Henery aiming to stay perfect for Huskers

Heading into the 2007 season, most of the talk regarding Nebraska's special teams unit was centered around the powerful leg of incoming true freshman scholarship kicker Adi Kunalic.

While Kunalic lived up to his reputation for delivering the deep ball, it was unheralded redshirt freshman Alex Henery who seized the full-time place-kicking job for the Cornhuskers.

"I just stay under the radar," Henery said. "Adi can get all of the publicity and whatnot, so I don't mind it."

Perhaps lost in Nebraska's dreary 5-7 season was the fact that Henery provided the Huskers with perfection. He made all 45 of his PAT kicks, becoming the ninth player in the program's history to achieve that feat, and he also set a program record with his 8-for-8 performance on field goals.

"I really go more for the accuracy part of it than always trying to kill the ball," Henery said. "It's a big thing for me. I don't like missing."

While some may have been surprised that Henery won the place-kicker jobs on medium and short kicks, Henery wasn't.

"I knew that I could hold my own," Henery said. "As long as I just kept to my steps and everything and kept kicking like I was, I knew I'd be fine. I kicked well and the coaches ended up seeing that."

Henery said he credits his consistency to keeping his mental focus and a solid kicking routine.

"Focusing is a big thing," Henery said. "When you're not focused, you do different things wrong. It's kind of just a matter of getting your same steps over and over again, getting used to it and making it routine."

The question now for Henery is how does he improve on perfection?

"Just being more consistent and hitting the ball the same every time and getting better rotation on it and stuff like that," Henery said. "Just the little things that people don't notice, but as a kicker, you do.

"I've also been working on my times getting quicker."

Henery said making those small improvements will only help his confidence should a big-time pressure kicking opportunity come his way.

"I'm not a big guy for getting hyped up for anything," Henery said. "I just try to joke around on the sideline and try to stay loose to make sure that I don't get too nervous or anything. I just try not to ever let pressure get to me.

"I figure that as long as you do your thing right and execute, everything will work out."

Nebraska coach Bo Pelini said he's pleased the Huskers appear to be set at the kicking and punting positions. While Henery and Kunalic battle it out at place-kicker, senior Dan Titchener returns for his third season as the starting punter.

"It's good to have proven kickers, guys who have been there in that situation and done it under the lights," Pelini said. "That obviously gives us an advantage."



Position breakdown: Special Teams

KEY LOSS: Cortney Grixby (kickoff returns)

KEY RETURNEES: PK Alex Henery, So.; PK Adi Kunalic, So.; P Dan Titchener, Sr.; DS T.J. O'Leary, Sr.; H/PK Jake Wesch, Sr.

WORTH NOTING: Henery received All-Big 12 freshman team honors from The Sporting News last season. … Kunalic used his strong leg to record 28 touchbacks in 66 kickoffs, despite kickoffs being moved back to the 30-yard line last season. Kunalic, who also made a 46-yard field goal, led the country with a touchback percentage of 42.4 percent. … Titchener returns for his third season as Nebraska's starting punter. Last season, he averaged 41.3 yards per punt and pinned opponents inside their own 20-yard line with 16 of his 49 punts. … Sophomore Niles Paul is slated to be the No. 1 punt return specialist. Head coach Bo Pelini said Nate Swift is the most proven punt returner and added that Khiry Cooper could also get a look at the spot.