Duke kicker Will Snyderwine was named to the preseason Lou Groza Award watch list. Last year he was a first-team All-American selection by the American Football Coaches Association. His field goal range extends to 60 yards. He entered this season statistically as one of the best kickers in the country.
This season? He's off to a miserable, uncharacteristic 0-for-4 start.
He didn't suddenly get bad.
He's hurt.
Snyderwine injured his ankle this past summer and he reaggravated it during the onside kick last weekend against Stanford. Now he's questionable for Saturday's game at Boston College.
“We’re trying to get Will healthy," coach David Cutcliffe said. "He did injure himself back during camp. We held him out of kicking for a while. He’s a solid person. He’s not suddenly a bad kicker, and he’s not got that many bad habits right now. But, let’s get him well. Whether he’s well enough to kick Saturday I don’t know. So we will go in with the option, if he’s not available, to kick Jeffrey Ijjas or Paul Asack. Right now, Asack will handle for sure all kickoff duties.”