Sept. 18, 2008

Lobo Football
What: Lobos (1-2) at Tulsa (2-0)
When: Saturday, 5 p.m.
Where: H.A. Chapman Stadium

By Richard Stevens
Senior Writer/GoLobos.com

It's fair to say that kicking hasn't exactly come easy to Lobo James Aho even though, so far, he has made it look plenty easy on the football field.

At Roswell High, Aho said he attempted maybe ten field goals in four years.

"I think I got to try four my senior year and at least two of them got blocked because we didn't practice special teams at all," said the UNM freshman. "Our coach would usually punt or go for it on fourth down,"

It didn't get much easier at the University of New Mexico either.

Aho tried out for the team as a walk-on kicker in the fall of 2007. He got cut.

"When I got cut, I didn't want to kick anymore," he said. "I was just hanging out in the dorm and going to class. I talked to my dad and he asked if I was going to go out again and I told him, 'probably not.' But we worked on it over Christmas break and I decided to give it another shot."

Good thing for the Lobos that he did come out for football in the spring of 2008.

Good thing for the Lobos that they didn't cut him again.

As a Lobos kicker, Aho is perfect: 7-for-7 in field goals and 4-for-4 in PATs. He is UNM's leading scorer with 25 points.

The five 3-pointers he booted in UNM's 36-28 upset of Arizona came from 34, 43, 48, 42 and 46 yards and earned him Mountain West Conference Co-Special Teams Player of the Week and also recognition from the Lou Groza Award as one of the nation's star kickers of the week.

He is the first kicker in Lobos history to make four field goals over 40 yards in a single game.

And Aho - at 5-foot-9, 175 pounds - almost become the first Lobo in history to crawl into his locker when the media hoard converged on the shy kicker after the feat with his feet.

"I just wanted to get away, crawl into the little open flap at the bottom of my locker," said Aho. "I get shy in front of people I don't know. I'm a little worried about the media. It looked like kind of an ambush. All of a sudden I was bombarded by all these cameras and little microphones. I was short and quick (with answers)."

Sure, Aho was ambushed by the media after the UNM win, but it was a friendly ambush. UNM had won. Aho was one of the heroes. And he was perfect from the field.

Not bad for a guy who preferred kicking a soccer ball in high school and who was once cut from the Lobos football team.

"Whenever I had a soccer game in high school, I'd pick it over football," said Aho. "I think I missed at least one football game every season because of the conflict.

"I was just more into soccer, but one of our family friends was a coach in football and he asked me if I could kick a football. I was okay kicking it, but I kept working and got better."

That's Aho's plan as a Lobo, too. Keep working at it. Keep getting better. Keep his starting job.

"I guess I'm like every other player who is starting on a college football team," he said. "I'm pretty happy about it.

"I've never thought I was an extraordinary kicker or anything and I still don't. I just worked hard, kept practicing and tried to get better. And I'm going to keep on doing that."

Aho's first shot at the goal posts came in UNM's 26-3 season-opening loss to TCU. He was the only Lobo to score, but it didn't look like a sure thing when Aho ran out onto the field.

"I was nervous on that first one," he said. "Coach (Danny) Gonzales said he could see my leg shaking from the sidelines. I thought my knees might buckle on me when I took a step."

Of course, Aho made that kick. And he's been making them ever since.

"I know I won't stay perfect," he said. "But you take the right steps, kick the ball the right way, and it usually goes in."

Editor's note: Richard Stevens is a former Associate Sports Editor and sports columnist for The Albuquerque Tribune. You can reach him at rstevens50@comcast.net. Previous articles are available at The Richard Stevens Corner