COLLEGE PARK - Rain had been falling for much of the afternoon as Obi Egekeze steeled himself for a 20-yard field-goal attempt in the final seconds of a tie game against North Carolina State on Oct. 25.
The footing was becoming increasingly treacherous, but Maryland's senior kicker wasn't fazed. "My career long is 54 in the rain [in high school]. That definitely gave me confidence about the ability to kick in the rain," Egekeze said. True to form, Egekeze converted the game-winning kick.
Conquering the rain, he said later, was easy compared with overcoming a mysterious season-opening funk that left him one or two misses from losing his job.
Egekeze's turnaround couldn't have been more dramatic - five straight misses followed by 10 straight makes.
"I tried to keep thinking that the most important kick is the next kick," said Egekeze, who is 11 for his past 12 entering tonight's game at Virginia Tech.
His coaches believed the kicker needed only to hit one to relax. They seemed determined to stick with Egekeze as long as he found his touch before the Atlantic Coast Conference schedule began against Clemson in Week 5.
As it turned out, Egekeze's confidence returned just in time. He ended his slump by making his first three kicks of the season against Eastern Michigan in Week 4, allowing the coaches to take a deep breath of relief.
"I would compare it to a basketball player who is streaky," offensive coordinator James Franklin said. "You get into a rhythm, and you start to feel it."
Said Egekeze, a graduate student in international finance who hopes to play in the NFL, "After those first couple [makes], you just definitely feel very comfortable."
Egekeze's season began when he thudded a kick off the crossbar in a 14-7 win over Delaware. He hit the upright when the Terps needed points the next weekend in a 24-14 loss at Middle Tennessee State. A miss against California in the third game left him 0-for-5, and the media were beginning to ask coach Ralph Friedgen whether he planned to replace Egekeze.
Egekeze, highly recruited out of Augusta, Ga., had entered the season 17-for-23, sixth most accurate in Maryland history. But suddenly, uprights had become his enemy.
The irony is that Egekeze sometimes tries to hit the uprights in practice. "I still practice trying to hit it," he said. "You're practicing hitting a straight ball."
But he certainly didn't want to hit any more in games.
