Even with Urban Meyer's stacked offense, having a reliable kicker is huge. Sean Nuernberger will try to be that this fall after having his fair share of struggles last year.
As a true freshman, Nuernberger wasn't terrible but certainly didn't win the confidence of his head coach connecting on just 65% of his field goal tries (13/20). For perspective, his predecessor, Drew Basil, hit on 9/10 field goals in 2013 and 33/40 (83%) over his last three years in Columbus.
Breaking down Nuernberger's field goal tries, he hit on 8/10 from 20-29 yards, didn't attempt a field goal from 30-39 yards and made only 5/10 from 40-49 yards.
| OPPONENT | MAKE | MISS |
|---|---|---|
| NAVY | 46, 28 | |
| VIRGINIA TECH | 40, 27 | |
| KENT STATE | 41 | |
| CINCINNATI | 25, 42 | |
| MARYLAND | 28 | 48 |
| RUTGERS | ||
| PENN STATE | 49 | 41 |
| ILLINOIS | 44, 26 | |
| MICHIGAN STATE | 47 | |
| MINNESOTA | 22 | |
| INDIANA | 46 | |
| MICHIGAN | ||
| WISCONSIN | 23 | 29 |
| ALABAMA | 22, 21 | |
| OREGON |
Those stats were especially disappointing considering Neurnberger enrolled early and came in with – by kicker standards – a great deal of hype as a national top 10 kicking prospect boasting tales of 57-yard makes in high school.
He got off to a great start hitting on both attempts in the season opener against Navy including a 46-yarder but things didn't work out so well the next week. In the loss to Virginia Tech, he missed a 40-yard try with Ohio State trailing 14-7 early in the 2nd quarter and on the very next possession, he missed from just 27 yards out killing two scoring chances.
Against Ohio State's next legit opponent five games later against Penn State, Nuernberger drilled a 49-yarder to set his current career long but also missed a 41-yard try with the Buckeyes up 17-7 midway through the 3rd quarter. The Buckeyes would eventually prevail in double overtime.
Two weeks later in East Lansing, the Buckeye offense opened with a 9-play, 45-yard drive but Nuernberger couldn't connect on a 47-yarder to kill momentum and Sparty scored a touchdown on their ensuing possession. Of course, the Buckeyes went on to win the game but Nuernberger's struggles in the biggest games on the schedule to date was a growing concern.
During Ohio State's three-game postseason blitzkrieg through Wisconsin, Alabama and Oregon, the freshman made three of four tries and while 75% isn't bad, the context that all four attempts came from 21-29 yards out still left room for improvement.
Despite his inconsistency, Nuernberger still led the Buckeyes in Points Scored with 128 which was also set a B1G single-season record for kickers on the strength of going 89/89 on extra points.
Like cornerbacks, a necessary trait of a good kicker is to have selective amnesia. Nuernberger will have to forget his struggles that came mostly in Ohio State's biggest games. Considering the strength of his leg is not an issue and neither is his talent level, he needs to grow from what he went through in 2014.
The expectation is he does exactly that and connects on at least 75% of his attempts this year. The real question is if he can take the next step and be better from 30+ yards in big games. If he does, Ohio State's chances to repeat will realize a slight uptick.
