A kicking camp, Bob Ligashesky helped Andre Szmyt return to ‘old Andre’

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It might not have been his fault. Andre Szymt connected on just 9-of-14 field goals in 2021. His redshirt freshman days of 30 makes and a 54-yard long ball were gone. Questions of accuracy, composure and skill level cascaded down on the former Lou Groza award winner. Would Syracuse ever see the “old Andre” again?

Coaching changes and his holder marred the last three years of Szmyt’s career, tanking his field-goal percentage and Syracuse’s overall record. He wanted to fix whatever he could heading into his redshirt senior season, so he called former teammate Cole Murphy, who worked with former NFL placekicker John Carney. He’d heard of the Carney Training Facility in Carlsbad, California, and wanted to work alongside holder Ian Hawkins and long snapper Aaron Bolinsky.

The trio went to California several times in the spring and summer, working in a massive warehouse designed for kickers and punters. Resistance bands and gear for NFL-style workouts littered the artificial turf. Carney showed Szmyt a presentation about being a sound kicker, which contained everything from emotionally divorcing yourself from the game, what his pregame routine should be like and how to focus on kickoffs.

The lack of offense. Special teams coordinator Justin Lustig leaving. Holders switching in-and-out. Szmyt knew what his last few years were; he just wanted to work one-on-one with Bolinsky, the only constant in Szmyt’s six years at Syracuse.

“Andre has been an excellent kicker in all the years,” said Greg Zauner, who privately coached Szmyt in high school and college. “Every great kicker and great punter starts with a great snapper, and great protection, and with kickers, it’s field position and opportunities.”

Kickers are like golfers, Carney said, needing a set routine in the days leading up to a game and on gameday. If something deviates, or a routine is changed, a kicker’s success dramatically decreases. Szmyt has dealt with a plethora of overturn, but with new special teams coordinator Bob Ligashesky and a more productive offense, Szmyt has started 2022 10-for-11.

Old Andre is back, “Neener, neener, neener, he kicks field goals through the goal post,” head coach Dino Babers joked after the Virginia game.

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Murphy said Szmyt had a specific routine when he started at SU. The freshman started the week by taking 30 kicking reps, decreasing the number until he was only kicking 20 attempts “at full go” by the week’s end. On the day before the game, he shut down and stretched for 45 minutes so he wouldn’t be too fatigued on gameday.

Szmyt was also mentally ready. At Vernon Hills (Illinois) High School his senior year, he gained a reputation of being a calm kicker. Despite only playing one season as placekicker, he had a strong leg, according to Vernon Hills head coach Bill Bellecomo. Once Szmyt started seeing Zauner for private lessons, the high school staff hardly worked with him.

“I would call him a natural,” Zauner said. “Ever since I’ve known him, mechanically he’s very smooth.”

The “California kid,” as his varsity soccer coach Michael McCaulou called him, was tranquil in charge of the ball — be it a soccer ball or football. Szmyt played outside midfield for Vernon Hills and “made things happen” for the team. He didn’t do much without the ball, but had a technical approach to handling it. Szmyt struck the soccer ball “so sweet,” with a locked ankle, knee and chest over the ball and head fixated on the point of contact.

That technical approach, albeit somewhat different from kicking a football, led to a seamless transition to field-goal kicking. There were changes he needed to implement, mainly the placement of his plant leg, his shoulders and chest. His follow through with his right leg became higher — there wasn’t a need to place the ball under an eight-foot crossbar.

He hit 9-of-12 of his field goals as a senior, including a Vernon Hills record 48-yard field goal. He sat out his first season at Syracuse, befriending Murphy and working as his understudy. Murphy preached taking a limited number of reps in practice to Szmyt.

Szmyt kicking his leg into the ground throughout the week wasn’t any good. Instead, the pair worked on extra points and field goals for 30-45 minutes before helping the scout team.

“He was a soccer player that was playing football, he really didn’t have anybody that told them what you needed to do during practice,” Murphy said. “It was kind of teaching him ‘hey, you don’t have to hit 50 balls a day.’”

Murphy graduated after Szmyt’s true freshman year, and Lustig was promoted to assistant head coach for 2019. The special teams unit was left without a true position coach, leaving Szmyt on his own. His numbers significantly dropped when Lustig left for a similar role at Vanderbilt after 2020. Other coaches helped, but it led to them not having a “good pulse” on the unit, Zauner said.

Santiago Noblin | Design Editor

That, combined with an floundering offense as Szmyt’s career continued, are what Zauner believes hindered Szmyt’s numbers. A kicker can’t consistently be asked to kick 40-plus yard field goals. He’s more likely to hit them if he starts the game with extra points or field goals within 30 yards, Zauner said.

“When you’re starting to get longer and longer and longer on field goals, on average, we kind of swing out of our shoes a little bit,” Murphy said.

Then Ligashesky arrived prior to this season. Zauner said Ligashesky knows to not overkick his players, something Szmyt could have done throughout the last few seasons. What’s transpired is a “good marriage between Andre and his coach.”

Szmyt paired his mental repetitions from this summer with Carney and Ligashesky. He’s backed with a coach that will take his advice. The “my way or the highway” approach, Murphy said, is gone, and perfection and professionalism — what Babers hoped to return — is back. The pairing allowed Szmyt to go a perfect 5-for-5 against Virginia, including a go-ahead field goal with 1:14 left. Szmyt has a kicking percentage of over 90% and 100% on extra points.

The “old ways” of Szmyt, Ligashesky, a fifth year of Bolinsky and getting practice reps with both holders have returned Szmyt to his status as a top kicker in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

“He said ‘I need to go back,’” Babers said. “…And lo and behold, we’ve got old Andre back,” Babers said.