Huskies' Wales Is Alive And Kicking

John Wales needed an escape. The Washington kicker had to get away from the newscasts replaying his misses, the newspapers rehashing the mistakes and the students repeatedly asking him what went wrong.

Against Oregon last November, Wales missed two field-goal attempts in the final 3:02 of a 24-22 loss. And afterward, he had to get away from the awful day.

"It was the worst experience of my life," Wales said this week. "You don't ever want to get to that point again.

"I didn't really want to have anything to do with football at the time. I went up to Snoqualmie Falls with my girlfriend for the rest of the weekend and just took a lot of time to think."

Looking for support, Wales also called a soul mate, former Washington kicker Chuck Nelson.

"First thing he did was make sure I wasn't standing on a cliff," Wales said. "Then he just reminded me that those things happen to kickers. He said he's yet to meet a kicker who made every try. He told me about his miss in the (1982) Apple Cup. Said it was the only kick of his that people remember."

Wales, now a senior, had a 1995 that felt featureless. He missed half of his 20 field-goal attempts. Three of his four misses inside 40 yards came in the Oregon game. He was zero for six outside of 40.

The Husky kicking game looked like the Keystone Kops. Snaps were erratic. Holds were poor. And the protection broke down. Wales was at the center of the collapse.

"John Wales had taken upon himself as a kicker to do the snapping also, mentally," new special-teams coach Al Roberts said. "John is a technically sound, mechanically sound kicker. The problem is he wants to help the other team members do their jobs, and he just can't do that.

"The thing I've tried to tell John is, you can't do anything about the protection. You can't do anything about the holds. You can't do anything about the snaps. So the message, quite brutally, is, `John, just do your job.' "

Certain positions in sports require a short memory - cornerback, relief pitcher, kicker. Failures are inevitable. The quicker they are forgotten, the better.

"When I first met John, he had no confidence, but he was real responsive to me," Roberts said. "His technique had started to go astray because of the other things he was thinking about. He dwelled on a few of his misses. I saw him going downhill initially. But I also saw a kid who was spongy, who was willing to jump out and learn."

This summer Wales began rebuilding his confidence. He remembered his successes - the 47-yarder against Miami in 1994, the 21-yard game-winner against Washington State last year.

And he envisioned his future successes. In an empty Husky Stadium he imagined himself in another game-winning situation. He went through the entire process. Trotting onto the field. Imagining 11 white uniforms across the line of scrimmage. Hearing the imaginary taunts of the opposition. Feeling the imaginary tension.

Wales took his steps. Mimed his kicks. And saw all of them, this time, bisecting the uprights.

"I have the physical ability," Wales said. "It's just working from the eyes up. Doing the same thing every single time. And having confidence in the other 10 guys out there."

For Wales, the misses have been like songs he can't get out of his head. And he knows this is his last chance to change the tune. This is his season for redemption.

"I want to go to the Rose Bowl, plain and simple," he said. "We came so close last year, and, I know, a couple of kicks here and there and we would have been there. I really take that to heart.

"The way I look at it now is, whether we go to the Rose Bowl or not is in my hands. There's going to be close games, and we need all the points we can get.

"Last year, I felt like I let the other hundred people down. It's like letting your hundred best friends down. They trusted in me to get the job done, and I didn't do it."

Roberts works on Wales' confidence. Gives him a word to help him focus on technique. "Scissors." Forget the pressure. Forget the consequences. Think technique. Think scissors.

"John wants to always hit a home run," Roberts said. "He has enough strength and form and accuracy that he doesn't need to help it with a lot of emotion. The emotional deal makes him forget his form.

"Right now, emotionally, he's in the process. He's not perfect, but he's going to get there. He's a hyper guy, an emotional guy. He wants to do well. Oh, this kid wants to do well."

On a team with question marks from quarterback to cornerback, a dependable kicker is as important as a 1,000-yard rusher. John Wales wants to do well. John Wales has to do well.