UW kicker Erik Folk becoming long story

For Erik Folk, feeling better physically was the key to performing mentally.

Last season, the University of Washington kicker was coming off a torn labrum in his hip and, looking back, Huskies football coach Steve Sarkisian wasn't sure the kicker truly believed in his ability as the team opened camp in 2009.

"Mentally, I don't know how much he believed that he could really, really do it," Sarkisian said. "We were wondering into fall camp and then ... "

Folk hit 18 of 21 field goals, including the game-winner against USC and the kick that sent the Notre Dame game into overtime. He was healthy all season, but his confidence was a work in progress.

"I didn't have the confidence I have now," said Folk, recently named to the Lou Groza Award watch list. "It's definitely just time, getting the confidence back is really key after an injury like that, just knowing you can go out and do it."

Now, as he enters his second season as Washington's kicker, there is an abundance of enthusiasm both from Folk and the coaching staff.

"He's got a load of confidence, and we have a load of confidence in him," Sarkisian said.

That's what happens when a kicker drills a 58-yard field goal like Folk did in Friday's practice.

"After last year, I'm a lot more confident with my kicks, knowing I can go out there and just kick," he said. "Trying to stay focused on it in the offseason has been really key. I've been working a lot to get better on my kickoffs and field goals."

In addition to showing off his leg strength on field goals, Folk improved his distance on kickoffs. He said that going into the offseason he needed to focus on his technique, working toward getting his kickoffs higher and deeper.

"Kickoff-wise, my steps were really bad last year," he said.

His steps were choppy and inconsistent on kickoffs. Sometimes he would speed up too fast and other times he wouldn't gather much speed at all.

"It's a lot smoother, a lot more consistent," he said. "That's really helped me."

The more consistent Folk is with his steps, the easier it is to put the ball where he wants, which will help avoid situations like the one against Stanford in 2009 when the ball was supposed to go left, but went right, allowing Chris Owusu to return the opening kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown.

"It definitely makes it a lot easier," said Folk, whose brother, Nick, kicks for the New York Jets. "If you're more consistent with your technique, you know what you need to do to directionally kick it. If you're inconsistent and you're trying to kick it left, it could go right. Consistency is definitely a big part in getting the direction you want."

That said, the Huskies also are trying to adjust their kickoff to better suit Folk's strengths.

"He's got a strong leg, but you don't want a kid to do something he's not comfortable doing," special-teams coordinator Johnny Nansen said. "Therefore, if it's middle, deep middle, that's what we're going to do and we're just going to have to make sure our coverage team is alert with covering the whole field, instead of reducing the field down to one third."

Note

• Former UW tight end Kavario Middleton, who had announced last week he planned to resume his career at Nebraska, will have to look elsewhere after he was denied admission to the school. Nebraska began classes Monday and Middleton did not have the proper credits to transfer, according to the Omaha World-Herald. He will apparently now look to a smaller-division school where he would be immediately eligible to play.

Middleton, a Lakes High grad, was dismissed from the UW program over the summer for violating team rules.

Mason Kelley: 206-464-8277 or mkelley@seattletimes.com