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MANHATTAN, Kan. — Sometime before Saturday night's Nebraska game, Kansas State kicker Josh Cherry might need a chill pill.
Emotions already are high over a matchup that will decide the Big 12 North champion and K-State's bowl eligibility.
Now, add in that Cherry is from McCook, Neb., and grew up as a rabid Husker fan with his room decorated in wall-to-wall red.
“This game has so much riding on it,'' he said. “And then going back home and playing in front of so many friends and family, it's going to be unreal. I don't know if I can get enough tickets.
“But I've got to keep my focus this week and make sure I don't get into any bad habits.''
Cherry had some technique issues early in the season.
The 6-foot-1, 183-pound junior made just 1 of 6 field goals in nonconference play. The low point came in a 17-15 loss to UL-Lafayette when Cherry missed two field goals and an extra point.
On the plane ride home that night, Kansas State coach Bill Snyder asked to see Cherry — not for a scolding, but a pep talk.
“A lot of kickers, when they did what I did early in the year, would have been benched and thrown underneath the bus,'' Cherry said. “The fact that he said I have confidence in you and believe in you meant a lot to me.
“He told me that all you have to do is transfer what you do in practice to the game field. So I just went back to work, and things are working out now.''
That's an understatement.
In Big 12 play, Cherry has hammered through 11 of 12 field goals and is coming off a 4-for-4 day against Missouri (47, 34, 35, 33 yards) that earned him the league's special teams player of the week honor.
“I walk up with such a different attitude now when I kick the ball,'' he said. “Early in the season, it was, ‘Don't do this wrong.' Now it's, ‘Let's go, let's do it.'”
Cherry was a safety and kicker in high school. He has played in Memorial Stadium with McCook in a Class B state championship game, and like many homestate youngsters had dreams of becoming a Husker.
“As a little boy, I wanted to be in a red uniform,'' he said.
Who were his favorite players?
“I'd say Carlos Polk or Ahman Green,'' Cherry said.
Then came a scholarship offer from Kansas State.
“I'm happy here,'' Cherry said. “I love it down here, and I'd rather be nowhere else.''
Kansas State is 0-4 on the road this season and has won only once in Lincoln since 1968. That was the Wildcats' 2003 Big 12 championship team that had Darren Sproles and Ell Roberson.
Can this KSU team, picked to finish fifth or sixth in the North, spring a surprise?
“I know it will be loud and things will be buzzing,'' Cherry said. “I'll be a little more excited and have a few more butterflies in the stomach. But it's the same field there as here.
“Like Coach Snyder says, we've all just got to keep it between the lines.''
Contact the writer:
444-1024, lee.barfknecht@owh.com
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