UCLA’s Velasco Decides Not to Kick About Being Grounded

Just when Alfredo Velasco had it about licked, they changed the rules of the game.

And at first, UCLA’s senior kicker refused to believe the news: For the first time since 1947, tees will not be allowed on field-goal and extra-point kicks this season in college football.

Why not?

Because Velasco and his peers became too proficient.

Last season, when Velasco made 17 of 19 field-goal attempts and all 43 of his conversion attempts, major college kickers were successful on more than 67% of their three-point attempts and more than 95% of their extra-point attempts.

Conversions became so routine that they were “about as thrilling to watch as ice fishing or a knitting contest,� said Dave Nelson, dean of physical education, recreation and athletics at the University of Delaware and, since 1961, secretary-editor of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. football rules committee.

“A 96% efficient football play is a totally unbalanced play. One of our responsibilities is to keep the balance between offense and defense, and any time you have a play that is 96% successful, you obviously have an imbalance.�

So, by unanimous vote of the 12-member rules committee at a meeting last January in Marco Island, Fla., kicking tees were legislated out of the game.

Back in Burbank, where he moved with his family from his native Mexico City 18 years ago, Velasco, 22, gathered a pair of his kicking comrades--brother Salvador, 21, a junior kicker at Hawaii, and brother Abelardo, 20, a junior kicker at Cal State Northridge--and aired his frustration.

He complained that the rule would lead to “kicker genocide,� but his brothers and their kicking guru, Ben Agajanian, convinced Velasco that he has nothing to fear.

“There’s strength in numbers,� he said. “And when we realized there was nothing we could do about it, we made up our minds that we were going to make the adjustment and that we could handle it.

“I took comfort in knowing that my brothers and I were in this together.�

The rule change, Velasco said, was probably toughest on his practice holder, sister Jeannette, 18, a senior at Burbank High School.

“She didn’t like it at all,� he said. “Before, she could just sit up on her knee and be comfortable. Now, because she has to get down lower, she has to sit down on the ground and get her butt wet.�

Velasco thought that he, too, would have to make major adjustments, but the last few months have prompted him to think otherwise.

The most noticeable adjustment he made was to place the ball eight yards behind the line of scrimmage, rather than seven, to gain height on his kicks. The technique, though, is a little different.

Whereas kicking off a tee could be compared to driving a golf ball with a wood, to kick the ball off the ground “you have to learn to put your toe down and turn your foot in and kind of make a nine-iron out of your foot in order to get the ball into the air,� said Agajanian, a longtime pro kicker and former Dallas Cowboy assistant coach who has personally tutored Velasco since Velasco was a junior at Burbank High.

Said Velasco, who aspires to a career in the National Football League, where kicking tees also are prohibited: “It took me awhile to get used to the idea, but eventually I saw it as being advantageous. I’ll have to kick off the ground sometime. I might as well get used to it now. It might help me, as far as getting into the pros.�

One-inch kicking tees were used in college football from 1948 to 1965, when two-inch tees were introduced.

“The purpose was to put the foot back in football and to facilitate more field-goal kicking,� Nelson said. “Obviously, we no longer need to do that.�

As recently as 1957, major-college kickers made only 64 field-goals. Last season, they made 1,420. Nelson anticipates about a 10% drop in field-goal efficiency this season. Attempts are expected to decrease, too, because coaches probably will be less inclined to try longer kicks.

Agajanian said that many kicks will be botched because of poor placements.

“Your holder now doesn’t have a place to put the ball,� he said. “It will take three years for regular kickers to adjust.�

But Velasco, he said, is not a run-of-the-mill kicker.

With the aid of a tee, Velasco made 37 of 43 field-goal attempts in his first three seasons at UCLA and all but one of his 94 conversion attempts. He has converted 50 straight extra-point kicks since Nov. 14, 1987, when he missed a first-quarter kick in a 47-14 victory over Washington.

Kicking off the ground, he said, requires more effort.

“When the ball was set up so high, you could be a lot more relaxed and smooth and still make good contact,� he said. “In fact, you could even get a little lazy.

“But off the ground, you really have to make an effort to get under the ball and follow through high. It takes a little more work, but in a way it helps you because it doesn’t allow you to get too lazy. You miss some kicks when you’re too slow or too lazy. This way, you have to make sure you make good contact.�

Bruin Notes

Coach Terry Donahue, 45, denied a published report that he is considering retirement. In Sunday’s Herald Examiner, columnist Bud Furillo reported that Donahue told him last December that this might be his last season and that he was contemplating a career in real estate. “I think he misunderstood me,� Donahue said. “I’m not leaving.� The Bruins’ winningest coach is 108-38-7 in 13 seasons at UCLA. . . . In case you wondered: Outside linebacker Marvcus Patton was named after Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, but his father added the extra letter because he wanted his son to be different. . . . Reserve flanker Laurence Burkley, injured in a scrimmage last Saturday, underwent major reconstructive Wednesday on his left knee and will miss the season.

Through Monday’s games, former UCLA receiver David Keating was batting .274 with two home runs, 27 runs batted in and 10 stolen bases in 48 games for the Detroit Tigers’ Class-A affiliate at Niagara Falls, N.Y. Keating, who caught 23 passes last season but gave up his final year of football eligibility to sign with the Tigers, had struck out 56 times in 175 at-bats.