Upright position
Before the arenafootball2 season started, Spokane head coach Adam Shackleford predicted that one of the Shock’s biggest acquisitions would be kicker Brian Jackson, the smallest member of the team.
Through four games, Shackleford has been prophetic and Jackson has been nearly perfect.
Jackson, who says he’s “5-feet-7 with shoes on,” has connected on his last 26 PATs and 30 of 31 overall, a 96.8 percent accuracy rate. Only four other af2 kickers join Jackson in making 90 percent or better. Oklahoma City’s A.J. Haglund set the af2 record by making 93.5 percent in 2006.
“A lot of it is on the snap and hold,” Jackson said. “It’s like a three-man combo. The reason I’ve been successful is Lee (Foliaki) snaps the ball with the laces out and if he doesn’t Jason (Murrietta) is good at spinning them. When the laces are out, it’s like money for me.”
The effect of special teams is sometimes overlooked in arena football. Ten af2 games have been decided by four points or less, including two Shock games: a 55-51 win over Tri-Cities and last Saturday’s 42-40 victory over Central Valley. In the latter, Jackson made six PATs while his Central Valley counterpart missed one. That miss forced the Coyotes to attempt an unsuccessful two-point conversion in the closing seconds.
Like many kickers, Jackson has roots in soccer.
“The football coach at my high school saw I kicked it far and wanted me to try out for football,” said Jackson, a native of Dothan, Ala.
Jackson accepted the coach’s offer. Meanwhile, Jackson’s dad took a crash course on kicking by attending a couple of camps/clinics and passing on his notes to his son. Jackson made the team, but the team didn’t make it to the end zone often. He had just five PATs and five field goals his senior season.
That’s typically not a scholarship-winning resume, but Jackson has always been resourceful. He sent out a highlight tape to numerous mid-major schools and Ball State liked what it saw.
Jackson was a four-year starter for the Cardinals, hitting 111 of 115 PATs and earning Mid-American Conference special teams player of the year honors in 2006. He made 17 of 19 field goals as a senior.
At Northview High and Ball State, Jackson’s coaches stressed the importance of staying involved in practice and spending time with teammates. In the outdoor game, kickers often work on technique on a side field while the rest of the team is practicing. During Shock practices, Jackson serves as the spotter, placing the football at a designated yard line before every down as the offense runs through a script of plays. At other times, he chases down footballs that sail over the dasherboards.
“My coaches have always said, ‘Be part of the team, act like you’re doing something to get respect,’ ” Jackson said. “You earn respect by doing other things in practice.”
“We don’t have a facility that’s real conducive to kicking (because of a low ceiling), but he does what he can,” Shackleford said. “He’s earned the respect of our guys.”
Connecting on nearly every PAT helps. Goal posts are 9 feet apart in arena football, compared to 18½ in the outdoor game. He’s also 1 of 2 on on-side kicks. His kickoffs have become more consistent. He tries to hit the uprights, which can produces crazy bounces and recoveries by his teammates.
Jackson attributes some of his accuracy to his practice routine in Alabama. He went to a nearby soccer field and booted kicks from PAT distance at a light poll.
“It’s about a yard wide and if you’re hitting it or getting close to the sides you’re going to make extra points,” he said. “I might hit the pole six or seven times out of 10.”
Jackson had a tryout with the Chicago Bears and a couple more with New York and Cleveland of the AFL.
“I was close (with the AFL teams), but I missed a couple of PATs. They didn’t want to bank on a rookie kicker and they had guys with three or four years of experience,” he said. “They said, ‘Go get a season in af2 and we’ll hear back from you next year.’ “
At his current pace, that’s almost a foregone conclusion.
“I think I’m successful because I set weekly goals and a lot of kickers just make season goals,” Jackson said. “My goal is to have six games where I’m perfect (on PATs) and 10 games where I can miss one, and that will be 90 percent at the end of the year. And that will get you into the AFL.”