MENOMONIE (October 19, 2013) - UW-Stout kicker
Ricky Marteney (Sr, Greenfield) has always had a big leg. And for the last four years, he has been putting it to good use.
Six games into his senior season, Marteney has 204 points for his career, good for second on UW-Stout's all-time scoring list. He trails only former Blue Devil running back Luke Bundgaard, who scored 240 points from 2000-03.
Coming into this season, Marteney was tied for fifth on the list with 163 points, but has quickly shot up the ladder to second. He has missed only one kick all year, going 10-11 on field goal attempts and 8-8 on extra points.
Marteney currently holds the record for most field goals made in a career with 45 and counting. He also holds the record for most extra points in a game, when he went 9-9 against Eureka College in 2010.
If Marteney can keep up his current pace, he could set the points record in Stout's final game. The looming record however, is not something that Marteney tries to think about.
"It's one of those things that is in the background, if it happens, it happens," Marteney said.
"I wish I could say I hadn't though about it, but obviously it's there in your mind," he added. "I try not to make it a big deal."
Regardless what happens with the record, the main thing on Marteney's mind is helping the team in any way he can.
"It's a lot of hard work you put in for years and to have something to show for it would be pretty cool, but as long as the team does well that's all you can hope for," Marteney said.
Marteney has done everything for the Blue Devils on special teams this year, handling punting, placekicking and kick-off duties. This is the first time in his career that he has been counted on as the primary punter for his team.
"That was kind of a big thing for me, as I had never punted before in a game," said Marteney. "I knew that we didn't have a punter on the roster and I was able to work on it a little bit over the summer."
"It's something that the team needs and I'm able to do ok at it," Marteney said. "I wouldn't say I'm the best punter by any means but I'm able to help out the team."
Placekicking however, is what Marteney does best and he has made sure that he doesn't wear out his leg with the added duties of punting.
"This year I am cutting back a bit on the amount I'm kicking," he said. "I had an injury two years ago from over-kicking. This year I'm going to take the mentality of backing it off a little bit so I can save myself for the later games."
This season has been Marteney's most consistent one to date, hitting 93 percent of his kicks. Coming into the year, he had hit 83 percent of his kicks. Continuity on the field goal unit has played a large part in this, Marteney says.
"We have me, the long-snapper (
Riley Anderson) and the holder (
Tyler Naatz)," he said. "We probably have one of the best units out there. We've been together for two years now so the confidence is obviously there."
Success can be fleeting for kickers though, and dealing with slumps is also something that Marteney has had to deal with over the years. His philosophy for handling them is along the same lines as how he deals with a hot streak.
"Don't take any kick for granted," Marteney said. "You have to go out there always thinking about the current play, never looking ahead. It's not worth stressing about missing a couple kicks in a row and taking yourself out of the game."
Against UW-Oshkosh, Marteney was called upon with the Blue Devils trailing by five points late in the game to kick a 44-yard field goal. With weather conditions less than favorable, Marteney went about his approach as usual and hit the kick to pull Stout within two.
"Your heart races a little bit, but it's just whether or not you can control it and calm yourself down again," he said. "You can kick the same kick hundreds of time in practice, you just have to make sure it carries over it into the game."
Another area that Marteney has excelled in has been extra points attempts. He has hit 25 in a row and only missed two his entire collegiate career. Still, he maintains that it is important to not assume that it will be an easy kick.
"If you're lackadaisical in any way, you're going to miss the kick," he said. "You're still out there to play."
As a kid growing up in Greenfield, Marteney got his start kicking not on the football field, but on the soccer pitch.
Around middle school, Marteney got his first taste of kicking footballs.
"My step-dad and I would always go out and mess around kicking footballs," he said.
In the back of his mind, Marteney felt that he could be a football kicker as well.
"I thought, 'maybe I could do that in high school,'" Marteney said.
His first two years in high school, Marteney played on the soccer team.
When his junior year of high school rolled around, he decided to give it a shot and talked to the football coach at Greenfield High School.
"I asked him if he needed a kicker and he said yes," Marteney said.
Marteney would play two sports that fall, defender on the soccer team and kicker on the football team.
"I always had a strong leg," he said. "So I transitioned pretty well to it."
The following season, Marteney opted to concentrate on football, even getting some time at cornerback in addition to kicking.
During the season, it became apparent to Marteney that there would be a chance to continue playing at the next level.
"I just thought of it as another hobby, a chance to play sports," said Marteney. "I started getting recruited a little bit and thought, well, I might as well try it in college."
For Marteney, education was the primary reason for going to school, which was part of the reason he chose Stout over other schools.
"I came here for the graphic communication program," Marteney said. "It was a bonus that I could kick too. "
He realized that the program wasn't for him though, and ended up changing majors his sophomore year, switching to packaging, with an emphasis in printing.
"I wanted to get more into an engineering field and packaging is one of those niche areas that Stout offers," Marteney said. "That's what I liked about it. It's great. There will always be opportunities for success there."
Last semester, Marteney had an internship with Kohler Co., working as an entry-level packaging engineer. "It was very fun, " he said. "Every day was different."
Marteney is on pace to graduate in December of 2014, and hopes to secure a similar job when he is done with school, with Kohler being a potential landing spot.
"It would be nice to work back at Kohler, it's a good group of people," said Marteney. "Whether as management or as an upper-level engineer, I want to be a packaging engineer."
Next season, Marteney will join the Blue Devil's coaching staff as a special teams coach working with the kickers.
Whatever the rest of the season brings, Marteney says he will stay focused on the moment and continue to enjoy being a student athlete.
"Not many people are able to say that they played college sports," he said. "Being able to say that is pretty cool."
