Jimmy Stevens: Kickers live in weird world

Oklahoma kicker Jimmy Stevens has been through ups and downs, twists and turns. He’s lost his job twice in the past year — and gotten it back twice. Now with an injury to Patrick O’Hara, Stevens is once again starting again for the Sooners.

No position, save quarterback, is more scrutinized than kicker.

Which makes the fact that the kickers are more or less self-coached all the more interesting.

“We’re basically coaching each other,” Stevens said earlier this week of the Sooner kickers. “The coaches really don’t know a whole lot about kicking. We end up coaching ourselves.”

Think about that for a minute.

No one expects Landry Jones to quarterback the Sooners without a position coach. No one thinks that Travis Lewis and Tom Wort  should be teaching each other how to play linebacker. And yet, Stevens and O’Hara and Co. are essentially coaching themselves.

That is crazy.

“It is,” Stevens admitted. “There’s not a whole lot of people that know a whole lot about it. Our coaches know some about it, but they don’t know a whole lot. They try to help when they can, but at the same time, they can’t really help that much.”

So, what do kickers do when they’re having trouble?