Blose: I want to be THE kicker

By Pete Mollica

The junior kicker hopes to be doing all the placekicking duties for YSU this season.

YOUNGSTOWN — When Stephen Blose was a high school football standout at Harbor Creek High in Erie, Pa., he rarely left the playing field.

Blose was a starter on both offense and defense and handled all of the team’s punting and kicking duties.

He set a state record his senior season when he rushed for 488 yards and scored six touchdowns in a one game and scored 44 points with the six TDs and eight extra points.

Last season as a redshirt sophomore at Youngstown State, Blose was on the field for only 52 plays, and all of them were as the Penguins’ kickoff specialist.

“It’s certainly a lot different than high school,” said Blose.

This season, which will be his fourth with the Penguins, Blose hopes to be on the field more as the team’s field-goal and extra-point specialist in addition to kicking off.

“We’re still in competition here this spring,” Blose said. “We have four or five other kickers here, but I’m hoping that I can take over that department this season.”

Blose said he hasn’t kicked a lot this spring.

“The coaches really wanted to take a look at some of the other kickers who haven’t been around, but I’m sure I’ll be kicking more in the last couple weeks of camp,” he added.

Blose said because he hasn’t worked much at field goals or extra points in game conditions, he needs a lot of work on his consistency.

“Consistency is the most important thing for a kicker,” Blose said. “I’d also like to be 100 percent from 40 yards and in, but consistency and kicking the same no matter the conditions is the most important.”

Blose said he’s learned a lot over the years that he’s been with the Penguins.

“When I came here in 2005, Joe Bishop was here and he kind of became my mentor, and for the past two seasons I’ve worked behind Brian Palmer, who was just an outstanding kicker, and I really learned a lot just from working with him,” Blose added.

After sitting out the 2006 season as a redshirt, Blose saw action in nine games in 2007, mainly as a kickoff specialist. He had 47 kicks that year and averaged 59.9 yards with two touchbacks.

He also had his only college field goal that season, which came in the season opener at Ohio State when he converted a 41-yarder in a 38-6 loss to the Buckeyes. He and Palmer had the only points in the game.

Last season he had 52 of the Penguins’ 53 kickoffs with four touchbacks and also had two successful onside kicks. One came against Northern Iowa at Stambaugh Stadium on the game’s opening kickoff, and the other was at Missouri State.

Blose (5-foot-10, 185 pounds) is as good in the classroom as he is on the field, maintaining a perfect 4.0 cumulative grade-point average.

In 2007 he earned the Gateway Commissioner’s Academic Excellence Award as well as making the Gateway Honor Roll, while last year he earned second team CoSIDA District IV Academic honors as well as academic All-Missouri Valley Football Conference.

It all started in high school where he was a first-team PIAA Class AA all-state selection as a senior when he kicked 9-of-11 field goals, five of them over 40 yards. He was also the class valedictorian as well as a team captain.

Blose majors in education.

“I’d love to be able to teach and coach when I graduate,” he said. “I’m taking some classes this summer, and between that and working out every day here, I’ll keep pretty busy.”

He said he doesn’t go to a lot of camps like some kickers.

“I’ll work the camp here, and it’s possible that I might do one other,” he said. “I’d rather just work here with the rest of the team.

Blose hopes to get some extra work Saturday when the Penguins will hve their spring jersey scrimmage at 9:30 a.m. at Stambaugh Stadium.

mollica@vindy.com