Kimrin kicks bad habits
Hopes adjustments add accuracy to formidable leg strength
By PAUL KUHARSKY
Staff Writer
Rare are questions about Ola Kimrin's leg strength.
When the Titans signed the 33-year-old kicker March 4, they figured their job would be harnessing the power of a guy who once nailed a 65-yard field goal for the Denver Broncos in a preseason game.
Special teams coach Alan Lowry said he's helped Kimrin tinker with a few technical aspects of his field goal kicking and kickoffs to make the Swede more comfortable — and more accurate.
"It's more about accuracy than strength to make it in this league," Kimrin said. "I wouldn't say it's a lot straighter, because I think I was on my way to figuring out how to be more accurate and not just a big leg."
The biggest adjustments for the right-footed Kimrin on field goals have been with his stance and approach.
Kimrin used to set up with his kicking foot well behind his left foot and open, angled so the instep ran almost parallel to the line of scrimmage.
It was akin to a golfer with a misaligned clubface at the top of the backswing.
"So I was kind of swinging around instead of coming straight through," Kimrin said. "I think I used to punch it through instead of swinging through and trusting my swing."
After work with Lowry, Kimrin's kicking foot is more in line with his plant foot and points more in the direction he will be hitting the ball.
In his old stance, he also tended to point his plant foot at the spot where the football would be held, rather than on the spot to the left of the ball where he wants to actually plant the foot.
Now the toe of his plant foot points more to where it's heading.
"All we've done is work on technique," Lowry said. "We haven't worried about leg strength too much, although his exercise program he feels like has helped.
"We straightened him up. It was his stance and angle of approach to the ball, those were the two major things. We worked on getting his plant foot to the same place all the time and hitting through the target line all the time."
Improved results quickly followed the adjustments.
"He felt a difference right away and liked the difference," Lowry said.
"Now it's just going to become second nature so I don't think about it," said Kimrin, whose goal is to approach every kick as if it's an extra point.
Lowry said Kimrin's kickoffs are not yet as good as Joe Nedney's were, but Kimrin said he's made progress.
While accuracy may have been the concern when the Titans signed him, Kimrin consistently hit a good percentage of his field goal attempts in the May and June minicamps.
"He's done very well," Coach Jeff Fisher said. "Fundamentals and technique and everything are there, his timing is there, his get-off is there.
"What we're going to do, what Alan will do, is continue to work with him and of course we'll work with him on the hang time on the kickoffs."
Kimrin has been in a different training camp the last three years — Denver, Dallas and Washington. A concern with a 33-year-old player could be he still needed technical adjustments and hasn't dealt with big-time pressure.
In his only regular season action, he hit six of 10 field goal attempts for the Redskins last year when he filled in for an injured John Hall.
The Swede said kickers who don't get drafted typically bounce around before getting a chance to settle in and prove themselves worthy of long-term work.
Two of the Titans last three kickers — Al Del Greco and Nedney — followed that route. Titans GM Floyd Reese said that while Kirmin may be older upon arrival, his profile is similar to those of the kickers before him.
But Del Greco had hit 101 field goals at a 65.7 percent rate with three teams in seven years before he joined the Houston Oilers in 1991. Nedney had 81 field goals and a 73.6 percent rate in five seasons with five teams before joining the Titans in 2001.
When Nedney went down with injuries the last two seasons, the Titans called on one of the most experienced kickers in history — Gary Anderson.
Kimrin has a 3½-month head start on Rob Bironas, the Arena Football League kicker the Titans recently added to compete for the job, and Fisher admitted a team that has looked for experience has changed philosophy in turning to a training camp competition.
"It's not mine yet," Kimrin said of the coveted job. "I have to prove myself in preseason and we have to go from there. It's nice that I was the first one in and they signed me right away. That makes you feel good about the situation."
"He's been through so many competitions in camp," Lowry said. "But this is the first time the other guy has to beat him because he was here first and we've seen him more." •
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