Kicking trio deserves a PAT on the back

Quicker than an allergic person’s sneeze, a trifecta of University of Hawaii football players can make a point — or three.

Short-snapper Brodie Nakama, holder Ikaika Woolsey and kicker Rigo Sanchez have mastered the art of launching a point-after kick or field-goal attempt in the snap-to-contact goal of 1.2 seconds.

“Sometimes the wind will change things,” special teams coordinator Mayur Chaudhari said. “But they’re always right there (at the goal). They work at it. It’s a skill.”

This season, Sanchez has converted all five field-goal attempts and 22 extra points entering Saturday’s homecoming game against UNLV. In the past three years, the Rainbow Warriors have converted 79.5 percent of their field-goal kicks, including Sanchez’s 55-yarder, and missed only one of 78 extra-point attempts.

Nakama, Woolsey and the blockers “deserve recognition,” Sanchez said. “They’re why I do what I do. I couldn’t do it without them.”

Nakama, a senior, has not had an errant snap in 167 career attempts.

“Specialists don’t get a second or third down,” Nakama said. “We get one shot to do it. We’ve got to be perfect at it. It’s a lot of reps.”

Nakama has worked on his grip, tweaking it a few times. He also studies videos of his snaps in practices and games. The result is a snap in which the laces are sunny-side-up when the football reaches Woolsey.

“He’s money all the time,” Woolsey said of Nakama. “Wherever I set my target, he hits it every time. It makes my job a lot easier.”

The kickers, punters and snappers participate in 30 minutes of special-team drills each practice on the grass field. For another 30 minutes, they work on their craft at Ching field. Because Woolsey competes in team and quarterback drills, he is not able to join Nakama and Sanchez for the Ching sessions.

“We’ll get some reps after practice,” Nakama said.

Woolsey said: “We’ve been doing this for four years. It’s become second nature with me and Brodie. It’s become pretty easy.”

Woolsey, a former baseball infielder, said being a holder is like being the pivot player on a double play. “Just turning two,” he said.

Mother Nature is a frequent contributor to their workouts. It rains nearly every morning the Warriors practice on the Manoa campus.

“Otherwise I would have to have a water bottle to spray the ball down during wet-ball drills,” Chaudhari said. “I used to do that at another school. We had to simulate wet, rainy days. Here, you get them (at practice). They take advantage of that. I tell those guys: ‘If it’s windy (in a game), if it’s rainy, whatever, that’s a plus for us because we get to practice in that condition.’”