Pitt Football | Cincinnati Week | Ben Sauls | 9.3.24

how did it feel just to be out there on Saturday two field goals just be back out there play how did it feel it felt it felt great I mean I love game day I absolutely love game day um as a good team went all around to get two kicks at the end of the game was awesome first one from 50 you you know don't want it any other way than that um and then to obviously bang that 50 yard for the first kick of the year that's that always feels good where did you uh notice Sur guys surrounding you uh tremendous I mean um I'm excited about our coverage team uh especially on the kickoff I think it's going to be a great season coach bro has a great plan for us um and our guys are hungry like you know a couple of those we just wanted to hang up to uh to force a return and uh first one they Fair cut the second one they brought out um which was much later in the game but uh we're going to keep we're going to keep doing stuff like that and and uh let our guys go make plays you know the Touchback line moved out to the 25 a few years ago but as a kicker who can do it do you think strategically just makes sense just kick this far you can take the touch back every time just eliminate possibility sure I think a lot of it's situational um but we're more than capable of tackling tackling guys inside the 20 inside the 15 um which is in the goal you know like I've always said coach Bowski is not not satisfied with just getting the ball on 25 for the for the up onent offense so um you know if we can get them inside the 20 that's that's really our goal youare all you know Saturday yeah sure I mean we anticipated some rain um that's part of our routine uh routine every week uh we get wet ball drills um so Nico did a great job with that ni Crawford The Long Snapper he did a great job with that uh we didn't have to hit any balls while it did rain but you know the field was still a little wet the grass was a little wet um but no we prepare for everything so whether it's you know wind or or rain we have that preparation throughout every week just in case because you never know hard time goth time never never um I know my kicks will come uh when my name's called I'll do my job um and I like to be aggressive I'm all about it you know I fit that aggressive play style too so um it worked out in our favor and and uh if you wanted to do it again you know go ahead what was the last thing he came up to you in in a game said hey can you make it from here like does he even ask you that or has he ever asked you that um no I don't think a Situation's ever come up uh where they've asked that question pregame they'll get a line for me um and it's usually different depending on Direction depending on wind and all that you know weather like you said um but usually it's it's 60 and then you know give or take we've got the win at our back it could be 62 63 but um you know we're pretty much good you know once we cross the 50 yard line you know let me know 16 was line last year um I don't think I'm kicking the ball any bigger than last year um I think you know even last year um we were at Louisville it was I think pregame hit 65 you know so it really just depends on on what direction the wind's going and just putting the ball up in the air and letting it fly a little bit um but yeah you know if we get a situation like that this year like I said it'll depend on wind and all that stuff but uh say there's no wind no weather it's it's 60 comfortable you know if I'm feeling really good maybe 62 63 but um you know kicks are so so rare you just really focus on on the ones that are F the end games oh yeah yeah a lot of family a lot of friends a lot of family friends um I got a lot of buddies um that go to the University of Cincinnati so especially my senior year to go to a game that close to home is uh is very special to me so I'm excited to see all the familiar faces and and uh have a good game for them you recruited by Cincinnati well yeah I did a lot of uh talking with them back in the day it was Luke fickle and uh uh the coordinator was Brian Mason um and obviously they're elsewhere nowadays but uh really the guy who got me into kicking um was the kicker there his name was Cole Smith back in gosh I want say like 2017 to 2020 he was the kicker there I went to a camp in 2017 and uh he dm' me and he's like hey if you ever want to train let me know you know we think you're pretty good and and uh ever since then you know he was uh my first really mentor and trainer in kicking and he introduced introduced me to my coach Adam tanalski who's up in Buffalo um and he'll be at the game too this guy Cole Smith so I'm excited to see him he's working in Cincinnati nowadays cuz uh his career was he he did his five years um but no it's there's a lot of good memories there a lot of good memories what's that no cuz they I mean scholarships work differently with uh Specialists um really you know every four years is when you're going to scholarship the next guy up um coaches are different or situations are different but usually that's how it goes um and at the time they had a guy and if I came in I would be sitting for you know maybe two or three years you know just depending on the situation there um so the offer was only ever a walk- on spot but uh um I knew the whole specialist unit I could name them out but I won't do that um but like I said there's a lot of good memories from from Cincinnati you yes sir yeah back in in 20 can you say that again for me for o his first game is your Long Snapper what did you was anything good on that yeah I mean OA did a great job he he handled the uh OA handled the long snaps so that was for Punt and then Nico Crawford did all the short snaps and and Nik did a tremendous job we had a lot of lot of reps between uh extra points and field goals I think nine total reps um and all of them were meant they were all perfect and that helps me with my job be curious you I notic some kickers line up at seven yards some line up at eight is that a preference on the part of the kicker preference snpp so are you saying like in regards to how far back the holder is from the spot line up 27 or 28 yeah so yeah that's a coach's preference um we're eight yards but to be honest I mean I I think we're eight yards um just because I go where the holder goes I try not to think about that stuff at all but uh yeah it just usually depends on on this the the Special Teams coordinator oh I also wanted to ask you I mean obviously you're focused on right here this week and and all these things but obviously there's there's the future and I'm sure you you know Envision a professional career for yourself have you looked at this kickoff rule in the NFL it's it's very unique um like you just said I really do take it all one day at a time if the opportunity presents itself going down um then great but uh it's a unique rule I'm excited to see what they do with it because it's it's it's new this season so um there's going to be a lot of new ideas and then it'll continue to evolve too um as the years go by but I think we're going to see a lot of creativity this season and um you might even see position guys kicking off I mean who knows at this point you know just to get another guy down the field who can make a tackle um but no it'll be very interesting it'll be fun to watch