebody's going to step up and get it done. It can change at any time so the guy's got to perform. We tell them the best indication of ability is performance. If it gets to be a case where they're even then I'd rather for him (Plackemeier) to concentrate on punting. The guys are competing with each other, and the guys in the backup roles support the guys in the starting roles and it's good to have that relationship. They help each other."

"It's week to week, and that's very fair," Plackemeier said. "It doesn't matter whether you are a freshman or a senior, they play the best player. I don't find out who is kicking until about two minutes before the game. That keeps the competition up and keeps you working hard. You know Steve Hale is a great punter who could start for a lot of colleges, so with either one of us we are going to have a great punt team this year."

Before each game, Plackemeier makes sure he rides the second bus to the stadium, and he puts on his left shoe (his plant foot) first. So perhaps wanting to remain anonymous such a strange take on the game for a kicker. After all, he plays very few snaps and games can turn on one swing of the leg. If Plackemeier has his way, they'll turn in Wake Forest's favor.