The most anticipated debut of a kicker in the history of Florida Gators football started with a gaff. Playing in his first real game new kicker Eddy Pineiro forgot his mouthpiece in the locker room and had to have an assistant retrieve it, good thing UMass won the toss and deferred.
Pineiro admitted to having butterflies, who wouldn’t in front of more than 80,000 fans, but he wasn’t worried about his debut, he left that to his teammates.
“I was nervous going into the first one to see how he would do,” senior linebacker Jarrad Davis said.
Pineiro was perfect on Saturday night. He connected on two extra points and drilled all three of his field goal attempts from 40, 49 and 48 yards. He is the only Gator kicker in the last decade to convert three 40-yard field goals in a single game.
“I’m more scared of kicking in front of the team, not scared but more nervous kicking in front of the team [in practice],” Pineiro said after the game. “That was more pressure than kicking in the game.”
In an effort to get Pineiro ready for the pressure of a game situation, Jim McElwain had been having the team circle around him, yell, throw water and Gatorade and try to distract the kicker. Pineiro told a story about one time Gatorade got into his eye as he was approaching a kick and had to make it with one eye closed. A reporter jokingly asked if Eddy believed he could kick field goals with his eyes closed, noting Michael Jordan made a free throw with his eyes closed.
“I’m not Jordan,” Pinero retorted.
Pineiro actually made four field goals on Saturday. His first kick came in the first quarter and split the uprights. UMass was called offsides on the play and McElwain elected to take the points off the board and go for it on fourth down instead. A small footnote on an otherwise spectacular debut.
“I was kind of a little bit upset,” Pineiro joked. “That was my first field goal, my first attempt.”
Pineiro had a bigger crowd of media after the game than Brandon Powell, Nick Washington or Alex Anzalone and, at times, Pineiro looked perplexed at questions. He’s aware of how bad the kicking situation was at Florida before he arrived, it’s part of the reason he chose to come to Gainesville. He just doesn’t seem to understand why he’s being asked about pressure and kicking and getting this much attention. To him what he’s doing is simple, the product muscle memory that was built through hours, weeks and months of work. Work that he’s already put in but only now reaping the rewards from.
“That guy can really kick,” Jim McElwain said. “He told me going into the game, he said, ‘Coach, in kicking it doesn’t matter who’s all there. It’s all about timing and rhythm. The environment doesn’t matter,’ which to me tells me he’s got the right mindset that makes up a good, competitive kicker.”
The expectations surrounding Pineiro were incredible. On Saturday night, in front of the biggest crowd he’s ever played in front of Pineiro delivered.
Making 40, 48, 49 in one game. pretty sick. Things are looking up in the kicking game. Go Gators.
A bright spot in an otherwise lackluster poorly managed game. Penalties, clock management, an O line that needs work.