Ennis gets his kicks with Terps

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) Dan Ennis is a walk-on who weighs 154 pounds and does little more in practice than kick a football. With those kind of credentials, it would seem certain that he be the target of practical jokes or verbal abuse from his burly teammates at Maryland.<br> <br> After all, isn&#39;t that the usual treatment given to placekickers?<br> <br> Ennis is an exception to the rule.<br> <br> For one thing, the junior has not missed a kick this year. Best of all, he often saves his teammates from running sprints at the end of practice.<br> <br> As each session draws to a close, Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen puts Ennis in a pressure-packed situation that rivals anything he might face in a real game: Make the kick, the team doesn&#39;t run. Miss it, and they do.<br> <br> ``He always seems to make it,&#39;&#39; right guard Andrew Crummey said Tuesday. ``We have to have respect for that, because he gets us out of it.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Ennis never played football before when he arrived at Maryland. He specialized in soccer and track at Glenelg (Md.) High, and chose to attend Maryland because, well, everyone else in his family did.<br> <br> ``My aunts, uncles and my parents all went here,&#39;&#39; he said. ``They&#39;re at the games now, and it&#39;s great. It&#39;s good to be succeeding because I know it wouldn&#39;t be fun for me if I wasn&#39;t, and it wouldn&#39;t be fun for them.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Ennis is succeeding, all right. He has made all nine of his field goal tries, ranging from 21 to 40 yards, and is 5-for-5 on conversions. His 32 points is 20 more than anyone on the team has scored.<br> <br> ``He&#39;s been amazing for us. When we don&#39;t get the job done in the red zone, he comes in and gets three points for us. That&#39;s huge,&#39;&#39; Crummey said. ``We won the game against Wake Forest because of that. You&#39;ve got to respect that.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Ennis made field goals of 23, 37 and 25 yards last Saturday in the Terrapins&#39; 22-12 victory. Counting the four extra points he made as a redshirt freshman in 2003, he has never missed a kick in a college game.<br> <br> Not even his esteemed teacher, Nick Novak, could make that claim. Novak, who now kicks for the Washington Redskins, finished his career with Maryland last season as the school&#39;s leading scorer.<br> <br> But he wasn&#39;t perfect.<br> <br> ``Every time we&#39;ve needed something, Dan has been there for us,&#39;&#39; Friedgen said. ``Even Nick last year had trouble doing that. There were a couple field goals he missed and a couple of extra points. But Dan&#39;s been there.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> It&#39;s way too early to compare the two, but there&#39;s no question that Ennis has been one of the team&#39;s most pleasant surprises. He didn&#39;t win the job until just before the season opener, but has turned out to be Maryland&#39;s most effective offensive weapon.<br> <br> Not bad for a guy who didn&#39;t get a full uniform for his first tryout because he looked so scrawny.<br> <br> ``The equipment guy wanted to make sure I wasn&#39;t some scrub,&#39;&#39; Ennis recalled.<br> <br> His first few kicks were pretty bad, mainly because he wasn&#39;t used to working with a snapper and a holder. In preparing for his tryout, Ennis didn&#39;t exactly take the scientific approach.<br> <br> ``I went to one camp, didn&#39;t really like it, and I messed around with friends on the high school field. I messed around with my dad in the yard,&#39;&#39; he said. ``Basically, my training was kicking a soccer ball.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> It all worked out perfectly, literally, for a kicker who doesn&#39;t know what it feels like to blow a kick in a game situation.<br> <br> ``I do not,&#39;&#39; he said, ``and hopefully I won&#39;t anytime soon.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> (Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)