Fate helped Lincoln make kick save

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Tennessee’s Daniel Lincoln, middle, celebrates with offensive tackle Ramon Foster, left, and deep snapper Morgan Cox after kicking a game-winning field goal against Vanderbilt on Saturday.

If the kicker at Forest High School in Ocala, Fla., hadn’t gotten suspended for a playoff game.

If his dad, a former pro soccer player, hadn’t drilled enough toughness into him to survive Phillip Fulmer’s doghouse.

If punter Britton Colquitt hadn’t injured his leg in an August scrimmage.

Life is full of “ifs” and here’s another:

Would Tennessee be playing for an SEC Eastern Division title Saturday at Kentucky if Daniel Lincoln hadn’t come through as one of the surprises of the 2007 season?

Considering that Lincoln has won two games with field goals for the No. 19 Vols (8-3, 5-2 SEC), the answer is no, Tennessee would not have an SEC East title on the line against Kentucky (7-4, 3-4) at Commonwealth Stadium.

Kickoff is 1:30 p.m. (TV: WVLT).

The redshirt freshman who had to kick his way out of Fulmer’s doghouse has hit 20 of 24 attempts. That was good enough to make him a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award, given to the nation’s top kicker.

“The scary thing is I could very easily be 23 or 24,” Lincoln said this week.

He’s not beating himself up for missing a 51-yard try against South Carolina. The other three, he’d like to have back, especially one that hit the upright last week against Vanderbilt.

Back in August — or at any point during Lincoln’s struggling redshirt year in 2006 — Fulmer would take 20 of 24 and dance a jig.

Of the kickers in the nation with 20 or more field goals, only two have a better percentage than Lincoln’s .833.

No one not named Reveiz has made more than 20 field goals in a season at UT. Fuad Reveiz had 27 in 1982; Carlos Reveiz hit 24 in 1985.

Lincoln has kept UT in the East race twice in recent weeks. He hit from 49 yards to force overtime against South Carolina, then hit from 27 to win the game.

Last week, his 33-yarder capped a fourth-quarter rally as the Vols edged Vanderbilt 25-24.

Furthermore, his four field goals at Mississippi State were the margin in a 33-21 win.

That’s a nice contribution for a guy who got on the plane for the season-opening trip to California not 100 percent sure if he was going to kick or not.

“Gosh, it feels like a completely different season now,’’ Lincoln said. “That seems so long ago.

“My mentality is no longer keeping the starting job but contributing to this team and helping us in this championship run.”

Saturday, he’ll kick against a Knoxvillian. Central High School’s Lones Seiber has hit 15 of 20 tries for Kentucky.

Tennessee looked to Ocala, in the heart of Gator country, to take a chance on Lincoln with a scholarship offer in 2006.

His original dream was to play safety for Florida.

“I think it was my junior year reality set in,” he said. “You’re 6 foot, 200 pounds and run a 4.5. There’s probably 700 other kids out there that do that and a thousand more that are better.”

He added kicking chores as a freshman when Forest’s kicker got suspended before a playoff game. The coach asked for a volunteer and when no other hands went up, Lincoln’s did.

He learned to use his foot playing soccer for his dad, Phillip, who played professionally in Greece and in the U.S. Lincoln’s sister, Rebecca, is headed to Louisiana-Lafayette to play soccer.

“My dad was demanding of me more so than the other players,” Lincoln said. “I knew I had to be that much better.”

Lincoln needed that mental toughness to make it through his redshirt season. An early quad injury contributed to a slow start. Fulmer, knowing he needed a kicker to replace James Wilhoit in ’07, wasn’t terribly sympathetic.

“I didn’t allow that to be much of an excuse,” Fulmer said. “We never backed up from what our expectations were.”

Quitting was never an option, Lincoln said. Still, the pressure didn’t subside until the season-opener. And had Colquitt, the punter, not been injured, Lincoln might not have gotten a chance at that point.

“No, that’s what all you guys were saying, but I wasn’t really thinking about that,” Lincoln said. “I felt it was my job, that I’m the kicker here.”

Twenty field goals later, there’s no doubt about who’s the kicker here.

Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276.