The text message arrived this past Saturday as Arizona State aviation student Nolan Krinsky was preparing for a training flight.
A friend asked if Krinsky had seen Arizona State football head coach Kenny Dillingham’s scathing rant after a loss at Cincinnati earlier that day.
Irate that his starting kicker missed a pair of fourth-quarter field goals that would have pulled the Sun Devils within a touchdown, Dillingham stared out at a sea of smartphones and TV cameras, and proclaimed, “If you can kick and you’re at Arizona State, email me.” Dillingham went on to say that he was “dead serious” about holding kicking tryouts, adding “We’ve got to find somebody that can make a field goal.”
To many Arizona State fans, Dillingham’s tirade was comedy gold. To Krinsky, it was the answer to his prayers. For two-plus years, Krinsky had trained by himself on desolate campus soccer fields and all but begged for the chance to showcase his powerful leg to Arizona State coaches. Now the former high school kicker hoped to prove to Dillingham that the antidote to the Sun Devils’ season-long field goal woes had been under his nose the entire time.
Shortly before stepping into the cockpit of a single-engine Cessna 172, Krinsky posted a video on X of himself booming a 60-yard field goal through the uprights and tagged a dozen Arizona State football-themed accounts. The caption read, “I am a kicker, punter [and] holder and have been trying to walk onto the team for three years now. I love kicking and putting in the work. @KennyDillingham if you give me a tryout, I promise I won’t disappoint.”
Krinsky turned his phone off for several hours during his training flight. The deluge of reposts and compliments that his post inspired was unknown to the aspiring commercial pilot until he landed at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway…
Source link : https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/this-kid-just-wont-give-up-student-who-practiced-alone-for-2-plus-years-ready-to-answer-arizona-states-call-for-a-kicker-181910788.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-10-22 18:19:10
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