Pretorius trades rugby for football

Lantern File Photo Kicker Ryan Pretorius (85) converted both extra points in this year's 14-3 win over Michigan.

Every morning the routine was the same. Roll out of bed, grab the football and hop on the Denver city bus line to the nearest football field.

But it was not always so simple for Ohio State kicker Ryan Pretorius.

It could not be just any field; it had to have a turf surface - none of this muddy grass stuff. Grass cannot withstand four to six hours of kicking one field goal after another. Problem was, the only nearby turf field happened to be gated. The seven-foot chain link fence proved to be just another small hurdle for the 5-foot-8, 182-pound Pretorius.

He simply chucked the football to the other side and climbed over the fence to the land of opportunity.

From rugby to the gridiron

Ryan Pretorius

After he left Durban, Africa for America in 2002, Pretorius, 28, lived off what little money he had left from his rugby days while he practiced his kicking game; using pointers taken from various Web sites. His endless hours of practice turned into an opportunity as a walk-on at OSU and he has since molded into a scholarship athlete.

"I grew up my whole life playing soccer and then my rugby career kind of took off as I got older," Pretorius said. "I was always the smallest guy on the rugby team and my shoulder went through a bit of trouble hitting guys 6-foot-8 or whatever every single day."

But before coming to America, the South African native could not tell the difference between an onside kick and a Hail Mary pass. Heck, he even said that most girls in Columbus knew more about football than he did. None of that mattered though, because he always knew he had a talent for kicking the football - well, at least a rugby ball.

Pretorius spent much of his youth kicking his way around the rugby fields all over the world as a professional. Despite the promise shown on the field, his body got to the point where it could no longer withstand the beatings of guys twice his size.

As a result, he took up a new interest: football.

Though he knew the basic rules of football, Pretorius wanted to make sure he knew where he would stand against other kickers if he were to come to America with aspirations of becoming a professional kicker. He decided to do some research online and what he found was that the longest kick ever made was a 63-yarder. After two weeks of practicing in America, he was nailing field goals from 65 yards. That's when former NFL kicker and fellow South African native Gary Anderson suggested he start sending out some tapes of him kicking.

"Gary just kind of pointed me in the right direction," Pretorius said of his relationship with Anderson. "I knew I wanted to play this sport and he just asked that I send him a tape. After watching it, he said I had what it takes to play in college."

Life in Denver: the waiting game While he waited to hear back from universities across the country, Pretorius continued to earn a living selling running shoes in the Denver suburbs to make up for what his remaining rugby salaries could not cover. And as for his living quarters, he crashed at his best friend's place, who he grew up with from the age of 5. His friend, Guy Munford, did not exactly approve of Pretorius' dreams though - at least not all the time.

"He knew I was a good rugby player, but he laughed at the idea of me making it in football, knowing that the greatest rugby player ever, Naas Botha, couldn't make it," Pretorius said. "He was just like, you're crazy, how are you going to do this?"

Yet he continued to pursue his dreams despite the lack of support, practicing hours upon hours each day. And because he was unfamiliar with the proper kicking techniques, he resorted to Web sites for pointers. However, the one thing the Internet could not teach him was how to kick in a full set of pads and a helmet.

"Kicking in rugby was always my strong suit, but when I got here I couldn't kick with shoulder pads and a helmet on for the life of me," Pretorius said. "I just practiced for two years doing that and eventually it paid off."

Long-awaited break As responses to the tapes he sent to coaches started to pour in, Pretorius noticed a reoccurring trend. Every single one of those messages had the exact same message: We would love to have you walk on at our program.

Well that was not going to fly, not for a guy who learned to knock down 65-yarders in only a couple weeks.

"I couldn't fathom the idea of the way high school kickers were kicking the ball from that far and also my kicks were pretty good on video," Pretorius said. "I mean I was hitting the crossbars from the 35-yard-line (on kickoffs), which is where we use to kick from."

But after zero scholarships were offered, he decided to head to Columbus and take a chance. He was well aware of the way coach Jim Tressel stressed special teams, so he said this was a main reason for choosing the Buckeyes. It took a lot of begging before he was given a look. Eventually, Tressel gave him a shot and after joining the team in 2004, Pretorius worked his way into the starting lineup after waiting in the shadows of current NFL kickers Mike Nugent and Josh Huston.

It still has yet to set in for him that he is on one of college football's elite teams and it shows when he is on the sideline - jittery as ever.

"Oh my God, he's wound so tight," said OSU tight end Rory Nicol. "He's so nervous, man. He'll be on the sideline talking to you about your field goal protection in the middle of the game at times when I'm just like 'dude, I'm not even thinking field goal right now, we've got to score before you're going to kick a field goal.'"

In the locker room, Pretorius is truly a man among boys - well sort of. The 28-year-old is years ahead of his teammates, but by just watching him interact with players behind closed doors, it's hard to tell. It is not uncommon to enter the locker room with the sight of the energetic kicker busting out the latest dance moves from Soulja Boy's "Crank Dat Soulja Boy" and other "gangster tunes" as he referred to them.

"He brings a smile to your face, even if it's maybe not the time to smile," Tressel said. "And he's great in the locker room. He's really good with the young kids, talking to them about persevering."

It comes easy to Pretorius, talking about perseverance that is. How could it not? Here is a man who's lived in six different countries, played in a dozen more - all the while learning a game as foreign as anything he's encountered before.

The support of his parents, who live outside of London, friends and other family members has fueled Pretorius' dedication to football.

It has been that dedication that has taken him from that small high school field in the Denver suburbs to the national stage in Ohio Stadium. Through 12 games this season, Pretorius has connected on 17 of his 21 field goal attempts - not too shabby for a guy who did not start kicking until his mid 20s.

All of his success comes from those many hours practicing in Denver - something he has never forgotten. And as he returns to the early memories of his hoped-for journey to the NFL, Pretorius tells the story as if he is still at that high school field launching kicks deep into the morning sunrise...

The foundation Reaching to the ground, he gently pries a hole into the rubber strands of the turf field, once again forging the ball into its place. He takes his three-step drop, shuffles to the side a couple more and launches yet another 40-plus yard shot through the uprights. Unfortunately, he has just one ball with him - an $80 purchase from the same Web site that taught him how to kick.

But it makes no difference, he simply runs the ball down as he has done so many times before - and does it all over again.

"Dreams just don't happen overnight," Pretorius said. "You've got to put in a lot of hard work. That's what I did, and I sacrificed a lot, too, and by the grace of God, everything has paid off so far."

Matt Gottfried can be reached at gottfried.35@osu.edu.