Roberto Aguayo: ‘I make that job look easy’

Roberto Aguayo made his Groza award-winning season look easy. But an unexpected opportunity to redshirt in 2012 laid the foundation for his 2013 success.

Roberto Aguayo does not lack for confidence. The first time I ever spoke to him was in 2013 during Spring practice. At that point Aguayo hadn’t even kicked yet in a collegiate game, but was already laying out his intention to win the Lou Groza award and he didn’t shy away from advertising his kicking range when asked:

“My farthest was a 68 [yard kick] last Fall in practice, but that was with the wind at my back, I hit the ball good,” said Aguayo last April. “I’d say 55-60 yards, maybe on a good day with the wind at my back 63. But anything under 55 I can hit it.”

17 months later, it’s safe to say that Aguayo’s confidence was well merited. He made 21 of his 22 field goal attempts last year, was perfect on extra points and won the Groza award in his very first college season. In fact, Aguayo was so steady for Florida State last season that it’s hard to find many places for the redshirt sophomore to even improve.

“Obviously I wanted to win [the Groza award], but I felt like that would be later in my [career] but I had the season that I had and they gave it to the best person that they thought and they picked me,” said Aguayo at Florida State’s media day.

“I’ve already won that, that’s at my house and that’s behind me. Now on to winning another one.”

Jan 3, 2014; Orange, CA, USA; Florida State Seminoles kicker Roberto Aguayo (19) during practice for the BCS National Championship football game against the Auburn Tigers at Orange Coast College. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

Aguayo replaced Dustin Hopkins last season. Hopkins, in his time at FSU, was no slouch either. Though he was never able to win a Groza himself (he finished as the runner-up in both his junior and senior seasons), Hopkins walked away as the all-time leading scorer of any placekicker in NCAA history.

It’s a career mark that Aguayo is on pace to break sometime during his junior season.

But despite not winning a Groza of his own, Hopkins’ example was invaluable in Aguayo’s Groza campaign. Initially Aguayo was supposed to greyshirt during the 2012 season. Taking a greyshirt is when a player agrees to delay his enrollment at his college or university of choice in order to put off using any of his eligibility before that school is ready for him. In Aguayo’s case, Dustin Hopkins was already going to be the kicker in 2012 and rather than burn a year of eligibility, the coaching staff preferred to have the clock start on Aguayo the next year — when Hopkins left.

But some roster turnover late in the Summer opened up a couple of spots and Aguayo — along with holder Chris Revell — was able to get put on scholarship at the start of the 2012 season.

“Coach [Eddie] Gran called me in and said ‘hey man, we want to keep you here, we want to redshirt you and I feel like you’ll learn a lot behind Dustin,'” recalled Aguayo. “Honestly I didn’t know what a redshirt year would do and I heard a lot like, ‘oh a redshirt year benefits you’ for other positions like to put on weight or stuff. And I was like ‘well I don’t really need to put on weight.’

“But that year actually benefitted me a lot, going out to every game — I travelled to all the away games — I [saw] how the crowd was. Man, they bash you [as a] kicker. Especially when you’re close to the sideline — ‘you suck. You’re not going to make this field goal’ — it’s funny, I laugh. But it helped me a lot, especially with my mindset going into games and how to prepare for games.”

Rather than sit back idly in Tallahassee and wait for his turn, Aguayo got used to life as a college kicker. He spent time around his coaches and teammates. He sat in special teams meetings. At practice, he got started on a much smarter kicking regimen than anything he had been a part of before.

In high school, Aguayo was used to kicking alone — off to the side — often without his long-snapper and holder.

“I came [to FSU] wanting to kick every day and Dustin and the other guys told me to calm down, save your leg because it’s not like high school where there’s only ten games,” said Aguayo. “So I was kicking a lot [in high school] and by the time the bye week came around, oh man, my leg was hurting, I was like thank God the bye is here, I need to rest my leg.”

But at FSU Aguayo was on a kick count. He worked regularly in game-type situations. He worked closely with his holder and the long-snapper to establish a rhythm.

He even got rid of the jitters long before they could ever affect one of his kicks.

“I walked out for the first time [during my redshirt year], I did get a little bit nervous, I was a little bit shaky, but after that I knew how it felt,” remembered Aguayo. “Throughout my redshirt year, coming into my next year I felt comfortable — like I was at home and just do what you’ve got to do.”

That paid huge dividends last season. Aguayo was nearly perfect, his lone miss came at Wake Forest on a ball he intended to kick up into the wind but instead drove low — through the gusts — and ended up sending wide. He corrected his mistake a quarter later, with a kick of the same distance — albeit facing the other direction.

“That’s the hardest kick to make after you miss one,” said Aguayo.

But that first miss still drives Aguayo. It drives him a little bit crazy, to be frank. What do you strive for when you’ve already been declared the best at your position after just one season in the college ranks?

Perfection.

“I was like, ‘damn, not many kickers can do that.’ Like I make that job look easy…”

“Yeah, I compare it a lot — Tiger Woods is my idol, obviously, the things he’s done in golf — I compare [last] season to 2000 Tiger,” said Aguayo. “You know what I mean? Because yeah, I only missed one kick. I was one kick away.”

In 2000 Woods won nine of the 20 tournaments he played in, set the record for the lowest scoring average in PGA history and came just six strokes (one fifth-place finish away) from sweeping all four majors — from achieving golf’s form of perfection.

Aguayo, who was just one missed field goal from his own perfection knows the feeling. He admits that miss still gets to him.

“In the offseason, I was like, ‘you know, that’s crazy,'” admitted Aguayo. “When I was winning the awards, when I was at the Groza, I was just like, you know, ‘it’s not that big of a deal, guys.’

“But after [the season] I was like, ‘damn, not many kickers can do that.’ Like I make that job look easy, and it’s [actually] really hard.”

Maybe it is actually really hard. Certainly plenty of other kickers around the country may agree. But once again Aguayo is right to be confident.

It sure does look easy with him back there.