University of Tennessee at Chattanooga kicker Victor Ulmo spent the summer kicking footballs over a soccer goal.
Maybe the two sports do mix.
Ulmo has had a solid start to the season for the Mocs, making three of his four field-goal attempts and all three of his extra-point tries through three games. Replacing two-time first-team All-Southern Conference kicker Henrique Ribeiro, Ulmo had a year to learn behind the standout kicker and punter - and fellow Baylor School alumnus - and he feels comfortable in the spot.
"I knew when my time came, I had to step on the field to do what I know I can do," Ulmo said before Thursday's practice. "I kept working hard, working on my mental game, because I knew if it was fine I could perform to the best of my ability."
UTC kicker Victor Ulmo celebrates his first field goal. The University of Chattanooga Mocs met the Jacksonville State Gamecocks in the Guardian Credit Union FCS Kickoff at the Carmton Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama on August 26, 2017. Special-teams coordinator Chris Hurd has been working with the 5-foot-8, 180-pound kicker, often standing near him and lunging toward him during field-goal attempts in practice in an attempt to throw off the timing of the kicker. Early during preseason camp, Ulmo's consistency was off, but it has improved through the contrived adversity and pressure Hurd has put on the redshirt freshman.
Ulmo's lone miss was a 47-yarder that was just wide right at LSU, and he has made kicks from 22, 25 and 31 yards.
"Coming into camp, I knew I needed to work on my consistency, so going out there and making the first of my three kicks meant a lot to me," Ulmo said. "Knowing I have a good holder, a good snapper and a solid base to protect me makes my job easier whenever I go out there. I had the miss against LSU, but I'm glad right now I'm able to make the easy ones, and hopefully I will get a shot at making the long ones soon."
His confidence came from his preparation, as he spent the summer working with holder (and punter) Colin Brewer, and long snapper Jared Nash. The three worked for an hour and a half four or five days a week at a nearby soccer field, with Ulmo envisioning the soccer goal as a football goal posts, as the two have similar width.
"Victor has been outstanding," UTC head coach Tom Arth said. "He's made two really big field goals for us; at LSU, he just missed it. Otherwise he's been great for us. It means a lot to him. He works so hard, and that means a lot to his teammates."
Seeking turnovers
The UTC defense hasn't forced a turnover since intercepting two passes in the first half of the season opener against Jacksonville State. After the UT-Martin game last Saturday, defensive end Isaiah Mack pointed out the lack of takeaways, and that was a point of emphasis this week at practice as the team looked to create extra possessions for the offense.
"Everything's about us," defensive coordinator Tom Kaufman said. "It has nothing to do with our opponent. What are we doing to help? We've faced a lot of short fields, but when have we created short fields for our offense? We're not doing a good job in that area; we're not holding up our end of the bargain. Our job description is to hold the offense to less points than we score, and that's it.
"We've failed to do that three times, so we need to be better."
Injury report
Heading into Saturday's game at Virginia Military Institute, the team is pretty healthy except for some minor nicks and bruises, Arth reported. Senior running backs Richardre Bagley and Darrell Bridges went through practice this week and both are expected to play.
"We're as healthy as we can hope to be after playing three really physical games," Arth said. "We're in really good shape, and hopefully that will continue to be, and I think that's a credit to (strength coach) Chad Pearson and our athletic training staff.
"They've done a fantastic job keeping our players in top shape and ready to compete every week."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.