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Nebraska staffer on place-kicker’s injury situation: ‘This is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen before’
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Nebraska’s kicking situation in 2019 has been an odd one.
As a freshman, Barret Pickering was the Cornhuskers’ kicker last season and converted on 14-of-18 kicks. This season, Pickering hasn’t attempted a kick yet for the team, though.
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Why? Injuries. And it’s weird, because typically you don’t think of kickers getting injured too often, right? Nebraska special teams coordinator Jovan Dewitt can’t believe what has happened with Pickering:
“This is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen before,” he said. “I’ve never seen this before. I mean, we go through plans of how many reps (the kickers) are going to take on a week-to-week basis and how many reps they’re going to take on a daily basis. We make sure they get warmed up beforehand. We do everything and anything possible. It’s like a pitcher’s arm. They have a kicking count, and we don’t exceed it. We’ve never exceeded it.
“It’s just one of those situations where you almost feel snake bit to a certain degree. It is what it is. We just push on through it.”
Despite not kicking the first two weeks, Dewitt said Pickering has been practicing with a “light kick count” since last week.
As of now, it’s not known if Pickering will play in Week 3 when the Huskers take on Northern Illinois at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday at home. The game will be televised on FS1.
Kevin covers Big Ten football for Saturday Tradition.