Chris Freeman is Growing into His Role as IU's Kicker

Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

Indiana place kicker Chris Freeman is finding his footing as the Hoosiers every day kickoff specialist and field goal kicker. Freeman has been with the Hoosiers for four seasons now and is getting his shot to prove himself as IU’s go-to kicker.

Freeman, the Indiana Gatorade Player of the Year in soccer, connected on his first career first goal in IU’s opener against Ohio State, but really made his mark with the onside kick against Louisville.

“I think that was a really huge step for him. It's one thing to do it in practice. Those are hard to get. You have to -- the placement has to be perfect. The spacing is pretty compressed, and there's a little window that we took advantage of, and -- but if the ball doesn't hit just right, sometimes you overthink it and you don't hit it quite hard enough or whatever.” Indiana head coach Tom Allen said on Monday.

His onside kick and recovery by Louis Moore helped spark a comeback against Louisville that ultimately fell short. However, Freeman’s confidence is growing with his success.

“Just to be able do in that moment, yeah, that gives him confidence. There's nothing like doing it in the game and practice is great, that's where it all begins. But executing it in that moment in that setting at a critical time was very important.” Allen said.

It was the first successful onside kick recovery for Freeman and something the team had worked in practice.

“Just pulling it off finally” Freeman said, “because we work through it in practice and it's like finally that work is just showing up because in the past onside kicks haven't been like our greatest asset. So just finally getting to execute one was huge for the team.”

Freeman had to wait his turn for the place kicking role as he sat behind Charles Campbell and had to battle Nico Radicic for the role this year.

“Nico (Radicic) has brought a great amount of talent here. Freeman said. “He's pushed me every day so just having him in the room is just something great for me. I think I'm giving him just as much knowledge and just experience coming into the college game. But yeah he's pushed me just super similar to how I pushed Charles (Campbell) over the past few years, so obviously getting my number called and seeing that execution the first week against Ohio state was great to see.”

Freeman 2-for-2 on field goals and 5-for-5 on his extra points through three games this season.