By By Will Bardwell / staff writer
October 28, 2004
OXFORD Patience has paid off for Wesley Bryan.
The former Meridian High standout is spending his senior season at Ole Miss handling kickoff duties in his first full-time duty with the Rebels.
Bryan, who entered the season as backup to punter Cody Ridgeway, unofficially became the Rebels' kickoff specialist during the homecoming game against Arkansas State on Oct. 2, which Ole Miss won 28-21. After a kickoff late in the game, senior Jonathan Nichols complained of pain in his toe.
"They (the coaches) said I'd handle the kickoff if we scored again," Bryan said. "We didn't score again, but the next week, I kicked off all week before the South Carolina game with the first team, and they told me I'd be kicking off for that game."
Bryan has now handled 10 kickoffs in the Rebels' last two games and has booted six touchbacks including five touchbacks in six kicks against the Gamecocks.
His quick adjustment is due in part, he said, to the fact that the South Carolina game was not his collegiate debut. Bryan filled in for the Rebels on two punts in their game against Texas Tech in 2002, when he was a sophomore.
"I wasn't nervous at all," Bryan said. "On the Friday before the game (against South Carolina), I thought I'd be nervous. But then game time rolled around, and it didn't even bother me. It just felt like practice, and I went out there to do what I had to do."
It is a job more far complex than most fans realize. Bryan's duties don't end when the ball is in the air.
"On kickoffs, we have a deep kick left and a deep kick right," Bryan said. "On either one, you want the ball kicked outside the hash marks, pretty much right on the numbers. You want hang time on it, and you want a touchback if you can get it. But you don't want to kick it to the middle of the field."
Once it's kicked, though, the fun begins.
"At most schools, the kicker just jogs down after the kick," Bryan said. "But coach (Marion) Hobby tells me to get down in the mix, like a safety. If I get down there and the runner has made it past everybody, I have to make the tackle."
His job is performed without notice from many fans, but Bryan knows the infrequency with which he performs his job has nothing to do with its importance or the satisfaction it brings after more than four years of hard work.
"That's something the coaches reiterate a lot have fun," Bryan said. "It's real fun to finally get out on the field and show what I can do."