College football team to hold open kicking tryouts after missed FGs

Following Arizona State football’s loss to Cincinnati on Saturday, Sun Devils coach Kenny Dillingham said the team is looking to make a change at kicker — including open tryouts coming Monday in Tempe.

Trailing in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s Big 12 road game against the Bearcats, Sun Devils kicker Ian Hershey missed two field goals of 48 and 41 yards, respectively. Hershey’s struggles Saturday prompted a candid postgame response from Dillingham on the Sun Devils’ kicking:

‘You can be aggressive but just because you convert doesn’t guarantee you can make it one possession. So you would hope that you can make a kick one of those. But our kicking game’s atrocious,’ Dillingham said. ‘So if you can kick and you’re at Arizona State, email me. We’re going to have kicking tryouts on Monday, so bring it on. Kicking tryouts Monday and let’s go.’

The second-year head coach said he was serious about the open tryouts when a member of the assembled media in Cincinnati asked if he was joking or not with his statement.

‘Yeah, I’m dead serious. We’re going to put it out on our socials. We’re going to have a kick tryout on Monday,’ Dillingham said. ‘We got to find somebody who can make a field goal.’

If Hershey made both field goals, the Sun Devils would have been able to bring their deficit closer. But even if Hershey converted both, or at least one, Arizona State would have needed a touchdown and extra point to tie the game.

Arizona State has had ongoing kicking struggles through the first eight weeks. Hershey is 7 of 12 on field goal attempts this season — 3 of 7 from 30 yards or more — while 20 of 21 on extra point attempts, per Arizona State’s stats page.

‘We got to do a better job getting him (Hershey) in the better mental state to kick. But at the same token, I got to do a job and I got to get guys on the field that can perform in those situations as well. And we’ll go to work, we’ll get better and we’ll have a tryout and see if somebody’s good enough,’ Dillingham said.

‘And if somebody’s not, then you know what? Status quo. Keep going to work. If somebody is, then we will add them to the team and rock and roll from there.’

Arizona State (5-2, 2-2 in Big 12 play) will head into the bye next week before traveling to Oklahoma State on Saturday, Nov. 2.