Tennessee Football: Consistency Could Make Vols Kicker Aaron Medley an All-American
Tennessee football kicker Aaron Medley just needs to develop consistency to become an All-American kicker. The Volunteers junior is very close to greatness.
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Midway through last season, Tennessee Vols fans were beginning to take for granted what they had in Aaron Medley because of how he struggled beyond 40 yards. After going 0-for-3 on field goals against the Alabama Crimson Tide, many called for him to be benched.
There are just a few reasons as to why this was one of the most idiotic requests out of impatience Tennessee football fans ever made. Two of those misses were beyond 50 yards and another was close to 50 yards.
By that point on the year, Medley had fallen to 1-of-7 on field goals beyond 40. But Vols fans ignored the most important stat: Medley was 9-of-11 on field goals within 40 yards and perfect on extra points. In fact, through two years, he has been almost automatic inside 40.
That means that the only times he ever missed field goals were when the offense failed to do its job to get him in decent position to kick it. In college, you can never ask a kicker to do more than be automatic under 40. And he has been.
But what they also missed was that, as a sophomore, Medley had shown that he had the leg. All of these misses were just barely off the mark, but they all had the power, including the very long field goal he attempted at the end of the game against the Florida Gators.
So only accuracy on distance kicks was the problem.
And down the stretch, Medley pulled a 180. After that Alabama game, he went 4-of-5 on kicks beyond 40 yards. he found his rhythm.
According to reports, Medley has spent the entire offseason trying to get consistency from beyond there. If he does, he will highlight the impatience of Vols fans like never before.
Getting as good beyond 40 as he is inside 40 will make Medley an All-American candidate this year. It will also be the final piece in the Vols’ quest to have potentially the greatest special teams unit in college football history.
He upped his percentage on kicks to 77 percent this past year, and he finished above 50 percent beyond 40 thanks to that run down the stretch. If he keeps that up this year, Medley could go above 90 percent on field goals.
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And that will be a step toward legendary status in Tennessee football kicking history.