Sakoda's waiting for his chance

A lot of local college football followers were surprised — shocked, actually — that Louie Sakoda didn't get more of a chance to play in the NFL.

The former Ute kicker and punter had NFL written all over him. He could do it all in college, couldn't he?

He was deadly accurate as a field goal kicker, making 22 of 24 last year and 57 of 66 for his career. That's 86 percent, for crying out loud.

He also was an excellent punter, averaging more than 42 yards for his career with an uncanny knack for dropping the ball inside the 20-yard line, which he did 24 times last year and 104 times in his four-year career as a starter.

Sakoda was Utah's first-ever unanimous, consensus all-American. He was so good he was named all-American as both a placekicker and punter. Certainly someone in the NFL could use his skills.

So why is Sakoda hanging around Ute football practices this fall, working as an undergraduate assistant instead of playing in preseason games for an NFL team?

Sakoda believes the two main reasons are kickoffs and kicker recycling.

When he performed in the combine last spring, Sakoda acknowledges his kickoffs weren't up to NFL standards, although he feels they are now after months of practice.

The other main problem is the way NFL teams recycle old kickers much the same way NBA teams seem to use the same coaches over and over rather than trying out new guys.

"They usually recycle the same people," Sakoda said. "They like the guys with three years of camp experience, even if they never made it as 'the guy.' But you don't get the experience because they don't take the guys without experience. So it's kind of a vicious cycle."

Sakoda isn't making excuses, just being realistic. He's the first to acknowledge he had "a bad showing" with his kickoffs at the combine prior to the NFL Draft.

"I don't know if it was nerves or not doing kickoffs much for three years," he said. "It was just a bad showing that week. Teams were scared to pick me up. If I would have been kicking off like I am now at the combine, I'd definitely be somewhere."

Sakoda said he never expected to get drafted but felt certain he'd get a lot of attention as a free agent. But the initial hours after the draft were the most surprising to him.