Griffin Oakes said he knew better than to open his Twitter app on his phone after he missed one field goal and two extra points against then-No. 7 Michigan State in week eight.
The 5-foot-10 sophomore kicker said getting on social media would do more harm than it would help him through a time when he was down on himself.
“Of course you have those friends that say, ‘Oh did you see this? Did you see what ESPN tweeted about you?’” Oakes said. “It’s like they thought I forgot how to kick. I just kind of made sure that everyone just left me alone about it.”
Oakes said it didn’t take too long for him to gather his confidence, but the worst part was the Hoosiers’ bye week followed their loss to the Spartans, which meant the kicker had two weeks until he could make his next field goal. That's exactly what the kicker did, too.
He averages the second-most points per game of all players in the Big Ten this season with 8.5 — Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott leads with 9.6.
However, the kicker missed out on five points three weeks ago, including a third quarter field goal that would have given the Hoosiers a one-point lead going into the fourth.
In IU Coach Kevin Wilson’s postgame press conference, the coach mentioned he didn’t like the way Oakes carried himself after the misses and he prepares all players for gametime, including backup sophomore kicker Aaron Del Grosso.
Oakes said Wilson offered him support the whole way though.
“He just said, ‘I love you, man. Just forget about it. You’ve just gotta keep playing,’” Oakes said about Wilson during the Michigan State game. “It was just a different feeling that I’ve never felt before, so it was kind of hard for me to bear it sometimes.”
Following the two-week rest after missing three kicks, the kicker hit both of his field goal attempts and all three of his extra-point attempts in IU’s competitive loss against No. 5 Iowa, 35-27. Then he nailed four field goal attempts, including a 51-yard field goal in the second quarter, and three extra-point attempts in the Hoosiers’ near upset of No. 12 Michigan.
Of IU’s 68 total points scored in the last two weeks, Oakes has accounted for 24 of them.
With an offense that struggles to score touchdowns in the redzone, which Wilson has said is a focus for the team throughout the season, a consistent kicker is significant in creating points on stalled drives. Wilson acknowledged that Monday during his press conference, too.
“(Griffin Oakes) was named the Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week,” Wilson said. “I think he had 15 points, second most in the conference. That’s also a product of red zone field goals versus red zone touchdowns, and we need touchdowns in games like (Michigan).”
Despite the missed field goals in East Lansing, Michigan, Oakes still leads the Big Ten in field goal percentage (88.9) by a wide margin — second place is 83.3 — and his 51-yard field goal ties him with Illinois’ Taylor Zalewski for the longest converted field goal in the conference this season.
“He’s first,” Wilson said. “He’s No. 1. He’s got a chance to be Big Ten Kicker of the Year.”
