Leavitt: “It’s a Pretty Neat Little Story’’

Posted Nov 4, 2009 by Scott Carter

Updated Nov 4, 2009 at 07:42 AM

In case you missed our story in the Tampa Tribune this morning on USF walk-on kicker Eric Schwartz’s unlikely journey to becoming the Bulls’ starting kicker, you can click here and read about the 22-year-old Schwartz.

I couldn’t get everything into the newspaper story due to space, but Schwartz said the last time he kicked in a game prior to USF’s win at FSU was a playoff game for Hudson right after Thanksgiving in 2005. That’s a long break.

Schwartz also played basketball at Hudson, serving as the Cobras’ starting point guard for Coach Jason Vetter. In an odd little twist, in my former life at the Tribune, Vetter actually worked with me in the Trib’s Pasco County bureau in the late 1990s. He got out of sports journalism and went into coaching and has led Hudson’s program back to respectability.

One of the more interesting things USF coach Jim Leavitt had to say about Schwartz related to Schwartz’s personality more than his ability. Leavitt said that after Schwartz missed two field goals at FSU, he stayed with him because of the way Schwartz responded on the sideline.

“I liked his demeanor. That’s really important to me,’’ Leavitt said Tuesday. “He didn’t really seem to get too rattled. He seemed to deal with my personality, which isn’t easy. I really appreciated that. I really wanted to find out what kind of substance he had, not just kicking ability.’’

It obviously paid off, and Schwartz delivered on his final kick at FSU in perhaps the most important win in program history.

Afterward, Schwartz said he started receiving text messages and Facebook messages from friends he hadn’t heard from in years.

Like Leavitt said, Schwartz’s unusual path is “a neat little story.’‘