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Arizona State HC rips up ‘cruel’ kicker after two missed FGs; Will hold open tryouts | News, results, highlights, statistics and rumors

Arizona State HC rips up ‘cruel’ kicker after two missed FGs; Will hold open tryouts | News, results, highlights, statistics and rumors

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Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham said Saturday that he is holding a kicking tryout next week after sophomore kicker Ian Hershey missed two field goals in a 24-14 road loss to Cincinnati.

Dillingham made the announcement during a postgame press conference in which he was critical of his team’s kicking issues:

The Athletic CFB @TheAthleticCFB

“If you can kick and are at Arizona State, email me. … I’m absolutely serious.”
Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham is looking for special teams help 👀
🎥 @LaCertosaSports pic.twitter.com/vz7oKsTdEx

“Our kicking game is terrible. So if you can kick and you’re at Arizona State, shoot me an email,” Dillingham said. “We’ll have kicking tryouts on Monday, so let’s get going. Kicking tryouts on Monday, let’s start tryouts on Monday. We have to find someone who can make a field goal.

Trailing by 10, the Sun Devils missed field goals on each of their last two offensive attempts in Saturday’s game.

Hershey’s first miss came from 48 yards, and then he missed a field goal from 41 yards.

Entering Saturday’s game, Hershey was just 7 of 10 field goals this season, but the two misses dropped it to an abysmal 58.3 percent field goal percentage on the year.

Hershey also kicked at Idaho State in 2022 and made seven of his 11 field goals. He didn’t attempt any field goals last season after transferring to ASU.

The Sun Devils also have another kicker in freshman Carston Kieffer, who has made four of his five extra point attempts and missed his only field goal attempt this season.

The loss drops Arizona State to 5-2 overall and 2-2 in Big 12 games on the year, but the team is still trending in the right direction.

In 2022, the Sun Devils went 3-9 last year under Herm Edwards and followed that up with another 3-9 season last season under Dillingham.

Arizona State has already made tremendous progress and is just one win away from bowl eligibility.

However, ongoing kicking issues could hurt the Sun Devils in the future, and it’s clear Dillingham is willing to put in a lot of effort to stabilize that aspect of the team.