Billy Chapel is standing on the mound at Yankee Stadium and the crowd is welcoming the aging Detroit Tigers pitcher as only New York Sports fans can in a PG-13 rated movie.
Chapel, played by Kevin Costner, looks around at the crowd before turning his attention to the catcher and tells himself, “clear the mechanism.” Just like that he’s in a different zone.
Florida Gators freshman kicker Evan McPherson didn’t remember the scene from For Love of the Game, he was born the same year the movie was released, but he has a similar process.
“When I’m on the field I don’t really hear anything. When I get set it’s just, I don’t know, it’s just like I’m in my backyard kicking or out here kicking,” McPherson said. “It’s like a zone. It is. It’s really hard to explain but it’s really cool because you know all these people are screaming your name or cheering for you but you can’t hear it or see it until the ball goes through the uprights.”
McPherson estimated that he’d kicked in front of “maybe a couple of thousand people” before the season opener. This week in Knoxville, Tennessee will be different than his first three games. There will be more than 100,000 rowdy Volunteer fans and they won’t be quiet when he’s kicking like the home crowd is at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Plenty of mechanism to be cleared and it won’t be of the PG-13 variety either.
A three-star kicker out of Fort Payne, Alabama McPherson developed a close relationship with Dan Mullen. The then Mississippi State head coach first reached out to McPherson when he was just an eighth grader. The two stayed in constant contact and McPherson committed to play for Mississippi State on April 8, 2017.
McPherson was surprised when Mullen left Mississippi State but it wasn’t long before Mullen got back in contact.
“I think he took the job on a Friday. No, a Sunday. Then he got down here that Monday, the next day. He called me after he got off of the plane. Immediately,” McPherson recalled. “That’s when he offered me. Then he came for that in-home visit that Friday. Everything changed really fast.”
McPherson was still firm in his commitment. Even after the phone call and continued communication with Mullen he was intent on honoring his commitment to Mississippi State. McPherson It was an in-home visit that changed his mind. Mullen went in-home on December 2. Six days later McPherson was on campus. two days later he was a Gator.
“I think about it. I think about it sometimes,” McPherson responded when asked if he ever thinks how his life would be different if he’d ended up in Starkville. “It would be different, definitely. I thought coming down here it would give me better opportunities, just play in bigger games and pretty much give me a better shot to start. So, I just pretty much stuck with my gut. My gut said to come down here.”
The job wasn’t going to be handed to him. Jorge Powell was hoping to win the starting job. That went on all summer after McPherson enrolled and into the fall. Even the week of the season opener Mullen wasn’t sure who would be the starter.
“During recruiting, we felt there’s a good chance he’d be the guy. You know with his talent level. When he got here, looking at his talent level you’d probably be the guy. To see what happens when you roll out there on the field in front of a packed stadium, sometimes you react differently,” Mullen said. “He’s a pretty cool cat out there.”
McPherson has been cool under pressure. The freshman is 5-of-6 kicking field goals with a 48-yarder to boot (he kicked a 60-yard field goal with a crosswind in high school). The lone miss wasn’t a miss but a blown call by the referees and he’s a perfect 11-11 on extra points. That’s an incredible start for McPherson but he’ll face a bigger test this week for sure.
Sorry for beating your record @4Prospect 😉 I would like to thank my amazing snapper and holder @AlexMc83 for allowing me to hit this 60 yrd. pic.twitter.com/qFoUPx0tRw
— Evan McPherson (@McPherson_Evan) October 7, 2017
There’s also the task of replacing one of the most popular kickers in school history in Eddy Pineiro. The Miami product left for the NFL Draft a year early, part of Mullen’s recruiting pitch to McPherson, but was a fan favorite. Every time Pineiro would take the field the stadium would chant his name, something senior left tackle Martez Ivey hopes will continue.
“It used to be like “ED-DY, ED-DY, ED-DY!” Good thing they got the E still, right. It ain’t hard to switch over,” Ivey said. “If anything y’all need to tell anybody it’s, “EV-AN, EV- AN.” I mean you see him put that thing through there? Nailed it. He probably has about 65 but I ain’t gonna brag.”
Those chants would be nice but don’t expect McPherson to acknowledge them. He’s in his zone with the mechanism cleared until he sees the ball go through the uprights.