On the Importance of Matt Ammendola

Mike Gundy has plenty going for him. He’s coming off of back-to-back 10-win seasons. His franchise QB and Biletnikoff candidate decided to stick around — barbed wire helmets and all. He feels pretty good about his defense, despite a couple of question marks.

Life is good on Gundy manor.

But there is one question that Mike Gundy would love answered before the fall: How proficient will the Cowboys be in the kicking game? Unfortunately, that can’t and won’t be answered before the season starts.

In 2013, OSU handed over kicking duties to true freshman Ben Grogan. The highly-touted Texas high school kicker chose the Cowboys over scholarship offers from Kansas and Memphis. He was a top-10 kicker in the country according to Rivals.com and No. 15 per ESPN.

But everything, it seems, comes with a learning curve and even Grogan couldn’t escape a couple of hiccups early. He went 0-for-2 on field goals in his first Big 12 road game in Morgantown. The Cowboys suffered their first loss of the season 30-21 to the Mountaineers. Those two missed field goals were huge. The second would have tied the game in the 4th quarter.

That loss kept the Cowboys from winning their second Big 12 title in three years. That and a frigid morning Bedlam game most OSU fans would like to forget.

Over his career, Grogan not only hit his stride, he cruised to finish as one of OSU’s top kickers ever, beating out Dan Bailey as the leading scorer in Oklahoma State history. His status as a cold-blooded assassin began with a game-winner in Norman in 2014 and was cemented with back-to-back game-winners against Texas and Kansas State a year later.

Grogan — whose career garnered an invite to the New Orleans Saints’ training camp — is off to try his leg at an NFL career. The Cowboys currently have zero scholarship place kickers on campus.

If you saw Matt Ammendola at a practice you may not peg him as a kicker. The redshirt sophomore is built more like a linebacker than a specialist.

“That’s been my whole life since I was eight, just kicking a football through uprights,” Ammendola said according to an article from The Oklahoman. “I had a good feeling it could take me somewhere far.”

Where it’s taken him is over 1,300 miles away from Lansdale, Pennsylvania, where he set the school record at North Penn High School with a 56-yard field goal. Ammendola also made a name for his leg shooting trick-shot style YouTube videos, as well.

Still under-recruited, Ammendola was not offered an FBS scholarship but did see a chance to earn one and came to Oklahoma State as a preferred walk-on at the prodding of former special teams coach Robby Discher.

It’s not as if Ammendola hasn’t seen the field. He took over the kickoff duties for Grogan last season with ubiquitous benefits. Grogan, who had fought through injuries, got a chance to save the stress on his body for the real stressful plays and it drastically improved OSU’s kickoff game. Ammendola gave the Cowboys their best touchback percentage (46.6) of any kicker since Quinn Sharp in 2012.

And there’s no doubt that he has the leg. In his single field goal attempt last year, Ammendola knocked one in from 53 yards. That’s tied for fourth-longest in OSU history.

“Amendola will kick,” Mike Gundy said prior to spring camp. “We’ll see how he develops. Right now, in practice and games, he’s been six-for-six from 55 yards and out, but he hasn’t been good from 35 and in.

“We’re going to work him quite a bit this spring.”

Over the last two seasons, Oklahoma State has won seven games by seven or fewer points. There’s a lot on the line this year for the Cowboys and we’ve seen how crucial the kicking game can be.

This fall, Ammendola will also have to fend off another kicker who boasts higher recruiting stars than him. Top-rated high school punter and kicker, Jake McClure, comes in on scholarship and boasts his own career long field goal of 56 yards. You can bet he would love to win a starting job in year one.

If he can handle the pressure, Ammendola will get plenty of opportunities to practice his kicking motion following what looks to be a premier offense in the nation this fall. If he can handle the pressure, he should be next the next walk-on to earn himself a scholarship at OSU.

He’s definitely got the leg for it.