Daily Cal: True Freshman D'Amato Earns Field Goal Duties

Matt Kawahara

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True freshman Vince D'Amato proved early in fall camp that he can handle pressure. At the end of a late practice, with six "gassers" for the whole team riding on one kick, D'Amato nailed a 42-yard field goal and sent the Cal football team into stretching lines.  Bears coach Jeff Tedford brought that moment up again Wednesday afternoon as an example of D'Amato's poise, shortly after announcing that the freshman will handle field goal duties for the No. 12 Bears starting against Maryland on Saturday.

Giorgio Tavecchio, who was battling D'Amato for the job throughout camp, will handle kickoff duties.

"We feel very confident in both of them," Tedford said. "Vince has been a little more consistent with it and we feel like he has great range."  D'Amato, a freshman from Lake Forest, Calif., found out before Wednesday's practice that he had earned the start.  "I approached it as a job to win, worked at it and I got good competition," he said.   Tavecchio was the team's primary field goal kicker in 2008, converting nine of 13 attempts and three of four from 40-49 yards.

Where Tavecchio-and Cal as a whole-struggled last year was on kickoffs. The Bears ranked eighth in the Pac-10 in net kickoff average as Tavecchio averaged 56.6 yards per attempt.

The sophomore recently said that he increased his range by five to 10 yards over the offseason thanks to Cal's weightlifting program, and Tedford said Wednesday that Tavecchio has constantly landed his kickoffs between the end zone and the five-yard line-a distance of 65 to 70 yards.

Late Start

Saturday's 7 p.m. kickoff is unusually late, but players at Tuesday's press conference said that it shouldn't have any negative effects-besides the waiting.  "That's the only thing-the anxiety's going to be building all day," safety Brett Johnson said. "But it's definitely great to play under the lights. Everybody loves night games."  Cal practiced under lights at Memorial Stadium on Sunday evening to get used to the nighttime atmosphere. It was the first night practice that Tedford could remember holding with the Bears-the lights that are brought in for late home games typically aren't set up until Thursday evening.

Syd'Quan Thompson and Brian Holley said that a late start has its perks. Namely, they can sleep in Saturday.  "The night before, if you're thinking about the game, it's kind of hard to go to sleep on time," Thompson said. "So having a later game works to your advantage."