Tiffin builds confidence with nine straight field goals

TUSCALOOSA | The difference between Leigh Tiffin and his teammates on the University of Alabama football team is the same as the difference between a sniper and a soldier.

Tiffin, the Crimson Tide’s sophomore kicker, understands the sniper mentality, and his aim has been perfect on his last nine shots. After last weekend’s 4-for-4 performance against Mississippi State, Tiffin has now made nine straight field goal attempts.

“Ready at any time,” he said. “One shot, one kill.”

Even though Tiffin has made nine field goals in a row, with four of those from longer than 40 yards and two last weekend of 50 and 51 yards, he hasn’t been putting notches on his gun.

“I haven’t been keeping up with it,” he said. “That’s pretty good.”

Tiffin’s season started shaky. He made just 4 of 8 attempts in Alabama’s first two games, but turned a corner with a clutch 42-yard field goal late in the Tide’s come-from-behind victory over Arkansas. Starting with that kick, Tiffin has been good on 16 of his last 18 attempts.

“That boosted my confidence,” Tiffin said. “That was a big turning point. Ever since then that really boosted my confidence.”

It’s hard to ignore the fact that Tiffin’s most important kick early this season was against the same team where his season melted down last year. Tiffin went 1-for-4 on field goal attempts in Fayetteville, Ark., and missed an extra point in a game Alabama lost 24-23 in overtime, but the kicker from Red Bay doesn’t look at things that way. He didn’t need to make the 42-yarder against Arkansas this year because of what happenend last season, but because the Tide needed him to come through.

“It wouldn’t have mattered who we were playing,” he said. “That was just a pretty crucial kick in a game that was important.”

That makes sense, because snipers aren’t supposed to get personal with their targets.

“For me, that’s the nice thing about my job,” Tiffin said. “Playing Louisiana-Monroe or playing Auburn I’m doing the same thing. It really doesn’t matter.”

Alabama coach Nick Saban understands kickers aren’t exactly football players, and has adjusted his approach accordingly.

“For years I managed these guys like they were playing left guard and that is not the way to do it,” he said. “They are going to go in for three or four plays in the game, almost like an assassin mentality they have to focus on that one thing they have to make it work.

“You are not like the rest of the players on the team, so why try and make them that way?”

Tiffin made some technical adjustments to improve his aim, widening his stance on the advice of former NFL kicker Chris Boniol. Tiffin watched Boniol’s videotape on kicking technique and liked what he saw enough to fly out to Dallas this summer to work with him. When he started having trouble this season, Tiffin turned to the guru.

“If I was missing, I was missing to the left a little bit in practice,” Tiffin said.

Considering Boniol twice had streaks of 28 made field goal attempts in the NFL, maybe something rubbed off.

“I was a little nervous at the beginning of the year,” Tiffin said. “I think that was the main difference.

“It’s great when you’re doing good. It can be really easy at times, but it can be really hard if you’re struggling.”

Lately, that hasn’t been the case, and Tiffin’s teammates know it.

“That’s my dude right there,” offensive tackle Andre Smith said. “I have nothing but trust in him.”

Reach Tommy Deas at tommy.deas@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0224.