BOULDER — As a kicker, Colorado senior Will Oliver has learned the importance of forgetting the past.
Never has that been more important than this week.
“One thing I pride myself on is being able to move on, because you have to have a short memory,” Oliver said. “There’s nothing that can possibly be done about the past, but if I let it affect the future, that’s on me.”
Oliver’s most recent game was possibly the worst of his exceptional career at CU. He went 0-for-3 on field goals during the Buffaloes’ 59-56, double-overtime loss at California last Saturday.
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It was only the second time during his CU career that he missed three in a row — and the first time he missed three in one game.
“Everyone has a rough day,” Oliver said this week. “We’re all human, and it’s on to the next. It’s behind me and I’m moving forward. It’s going to happen at some point in our lives. Get it out of the way and move on to the next one.”
Oliver has been CU’s kicker for four years and has made 68 percent of his field-goal attempts (38-of-56). Five of the misses were blocked, meaning that only 13 kicks in his career have been off target.
After the game against Cal, Oliver said he over-compensated for the wind. This week, he said that in looking at the film, he didn’t find anything fundamentally wrong with what he did, but he has taken a simple approach to practice.
“This week we’ve just been going back to basics, which tends to be the approach when you have an off day like that,” he said.
CU special-teams coach Toby Neinas said he isn’t concerned about Oliver.
“I describe him as a gun fighter,” Neinas said. “He is very cool- handed, level-headed, steady in a time of stress. That’s why I think it was so unusual for us to have the day we had on Saturday. I think he’s certainly bounced back.”
While not concerned, Neinas said there was one minor fundamental difference he saw in Oliver during the game at Cal.
“Will did do some things fundamentally on that first and second kick that he very rarely does,” Neinas said. “He was a little bit quick with his eyes.”
Kickers are taught to keep their eyes down as they follow through with their leg, and Neinas said Oliver is “as patient with his eyes as any placer-kicker I’ve ever been around.” Saturday against Cal, however, Neinas felt that Oliver lifted his eyes too quickly on the first two attempts.
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