Interview With Former Cal Kicker Tyler Fredrickson

What goes through your mind, generally, when you were about to do a kick?

What were you thinking during the winning kick in USC 2003?

What were you thinking during the winning kick in Insight Bowl 2003?

What first got you interested in kicking?

What was the kicking practice like?

What made you choose Cal over other available schools?

i was actually at that game.

Did you ever go to Kips and have a drunk fratboy puke on your kicking foot?

I will leave it to the mods to decide which is which:

Would it surprise you to know that CALumbus Bear disparages your Cal career and pooh-poohs your game winning kicks vs. USC and VA Tech?

Ryan Longwell and Robbie Keen preceded you at Cal as dual purpose kickers (placekicking/kickoffs and punting). Why do you think we don’t see very many dual purpose kickers anymore?

What’s the weirdest thing a Cal fan ever said to you?

Is the team clique-y off the field? Do all the kickers hang out together?

What was the best class you took at Cal and why?

Do you feel that academics are paid enough attention to by the team?

Do you/did you have any other friends who played football at the D1A level? How did their experiences relate to yours?

Do you still keep in contact with any of your teammates from Cal?

David Seawright writes weekly pieces for Michael Silver’s column. What sort of insights do you get as a kicker watching the team? Are you mostly on your own

There are a lot of jealous haters out there (including on our own site!) of Seawright’s writing ability, and I’m sure as a kicker you also experienced that after you missed big kicks. How do you respond to such irrational hatred?

I don’t have any questions that haven’t already been mentioned, but I do have a statement:

Thank you for making that kick and playing a huge role in my single greatest moment of Cal fandom. Storming the field that day was the most fun I’ve ever had at a Cal athletic event.

1) What do you think of when an opposing coach calls a TO to ice you? Does it make you more nervous or does it make you more determined or does it not matter?
2) What made you decide to be a kicker?
3) Why is it that punters don’t always kick off or do place kicking duties and vice versa?
4) How do you prepare for a game?
5) How do you handle opposing fans?
5b) Can you make out specifically what an opposing fan says? Did anyone ever really anger you?

I think the post got lost in the post-9/26 debacle. Would like to solicit continued feedback before and after the USC game.

So we heard some female gave you a big french kiss after the USC game. Please tell us more details. What other odd/nice/bad things have people done to you because you were the Cal kicker?