MU kicker Wolfert likes living on the edge
By MIKE DeARMOND
The Kansas City Star
Jeff Wolfert stopped diving off bridges when he started kicking field goals for Missouri. But Wolfert has a confession to make that will make Tigers coach Gary Pinkel cringe.
“I went off a cliff several times this summer,” Wolfert said. “Uh, I guess he doesn’t know.
“But I’ve been doing it my whole life. I consider myself a professional. I know what I’m doing.”
What Wolfert did off this particular cliff at the Lake of the Ozarks, which he estimates towers 45 feet above the water, was a 2 1/2 somersault dive.
Feet first? Of course not. Wouldn’t want to turn an ankle or anything.
“Headfirst,” Wolfert said.
Wolfert, a senior from Blue Valley West and an All-Big 12 Conference kicker who has never missed a field goal in a league game, came to Missouri as a diver.
He played one game of high school football, making a PAT and one kickoff. Got hurt. Never played another prep football game.
Still, he came to Mizzou with a dream, or at least the dream of a dream.
“I was a soccer player all through youth and three years in high school on varsity,” Wolfert said. “I was the guy who always did the corner kicks and the penalty kicks. I just had an accurate leg and a good leg.”
He still looks more like a diver — long and lithe — than a football player.
But after the 2004 college season, Wolfert walked on to the football team and away from diving.
Diving is still in Wolfert’s blood. Two weeks ago, at the height of the Summer Olympics, he went over to the school pool, went off the diving boards, the 10-meter platform.
By day, Wolfert concentrated on football practice. By night, he watched the men’s and women’s diving in Beijing.
So, considering his importance to the Missouri football team, will Wolfert stay off the diving boards, the platform, the cliffs? At least until the end of the season?
Probably. Even without consulting Pinkel.
“I think he knows that I would never put myself in jeopardy of getting hurt,” Wolfert said. “It would have to be something freak. I could pull out of here and get in a car accident. The chances are so slim that I’m going to hurt myself diving.”
To reach Mike DeArmond, Missouri reporter for The Star, call 816-234-4353 or send e-mail to mdearmond@kcstar.com
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