WSU Football: "I just need to be in the moment" | K Dean Janikowski after Practice | 8/20/24

uh well de tell us about your offseason and kind of just where your focus was the most offseason's been good working with a lot of different mentors uh a lot of kicks a lot of different situations uh last year wasn't the year we wanted to be so we made those Corrections we worked on what we did we've done a lot of situations coach sticks had a lot of like the Cal game last year and udub and things like that so we've made a lot of different adjustments and we've been able to perform and I'm really excited for this year all Nick was just telling us about how he wants you to be more a little more like uh in the moment is is the way he put it um how much do he talk to you about that kind of what do that going to look like for you yeah a lot of it is focus sometimes uh I'm able to just I I like to analyze a lot of things and like to just see things and see them how they are so for me the biggest change has been just being there in the moment understanding hey I'm here I need to just focus on this kick I don't need to focus on the last kick I don't need to focus on the next kick I just need to be in the moment we've we've talked about the uh the RC cars all the all the little ins and outs that you and Nick do what's the new what's the new one what's the newest thing well the jetbat jet boat almost killed me a few times over summer uh recently almost got struck by lightning I guess the smoke wasn't just smoke it was clouds so uh I was out with my girlfriend and sure enough the boat breaks down right as we're headed home and the storm comes in and so lightning hitting my left lightning hitting my right is really sketchy but yeah RC cars are still around plenty of projects doing all sorts of stuff I we just built a track so we're bringing back the RC cars and we'll be doing that when we're not in meetings have you ever thought there like playing Xbox and staying inside and not getting hit by lightning no why would I do Xbox when like people always love to talk about GTA and like upgrading their character why not upgrade yourself so that's that's that's my biggest thing and that's why I love doing those different projects and kind of seeing what I can do that's deep uh also seen the the motorbike you've been riding around a little bit is uh uh is that new when uh or is that just something you just kind of enjoy doing off to the side I've had that for a while and just at my shop I love to work on just electric bikes I think that's the thing honestly if football doesn't work out that's what I'd love to do is create electric bikes and build them I actually built RJ Stone electric bike and sold it to him and that's the one that Quinn rides around now it's like the one with the teal seat did the whole thing myself and yeah I just love tinkering around with those and building batteries I built that out of Tesla battery so I put it all together and yeah it was a lot of fun RJ with an electric bike seems like a terrible idea yeah not the best especially going all up those Hills and then after games when he's real tired Quinn I would trust RJ maybe not uh on a kicking note obviously you guys trying to figure out kind of who's the kickoff specialist now with Colton graduating where have you kind of feel like you and maybe Nick and and anyone else in the competition's kind of working at that yeah me and Ryan have been in competition as well as uh as well as Connor and we've been really focused on that and just gaining L leg strength this off season was huge for me and just getting super strong my kickoffs have made a huge Improvement so whoever ends up getting that job uh they're going to be ready said you're really into the analytical side making adjustments were are there any of those adjustments you can share that you kind of focused on uh I I can I can read people pretty well so I'm able to kind of just analyze things like that like I got a good sense especially being here for six years I mean I've been here for so long I kind of know the name of the game how coaches work how the situations we go through so I've been able to kind of read that and stuff like that that's helped me a lot especially for this sixth year and coming back and I'm really excited for that and what's what are some kind of go what are some goals you have for yourself entering this year just stay in the moment uh I'm not going to worry about percentages I'm not going to worry about uh being 100% I'm going to be just in the moment making sure I make that kick every single time and obviously some new locations on on the schedule uh this year but how excited kind of are you for this opportunity for the cooks and you guys to kind of put yourself out there oh yeah I'm super excited we're going back to San Diego State have a lot of family there that'll be a blast uh and then I get to play in the Smurf Turf so I'm a little excited for that see see what that's like if that's a little weird but yeah I'm super excited and then what's your uh professional opinion on the NFL kickoff rule like oh yeah I saw that it's kind of it's kind of goofy it kind of sucks for the different kickers who like love to just absolutely Blast the Ball who have a big leg now it's a lot of more accuracy and they're looking for a field goal guy so uh I talked to a few guys that are doing it and it's just a lot of spotting the ball and just kind of pinning them deep and trying to do it but I'm super excited to see how it works out this year thanks d