If you listen to the UCLA football team practice, amid the symphony of helmets and pads colliding in practice, there is a resounding thud. It’s the sound of a swinging leg meeting the leather of football before launching it high into the air. After spiraling through the Southern California afternoon, the ball falls harmlessly to the ground some 50 yards away. A few seconds later, the same leg pounds a football with another thud.
For UCLA punter Aaron Perez, that thud is the ticket to the NFL.
Perez, a redshirt senior, is one of the few college punters with a chance to crack an elite NFL fraternity next year; only nine new punters have entered the league in the last three seasons. He ranks second in the Pac-10, averaging nearly 44 yards per boot, and led the nation last year with 35 punts downed inside the 20-yard line ““ impressive numbers for someone who never wanted to be a punter.
Amazingly, Perez had never been to a football game before he played in one.
“I wanted to be a soccer goalie,” he said. “I didn’t really like football.”
Becoming a Punter
Like many kickers before him, Perez was plucked from his soccer team at Charter Oak High School in Covina because of his strong leg. His right foot is so naturally powerful that he scored from the other side of the field in a youth soccer game. Twice.
Perez tried out for the freshman team after the first week of the season, and within three games he was punting for the varsity team. Yet even then Perez didn’t take to football.
“I only liked playing on Friday nights because Saturday morning was soccer,” he said.
Coincidentally, it was a former UCLA kicker, Chris Sailer, who planted the punting seed firmly in Perez’s mind.
Perez was invited to Sailer’s kicking camp, the most prestigious of its kind in the country, and was showcased as the feature punter for the camp in 2003.
A few weeks later, his first scholarship letter arrived in the mail, and Perez started to realize where his potential could take him.
His first college offer was from Duke.
“I wanted to go to Duke,” Perez said, almost apologetically. Then Oregon State called, and the punter figured he was headed to Corvallis.
Toward the end of his junior year at a camp in Las Vegas, with then-UCLA special teams coach Brian Schneider scouting him, word reached Perez that if he kicked well UCLA might offer him a scholarship.
“It was the best kicking day of my life,” he said. “A couple of weeks later, I was here and coach Dorrell offered me a scholarship.”
The Anatomy of Punting
Now, five years later, punting has become Perez’s art. The 6-foot-4-inch, 230-pound Bruin spends hours re-enacting the punter’s dance in his off-campus apartment, coordinating his footwork with his drop. With approximately two seconds to take the snap and kick the ball in a game, the delicate balance between the timing of steps and the dropping of the ball is the difference between a picturesque punt and an embarrassing shank.
“My freshman year, home against Washington, I hit a 14-yard punt. That was terrible, getting booed by the Rose Bowl crowd.”
In practice, he compulsively rehearses his drop.
“I strive for not letting the drop control me,” he said.
If there is a small error in the drop, it must be compensated for by adjusting the swing of his leg at the last second. Much like in golf, a slight change in the swing angle can drastically impact the result of the punt. They say football is a game of inches; punting is no exception.
Distance is not the sole goal, however. Perez is a dedicated gatekeeper of field position, gladly sacrificing an inflated punting average for a kick more conducive to special teams coverage: 43-48 yards, more than four and a half seconds of hang time, with good placement. Exempli gratia, Perez’s 53-yard directional masterpiece that landed out-of-bounds at the 4-yard line late in the Oregon game two weeks ago.
“A lot of guys will go out, and you’ll see these punters and they’ll serve them up, down the middle ““ 60 yards, 4.3 (seconds of hang time), and it’s no good. It’s great on the stat sheet until he returns it 55 yards,” Perez said.
He would know. Two years ago, he made the fatal error of centering one deep to former California return wizard DeSean Jackson when he was supposed to punt right.
“You’re like, “˜that’s a good punt,'” he said. “No, it’s not, because he just ran past me.”
Last year, Perez successfully prevented Jackson from having a single return opportunity, contributing to the Bruins 30-21 upset of the 12th ranked Bears.
Changes This Year
Perez’s latest arrow in his quiver of tricks is the Aussie Kick, a nascent style of pooch punt popularized by former Aussie-rules footballer and San Diego Charger punter Darren Bennett.
The ball is held differently before dropping it, causing it to point down before being kicked and producing an end over end spin typical of a kickoff. Ideally, the backspin on the ball causes it to deaden like a nine iron, allowing the coverage team to down it inside the 10-yard line.
“That’s helped me a lot,” Perez said, “because I hate touchbacks.”
But Bennett’s original technique was uncomfortable for Perez, so he studied Pittsburgh Steeler punter Daniel Sepulveda, who holds the ball lower and as if he’s shaking hands with it. Such dedication to his craft is a primary reason UCLA led the nation in punts downed inside the 20 last year.
Now, he’s consistently hitting his Aussie kick 38 to 40 yards, with an impressive 4.6-4.8 seconds of hang time, which almost guarantees a fair catch or downed punt inside the 10.
New coaches have aided Perez in his improvement. In years past, he and his backup punters continued a long tradition of spending the majority of practice engaging in punter games. There are simple ones ““ who can hit the crossbar? ““ and more complicated contests, such as a version of “Horse” they concocted in which one kicker would try to hit a square on a large grid fence, and the others would have to hit the same square.
Graduate Assistant Mike Rutenberg, or “Rudy,” formerly with the Washington Redskins under legendary coach Joe Gibbs, joined the team last year and quickly eliminated much of the tomfoolery during practice. He immediately imparted Gibbs’ disciplinarian approach; Redskin punter Derrick Frost didn’t play games in practice, so neither would any Bruin.
“We don’t do those (games) as much anymore,” Perez said, “because we have to run (now).”
Still a Soccer Lover
Despite his football success, Perez is still a soccer aficionado.
“I’m a soccer guy at heart,” he said.
After Saturday night football games, Perez will stay awake until 6 a.m. to watch English Premier League matches. The mere mention of his favorite team, Arsenal, morphs him into a typical partisan Brit.
He has even managed to convert a few teammates to the European version of football, but that battle usually ends in playing EA’s popular FIFA video games.
“He’s a FIFA nerd,” redshirt junior tight end Ryan Moya said.
Indeed, Perez plays so much FIFA, he was ranked No. 1 in the world online at one point. He’s so serious about his FIFA gaming that he’s been known to pull the plug when losing to protect his online record.
According to Moya, “He can’t take the losing.”
The Future
Despite being devoted to such a singular, repetitive skill, Perez is one of the handful of players on the team with a legitimate chance of playing on Sundays.
First-year UCLA special teams coach Frank Gansz Jr. thinks “he has great potential” for the next level. Gansz would know ““ he was the special teams coordinator with the Baltimore Ravens before joining the Bruins. Perez is currently ranked fourth among punting prospects on NFLDraftUniverse.net and with ESPN’s resident draft guru Mel Kiper.
So where will Perez be next year?
“I don’t know, I just like to kick,” he said.
If the NFL doesn’t call, Perez simply wants to do something that makes him happy. He has flirted with the idea of becoming a fireman, and jokes about moving to Europe and becoming a full-time soccer hooligan. He has even discussed a few business propositions with redshirt senior quarterback Ben Olson, although those ideas are top secret.
Wherever he lands, it has been a great journey on the gridiron for the former soccer goalkeeper.
“Look where I am. I’m so blessed to be out here.”
In the meantime, listen for that thud.