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A Kick Is Just A Kick For Notre Dame's Justin Yoon

Justin Yoon is 46 points away from becoming Notre Dame's all-time scoring leader.
Justin Yoon is 46 points away from becoming Notre Dame's all-time scoring leader. (Bill Panzica)

Tuning out the head coach when he is trying to get your attention is generally no way to crack the lineup, but for senior kicker Justin Yoon it’s remained an asset.

While lining up for a 50-yard field goal attempt during last Saturday’s workout in Notre Dame Stadium, Yoon was the target of a verbal barrage from Brian Kelly on how he’s incapable of converting from such a distance (even though he did so even as a freshman versus Navy in 2015).

As he has throughout this month, Yoon converted it with relative ease and plenty of yards to spare.

“I do that because I know he tunes it all out,” Kelly said. “[Afterwards} I asked him what I said. He said, ‘I didn’t hear you.’ … His focus is amazing.”

When Yoon speaks about his meticulous nature of kicking, all that is missing is the background music of “As Time Goes By” from Casablanca that begins: “You must remember this: a kiss is just a kiss… The fundamental things apply, as time goes by.”

“A kick’s a kick,” Yoon noted, paraphrasing the famous tune in cinema annals. “It should be the same no matter what… My biggest thing is making sure I’m mentally ready. Doesn’t matter how far it is and where it is: Make sure you’re doing the same thing you’re doing all the time.

“A lot of it is the mental keys. I always talk to myself. It’s like golf. You look at it based off of the trajectory of where you’re aiming, which way the wind is blowing…The technical stuff that you have to be really sound on.”

Through his first three seasons, Yoon has been a model of the requisite three C’s in kicking: consistency, concentration and clutch conversion.

• The data through each of his first three seasons has been similar on field goals: 15 of 17 as a freshman, 13 of 17 as a sophomore and 14 of 18 last season.

His .808 field-goal percentage dwarfs the second highest in school history with a minimum of 50 kicks that is held by 23-year NFL veteran John Carney (whose son J.D. Carney is a walk-on sophomore quarterback for the Irish) at .739 from 1984-86. (2009-11 kicker David Ruffer is the highest at 40 kicks, converting 33 of 40 for a .825 percentage).

Yoon also converted all 55 extra point attempts last season.

Overall, he needs only 46 points this season to become the all-time scoring leader at Notre Dame, with 1983-86 running back’s Allen Pinkett’s 320 (53 touchdowns and a two-point conversion, although three more TDs in bowl games that are not included should be) at the top.

• His concentration has been best reflected in that he has converted all four of his field goals — and all from at least 40 yards — in the most inclement conditions possible.

As a freshman in a monsoon at Clemson, his 46-yard field goal early gave the Irish a chance to win it in the end before falling short 24-22 on a missed two-point conversion in the closing seconds.

At North Carolina State a year later when players literally had to walk in water and play through a hurricane, Yoon drilled his lone attempt from 40 yards out.

And last January in the 21-17 Citrus Bowl in which a dramatic last-minute touchdown pass from Ian Book to Miles Boykin was the winning score, overshadowed was that in wet, slippery and windy conditions, Yoon converted from 49 and 46 yards that made it possible for the Irish to remain within striking distance.

• Although he does not have a last-second Harry-Oliver-like epic field goal (Michigan 1980) on his dossier, Yoon has consistently delivered when most needed, including the aforementioned kicks in adverse conditions.

In the 30-27 victory versus Miami in 2016, his third field goal was a 23-yarder with 30 seconds left. Last year after a shaky start in the opening game romp versus Temple in which Yoon was 0-of-2 on field goals, he responded the next week when the stage was brightest against Georgia, going 4-of-4 from 39, 42, 37 and 28 yards, the latter giving the Irish a 19-17 fourth-quarter lead before falling 20-19.

“He makes big kicks,” Kelly said. “His thing is his ability to tune out everything in the big moments and make those kicks when you need them. And that’s really how you should look at kickers, in my estimation.”

In the past two August camps, Yoon was inconsistent but rectified it by the time it was needed.

“A lot of that had to do with my mental game,” Yoon explained. “Too much in my head — I’m doing this wrong, I’m doing that wrong.’ Just focus on one or things that you think are wrong.

“A lot of people end up thinking, ‘What if this happens, what if that happens.’ You can’t distrust yourself. You’ve got to trust that you’ve done this for so long. I think that helps me build that bubble around me to the point where I don’t know what’s going on.”

With Book as his new holder in 2018 and junior John Shannon returning as the snapper, Yoon has thrived so far.

“He’s going to be an important part of winning,” Kelly summarized.

Play it again, Justin.

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