Irish rely on punter to pin opposition deep and send Notre Dame far
By JOE HETTLER
Associate Sports Editor
The Hilbold family can never enjoy a Notre Dame football game when they visit campus to see their son Joey play — even if the Irish are winning.
"If I play, I play. It's probably good if I don't," Hilbold said. "My family comes to the games, and they have the big dilemma because they want to see me play but they want us to win."
This is the life of a punter.
But Hilbold doesn't mind. In fact he loves his job. Hilbold has worked hard in practice and in the off-season throughout his four years at Notre Dame and it has paid off. He was a finalist in 2000 and this year for the Ray Guy Award, given to the nation's best punter. He will also graduate as one of the best punters in Irish history.
"[Being recognized as a top punter] feels pretty good," Hilbold said. "That's a real nice honor to have. I really couldn't do it without my protection team. They've been really good, a good snapper, good personal protector. They all help me out. It's a great honor. It'd be nice to win it but it be a lot better if we were winning."
All of Hildbold's accolades aren't bad, considering he frequently gets booed when taking the field at Notre Dame Stadium.
"Sometimes it's funny because when I run out on the field, [the fans] boo because we're not going for it or we just had a bad play," Hilbold said. "A couple times that happened in the past. It's kind of funny because you run out there and you wonder `Is that for me?' or `Is that because we didn't do well?' I really don't take it too personally."
He doesn't take it personally because he has been an unlikely contributor to Notre Dame's success this season.
He's averaged 40.3 yards per punt this season and has pinned opponents inside their 20-yard line a career-high 25 times. In Notre Dame's 24-17 victory against Purdue, Hilbold drilled eight punts, averaging 44.6 yards per kick. He also pinned the Boilermakers inside the 20-yard line five times. Against Florida State, Hilbold stuck the Seminoles inside their own 10-yard line three times.
Hilbold does the Irish defense a huge favor by forcing opposing offenses to travel the whole field for a score. Notre Dame almost always wins the field position battle.
"I just go out there and try to help out the team and try to do the best for the team and eventually that does well for me," Hilbold said.
Hilbold's success dates back to his freshman year when the Centreville, Va. native became Notre Dame's full-time punter. He made the most of his opportunity by averaging 39.0 yards per punt and nailing a season-long 56-yarder against Michigan State.
Hilbold used his success as a freshman as momentum when he headed into his sophomore year. That season, Hilbold was named a Ray Guy award finalist and was one of only two sophomores in the country to receive such recognition. Football News and Collegefootballnews.com also named him to the All-Independent team. Hilbold crushed his career-long punt of 69 yards against Texas A&M that season, placing the Aggies at their own 3-yard line.
As a junior, Hilbold finished 35th in the country in punting average at 42.2 yards per punt. He also had one of his best games at Notre Dame against Michigan State, drilling eight punts for a 50.1 average. Hilbold followed that career-best performance by besting it the next week when the Irish faced Texas A&M. In that game, Hilbold drilled six punts for a career-best 50.5-yard average per punt.
Hilbold credits his work ethic for the success he's had so far in his Irish career.
"I knew if I worked hard enough and really concentrated on what I was doing, I would do pretty well," Hilbold said. "I'm just concentrating on the kick itself. You visual a little bit before and know what your going to do, know what your assignment is and then just go through the fundamentals and just go out and kick."
That formula has continued to work for Hilbold this season. He has been named an All-American candidate as well as a Ray Guy semifinalist.
All this success may have given Hilbold a chance to play on Sundays next fall. However, he's not thinking about the NFL too much right now.
"That's a goal," Hilbold said. "I'd like to do that. So this off-season [I may] train and see what happens. But right now I'm just trying to focus on punting well for the team, try to win some games and then go to a good bowl game and perform well there and help the team to win. Then when that times comes, decide then."
Football wasn't always Hilbold's first interest. He played soccer from the fifth grade until the 12th grade and also wrestled and played wide receiver and kicker on the football team.
Hilbold's father attended Notre Dame, so when it came time to choose a college, Notre Dame was what Hilbold judged other schools against. It was the right choice.
"[Notre Dame's] been a great place," Hilbold said. "Everybody talks about it, but you don't really understand how great it is until you get here and you go through the whole four years. Playing football adds a whole other level to it."
Notre Dame is Hilbold's first love, but punting the football on Saturdays is a close second and he takes great pride in doing his job as best he can.
"Just going out there every day is a joy for me," Hilbold said. "I treat it like punting. I like punting. That's something I enjoy doing so everyday is good for me."
All Sports Stories for Friday, November 22, 2002
