Constant competition helps Iowa’s field goal unit be best in Big Ten during LeVar Woods’ tenure

Iowa’s ‘setup men’ at longsnapper and holder play key role in Iowa’s kicking success

Jul. 15, 2023 6:00 am

IOWA CITY — One year into his career as an NFL kicker, Caleb Shudak often gets the question, “Oh, how’s the NFL?”

His answer: “It’s really similar to how we did things at Iowa.”

The former Hawkeye was referring to the process and “how we do things” as a field goal unit.

But the NFL-esque process also has led to NFL-esque results for Iowa’s field goal unit under the direction of special teams coordinator LeVar Woods.

During Woods’ six years as full-time special teams coordinator, the Hawkeyes have hit 81.8 percent of their field goals — a higher percentage than any other Big Ten team.

Indiana closely trails Iowa with 81.3 percent of field goals made over the last six seasons. Ohio State made 80.6 percent of field goals. Most Big Ten teams are below 75 percent.

Shudak will be in his second year with the Tennessee Titans. His predecessor, Keith Duncan, was a consensus All-American while at Iowa. Most recently, Drew Stevens was one of two freshmen across the country to be a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award.

Iowa’s high-level field goal results have come from kickers who were not necessarily high-profile recruits.

Stevens’ recruitment stands out because at least he had a 247Sports profile. Even then, 247Sports believed there were another 26 kickers better than him in his class.

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The competitive environment in the special teams room has helped with the on-field results.

“They’re all trying to beat each other,” Woods said.

Stevens is coming off an outstanding true freshman season, but backup Aaron Blom is “really pushing Drew” during the offseason.

Shudak and Duncan pushed each other “pretty much daily for about three or four years there,” Shudak said.

"We all kind of feed off each other, bounce off each other, compete with each other,“ Shudak said. ”We always say, ‘iron sharpens iron.’ We would constantly compete year-round, and that would just make whoever the eventual starter would be that much better.“

Woods is quick to share much of the credit for Iowa’s field goal consistency with the long snappers and holders as well.

“I always reference the snapper and holder as setup men,” Woods said on The Gazette’s Hawk Off the Press podcast. “They're just trying to set things up for the kicker to be successful. I think we got two of the best right now with Tory (Taylor) and Luke (Elkin).”

Elkin is “by far the best snapper I’ve ever worked with,” Taylor said in the spring.

“Luke Elkin just makes our job so much easier,” said Taylor, Iowa’s starting punter and field goal holder. “I’m kind of lucky in that sense, and I certainly don’t take it for granted. I feel like Luke is probably one of the more underrated players on the team.”

By Elkin’s third game in a Hawkeye uniform, he was taking all of Iowa’s snaps.

“When he first got here, I’m like, ‘Who’s this 12-year-old-looking kid?’” Taylor said. “When he first started snapping balls — Unbelievable. Like really, really good at what he does.”

Iowa has developed a reputation in holding as well. Dan Orner has worked individually with kickers at several different Power Five colleges, but Iowa is a “market leader.”

“They take a pro mindset where they’re grading out the holders,” said Orner, who works with Stevens and worked with Duncan before that. “There’s probably, I would say, like a half-dozen teams that really take pride in it like this.”

Taylor said the unit spends “so much time” on holding.

“It’s kind of hard to put a numerical value on how many seconds or minutes we spend on it,” Taylor said after Iowa’s final spring practice. “We might get like 75 to 100 holds per practice off the jugs, and then I might get like 10 or 15 from Luke, usually five to seven in warmups and then however many kicks the kickers want.”

A small difference on a hold can lead to a not-so-small difference in results.

“An inch missed-spot could be the difference of him fluffing the ground and completely mis-hitting the ball,” Orner said earlier this year. “A mis-leaned field goal could mean the ball completely changing direction from a physics standpoint.”

Having another year of the same kicker and holder working together is a “game-changer,” Orner said.

“Tory is elite at holding,” Orner said. “It takes a degree of doubt out of the picture when you have such a good holder that hits his spots.”

Holding did not come naturally to Taylor when he arrived at Iowa in 2020.

“When I first got here, hand on my heart, I was not good at all,” Taylor said.

Defensive back Cooper DeJean is “also in that mix” at holder, Woods said. It’s an idea Woods also teased ahead of the 2022 season although DeJean has yet to take any actual in-game snaps at holder.

“Any time the ball is in his hands, good things happen,” Woods said of DeJean. “It just hasn’t happened so far with Cooper in that situation, but I know that he’ll be ready for it.”

DeJean, whose speed has been on display in the secondary and as a returner, would present a different level of athleticism than Taylor in the case of a fake field goal.

“Hey, you said no offense,” Woods said laughingly on the Hawk Off the Press podcast. “Tory’s going to take that all offensive.”

Taylor’s athleticism aside, the field goal unit’s success has been especially important considering how much the Hawkeyes have relied on it for their scoring.

Field goals accounted for 22.2 percent of Iowa’s scoring in 2022 — a higher percentage than any other Big Ten team.

Time will tell whether an improved offense in 2023 could mean more drives that would have ended with field goals instead reach the end zone. But regardless of level of need, the expectations are high for Iowa’s trio of returning specialists.

“Hands down, I know that we can be the best specialist unit in the country,” Taylor said.

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