Nov. 4, 2004

Charleston, SC - Mike Adams lived every kid's dream while growing up in Orlando.

His dad works as a facilities asset manager for Walt Disney, hiring contractors to work on hotels and buildings around Disney World. And you know what that means.

Free tickets.

"It was great," said Adams, a redshirt freshman punter at The Citadel. "My dad would get tickets every month. Disney World, that's really all I know."

Adams' punting this season has been something of a thrill ride itself. The 6-0, 185-pounder had an incident-free effort against Wofford last week, averaging 43 yards on nine kicks. But he's had his share of adventures, too.

"Punting is pretty hard to do," Adams. "That drop has to be there each time, and the snap is a big factor, too. There are a lot of things that have to go right to get that spiral on the ball and to get a 40-yard ball with good hang time." Adams, who has only been punting regularly since his senior year at Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, had big shoes to fill at The Citadel. He replaced four-year starter Travis Zobel, whose average of 42.7 yards per punt in 2002 was the Bulldogs' best since ex-NFL player Greg Davis averaged 44.6 in 1986.

Adams saw a lot of things go wrong in his first six college games.

In the season opener at Appalachian State, Adams dropped a low snap and had to scramble to his left to avoid tacklers. He booted a 40-yard kick, his best of the day, with his left foot.

The next week at Auburn, Adams bobbled another snap and had a kick blocked out of the end zone for a safety. In the third game at Duke, Adams had two punts blocked. On the first one, he kicked the ball out of the end zone from about the 1-yard line, resulting in a penalty that set up the Blue Devils for their first touchdown.

And against Georgia Southern, Adams dropped another snap and was forced into another left-footed kick. This one went only 13 yards, setting up the Eagles' first TD.

That's why Adams usually catches 50 to 100 balls a day from a ball-machine in practice.

"I feel a lot more comfortable lately," he said. "Sometimes a ball is too close, and I try to bring it back out and lose it a little bit. I really don't know what it is. I try not to be nervous anymore, but sometimes I might not catch it exactly the right way, and it falls off."

Adams, who lettered in soccer and football in high school, actually practices the wrong-footed kick. And with his soccer background, kicking with the left foot is no big deal.

"That's something you really need to be flexible with," he said. "If there is pressure on the right or a bad snap, you need to be able to roll out left. You really have to be able to do it both ways."

The Citadel's punt formation is another complicating factor. With three linemen stationed just in front of Adams as protectors, he's often forced to kick with violent collisions going on right in his face.

"Our formation is really different, and I've got guys colliding three yards in front of me," he said. "I just try to block it out and have faith in the guys in front of me."

When everything goes right, Adams has proven himself a capable punter. He ranks third in the SoCon with a 37.9 average on 55 kicks (most in the league), and has had 11 kicks downed inside the opponents' 20-yard line against only two touchbacks.

"My main goal is consistency," he said. "I'm just trying to work on getting more comfortable, taking a lot of snaps and getting used to things back there."