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Andrew Elchert doesn't take a handoff and run through linebackers, he doesn't catch passes and he rarely makes a tackle for the University of Toledo football team.
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| Andrew Elchert |
But as any football coach will tell you, a strong leg is good to find. Elchert is living proof.
“After I was hired at Cardinal Stritch (in 2007) and saw him kick, I asked him if he had ever given any thought to pursuing kicking in college,” Stritch coach Joe Gutilla said. “I told him he had what it takes to play at that level. He has a very strong leg, and all he needed was to focus on just kicking and get some coaching every day from experienced guys who do it for a living.
“He was one of very few high school kickers who could consistently kick the ball to the goal line and only take a couple of steps to kick a field goal from 50 yards. He had the distance, but he needed to work on his accuracy.”
Elchert, a 2010 Stritch graduate, was a four-time All-Toledo Area Athletic Conference soccer player for the Cardinals, and he also handled the kicking duties for the football team.
Gutilla said that because Elchert played for a struggling small-school program and didn't attend any college football camps when he was in high school, he didn't get any interest from big college programs.
“I feared he might get overlooked by the Division I schools,” Gutilla said. “I encouraged him to attend a Kohl's kicking camp in Pittsburgh after his senior season to help him get some exposure. By that time, most D-I schools had either offered other kids or were inviting kids they saw at their camps to walk on.”
Gutilla knew Elchert wanted to major in engineering, so the Stritch coach started contacting as many schools with engineering programs as he could. Gutilla spoke with Mike Ward, UT's assistant coach and co-defensive coordinator who also handles recruiting in northwest Ohio.
“UT liked what they saw,” Gutilla said, “but they had already committed to another local kid. They encouraged Andrew to walk on, and that was enough for Andrew, so he decided to enroll at UT.”
The 5-foot-10, 170-pound Elchert, who commutes to UT from Millbury, is now a freshman preferred walk-on who handles the Rockets' kickoff duties. Through 11 games he has 28 kickoffs for 1,691 yards, a 60.4-yard average.
Mike Elchert, Andrew's father (his mother, Lorrie, is a UT graduate), said the Elcherts spoke with coach Ward, who invited Andrew to attend the Rockets' spring practice. At that time, Andrew was still deciding where he wanted to go to college.
“I told him to decide on the school by what he wanted to do, not by football or soccer,” Mike Elchert said. “UT felt like it was a good fit for him, as far as the education and they were going to look at him as a preferred walk-on. We went to a couple different schools, Eastern Michigan and Ohio Northern, to look around and talk to different coaches. He decided he was going to go to UT, probably because it was close to home and he felt comfortable going there.”
(Editor's note: UT head coach Tim Beckman does not permit freshmen to speak with the media).
Mike Elchert said Beckman planned to redshirt Andrew this season, but those plans changed after junior kicker Ryan Casano suffered a season-ending ACL injury two weeks before the Oct. 9 game at Boise State.
“Andrew dressed for the Wyoming game (Oct. 2) but didn't play,” Mike said. “His first start was against Boise State.”
When they found out Andrew would handle kickoffs for the Rockets' game at Boise State, Mike and Lorrie Elchert and their oldest son, Nicholas, a junior at the University of Findlay, booked a flight and made the trip to Boise, Idaho.
“It was his first start in D-I ball,” Mike said. “We had to do it. We flew out on a Friday night and flew back Sunday morning. All of the people were real nice to us in Boise and it was beautiful weather. They asked us to come to their tailgate parties. It was a good experience.”
Elchert averaged 62.7 yards on three kickoffs against the Broncos in UT's 57-14 loss.
“He was pretty excited, before and after the game,” Mike said. “He was glad he did well and all that. I was pretty proud of him. You can only imagine. He and Nick were kidding around before the season, saying wouldn't it be neat if Andrew got to kick against Boise State. They were joking about it.”
Elchert has yet to attempt a field goal or extra point for the Rockets. Those duties are handled by Bill Claus, a junior from Perrysburg (St. John's Jesuit) who is also the team's punter. Claus is 3-for-6 on field goal attempts and 22-for-24 on extra points.
Toledo assistant coach Alex Golesh, who works with the kickers, said the Rockets' coaching staff likes what they've seen from Elchert so far.
“Andrew has done a good job for us this year and it is a credit to how hard he has worked over the last three months,” Golesh said. “He doesn’t say anything at practice, he just comes and does his job every day. I think he has a ton of potential and will keep improving as he gets used to the pressure that comes with kicking at this level.”
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