100% Cotten
10/5/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 5, 1999
More 100% Cotten
by Stan Cotten
I wish all of you could know Wake Forest placekicker Matthew Burdick. You?d like him. He?s not like most kickers. Not that most kickers aren?t likeable, but who can say for sure? So many of them are unapproachable. Burdick is not. He?s quite the opposite and would be on my short list for NCAA Student-Athlete Poster Boy. And given how he?s handled his recent slump, you might as well move him to the front of the line.
Whether he?s just kicked the winning field goal on national television (which he has) or missed half of his tries in the early stages of the season (which he currently has), the senior from Mt. Tabor High is still quick with a smile and ?hello? as he emerges first of his teammates from the locker room on to the practice field. Daily. Back to work. Win or lose. Still the same old Matt.
Last week had to be a tough one for Burdick. He entered the Rutgers game having missed two field goals in each of Wake?s previous two games. His season total stood at 3 for 7, although he was, and still is, perfect on his extra point attempts. Coach Jim Caldwell opened a ?kick-off? for the placekicking job, vowing to award the week?s winner with the job for the Rutgers game. Sophomore non-scholarship kicker Kevin Church won the battle and tried for Wake?s first points against the Scarlet Knights. He missed badly, and Burdick was back in on the Deacs? next attempt. And, like so many times before, Burdick banged home the bacon from 29 yards out to give Wake a 17-10 lead. He took the week?s festivities in stride.
?Coach Caldwell and I talked about it,? said Burdick. ?I?m fine with it. I hadn?t been kicking like I can, and Kevin had a good week of practice. He deserved the chance to kick. It didn?t go so well for him, so I got to kick late in the game. It was good to have everybody congratulating me again.?
Pretty classy stuff from Burdick relayed to yours truly on the Deacon Postgame Show following the Rutgers win. Most guys in the same situation would have avoided the opportunity. Burdick obliged and assured me off-air he didn?t mind talking about his rocky start. Not once did he mention a nagging groin injury that has hampered him this fall. But that?s part of what makes Matt Burdick Matt Burdick.
?He?s not the kind of guy who would ever say anything about an injury causing him to miss kicks,? said Caldwell. ?But I know it (groin) is bothering him.?
Now admit it. How many of us in the same situation as Burdick, given his status in Wake history as a kicker and scorer, would say, ?Yeah, but...? But if you knew Burdick, you wouldn?t be surprised that he so calmly faces the music.
I remember when Burdick first came on the scene. We came in together, 1996. Bill Hollows was the Deacs? kicker that year, and Burdick was getting sized for his redshirt. But Hollows packed his bags and hit the road around Halloween. Hey, Burdick, you?re in!
Matt didn?t exactly give early notice that he would one day, at worst, be Wake?s second most productive kicker in history and finish at least as the sixth most prolific scorer ever to wear the Black and Gold. That?s where Burdick is now, with seven games to go. In 1996, he doinked (Madden-speak for missed) his first extra point try against Navy and came up empty on his first field goal try against Duke. He?s been awfully dependable since.
Burdick has only missed three extra point tries his entire career, and two of those were as a true freshman. He hit 15 of 23 field goal attempts as a sophomore and 13 of 18 a year ago. He?s kicked four of the longest field goals in Wake Forest history, including a 53-yard bomb last season to tie the Deacon school record. He?s just 4 of 8 this season, but he?s on a streak of 1 for 1.
Burdick is a team player in the truest sense. He thinks of others more than himself. This season, his last as a collegian, he wears a black armband in memory of his big brother, Bryon, who died of leukemia in 1989. Burdick is active in the Wake Forest chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and volunteers for the Athletes Care Team, which reaches out to the Winston-Salem community. All of this while pursuing a Master?s Degree in Education to add to his undergraduate degree of the same major which he obtained in just over three years.
Let me think...Matt Burdick teaching kids. He can teach mine anytime. And if you need three points, he can do that pretty well, too.
