Boot camp for a kicker

Photo by Michael Patrick

Tennessee place-kicker Daniel Lincoln, right, is congratulated by holder Casey Woods after Lincoln boots a field goal against Florida in Gainesville on Sept. 15. Lincoln has made all eight of his field-goal attempts this season.

Train your binoculars on the Tennessee sideline during a game, and you'll no doubt see Daniel Lincoln kicking into a net.

You might even see the occasional teammate talking to Lincoln, too.

Just because he's 8-of-8 on field-goal attempts this season doesn't mean he's being treated like a pitcher in the midst of a perfect game.

"We joke about it," Lincoln said. "(Holder) Casey (Woods) and I joke about it sometimes because I know some kickers are kind of mental about it and it would bother them. But Casey knows I'm not like that."

Almost everyone knows that Lincoln is off to the best start for a UT kicker in school history.

Lincoln leads a parade of perfect kickers across the country with eight field goals, and Arkansas' Alex Tejada and Ohio's Michael Braunstein are the only others who have made their first seven this season.

But here's betting neither of those two went through what Lincoln did to get there.

Before the redshirt freshman ever set foot on the game field, UT coach Phillip Fulmer put him through what amounted to boot camp for kickers.

"Some of it can't be put into print, most of it can't," Lincoln says. "It's been everything from trying to distract you. Standing behind you talking, yelling at you while you're doing it. Get hit in the head with things, having to run stadiums if you miss something or you get a kick blocked."

And Lincoln, who counts himself as his harshest critic, rarely pleased Fulmer even when he felt satisfied.

"Even when you did something right, it wasn't good enough," Lincoln says. "It's been great."

Great now, anyway.

Lincoln admits that last year wasn't exactly a stroll through the park. It was a lot more like a sprint up the bleachers, which Lincoln did after one scrimmage this year.

But slowly he tuned out the distractions and learned to rely on himself. So far, he's thriving, thanks to what he and punter Britton Colquitt have dubbed Fulmer's "mental warfare."

"It got to me for a while, a really good while," Lincoln says. "You get down on yourself and you've got to come back. And it's definitely got to come from within you. You've got to rely on yourself and come back and be mentally tough. I think that's the biggest asset for a kicker."

It's turned into one for Lincoln.

Against Florida in the Swamp, Lincoln, a native of Ocala, Fla., tuned out foul language and the pressure of kicking in front of what was essentially a hometown crowd by making a pair of chip-shot attempts in the first half.

It's a long way from where Lincoln was when he first arrived on campus.

"The consistency that he's shown has been very, very positive," Fulmer said. "If you knew where we started to where we are now, it is quite impressive. I think he tried to kick way too hard and way too much when he first got here (and) ended up injuring himself."

A strained quadriceps muscle in his redshirt year set him back, but Lincoln emerged in a battle with Colquitt in spring practice and then eventually earned Fulmer's trust after Colquitt suffered a pulled quad during fall camp.

Lincoln has been nearly seamless - and flawless, too - in making the transition, thanks to those mental games Fulmer played.

"I've been really hard on him," Fulmer said. "I think it's paid off. I think his mental toughness is there, his mindset's there. Not that he won't (miss) sometime in his career - I hope not too soon - he'll have that hurdle to get back over like everybody does. But I'm real pleased with the way he's gone about his business."

Drew Edwards covers University of Tennessee football. He may be reached at 865-342-6274.