KNOXVILLE - Tennessee kicker Aaron Medley is entering his senior season with a 71 percent success rate on field-goal attempts in college and an awareness of what he needs to improve as he eyes the possibility of continuing his football career professionally.
"The mental game," Medley said at Tennessee's preseason media day event Sunday. "Just having a mental process and going through that every time you kick and just keeping everything the same. In the NFL, you miss four kicks in a season and you're cut. So it's basically just consistency and getting it down to where it's on point every game."
Medley is fifth on Tennessee's all-time list for field goals made with 52. If he matches the number of field goals he made as a freshman (20) or sophomore (21) this season, Medley will jump to first on the list.
But right now he is dealing with pressure from freshman Brent Cimaglia during preseason practice.
"I think Aaron has really, really picked it up in camp," head coach Butch Jones said. "I think that's a byproduct of he's in a competitive battle. It's one of those positions that's still up in the air. He's competing every single day, and he's being pushed by a true freshman.
"That's healthy. I think that's really elevated Aaron's play, not only from a field goal standpoint but a kickoff standpoint with accuracy, where we want the ball put in the box, hang time and all those things associated with it."
Medley's leg is strong, as evidenced by his 97 career touchbacks. Where Jones wants more consistency from him is in longer field goals. Medley is 9-of-25 on attempts of 40 yards or longer during his Volunteers career.
"He can do it," Jones said. "He has the leg strength. I believe in him. Again, I'll know a little more in the next week with where we're at in terms of accuracy. Everything is charted. We try to put them in game-type situations."
Including his career 99.4 percent clip on extra-point attempts, Medley is 201-of-207 on kicks inside 40 yards.
The sports management major acknowledged "I've got to be on my game" with Cimaglia behind him. But Medley also said he wants to help the young kicker develop so Tennessee "will be in good hands" - or have a good foot - after he graduates.
NFL or not, Medley said he wants to work in sports in some capacity. He gets to run through the 'T' at Neyland seven more times before that chapter arrives. But he's not dwelling on the nostalgia of his last go-around on Rocky Top.
"I'm really just focused on ending it on a good note," Medley said. "That's the main thing. Senior year, it's your last time. But you're focused on the game, preparation and the season (so much) that you really don't have time to focus on that. I just want to be able to leave here and look back and know I've done everything I could."
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com.