Lansing’s Ryan Fish to kick in college

In Section IV football, kickers are a rarity. Outside of kickoffs from a tee, most teams elect to just not use a kicker for points after touchdowns or field goals. Lansing was an exception to this trend, trotting out Ryan Fish to kick after nearly every touchdown.

Fish was a player the Bobcats could count on to reliably tack on points to the scoreboard. His success got him noticed by several college coaches, and he settled on SUNY Morrisville as the team he’d kick for this upcoming season. The Mustangs had a freshman kicker last season who made 82% of his kicks last season, so Fish is ready to earn his role.

“They told me that they really want one kid to do kickoffs, one kid to punt and one kid to do field goals,” Fish said. “They have one kid there now. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be battling for a spot, but we’re going to see [this first week of practice] what’s going to happen.”

While Fish plays the position with the least amount of physical contact in football, he felt embraced by his Lansing teammates after joining the Bobcats in his junior year.

“It was really a family feel,” Fish said. “It didn’t matter what position you were; one through 25 on the depth chart, you’re in there. You’re part of the team. I felt like I was a pretty big piece, even for my junior year. I was the first year kicker coming on to the team and I didn’t think I would be that included. Sure enough, I was.”

From kindergarten through 10th grade, Fish was a soccer goalie. He figured he’d spend his junior and senior years on the soccer team as well until Lansing football coaches Brett Hotchkiss and Casey Crandall approached him about kicking for the football team. After his sophomore year, the coaches asked him once more, and the rest is history.

“The summer came, and Casey [Crandall] asked me again,” Fish said. “He said, ‘Ryan, are you interested?’ I told him I’ll give it a shot. So, I went out with him and I made a lot of my first 10 extra points. Then he said, ‘You should seriously consider this.’ I thought about it for a few days and thought, ‘Why not?’ I wasn’t going to get much playing time in soccer, so I might as well make the switch. I’m glad I did. It was the best decision I’ve ever made.”

To get the most out of Fish, Hotchkiss had him work virtually with Mike Raynard, a kicking coach from Rochester who briefly played for the Arizona Cardinals in the NFL. Working with him led to Fish getting noticed by colleges.

“I would take videos of me kicking at practice or after practice and I’d send it to him,” Fish said. “We’d do a review on a call. Then he said, ‘Ryan, I’ve never met you in person. You want to meet in person some time? I’m going to be at this showcase.’ I went and I kicked pretty well. Sure enough, I had a few colleges reach out. Alfred State reached out. Morrisville reached out. Alfred University, Keystone College, a few other ones, they all reached out. That’s how it kind of started.”

While it all ended well, trying to improve on the nuances of kicking over video can be a challenge. Fish went into more detail about the process.

“It’s pretty difficult because you have to explain it without showing it,” Fish said. “[Raynard] knows what he’s doing, but for me to understand it was kind of difficult. He would send videos of other people he works with like Ohio State’s kicker, Blake Haubeil, who was the number-two kicker in the nation at the time. He just sent me videos and goes, ‘This form is perfect. You want to follow this form.’ I just kept trying it and trying it and trying it. Sure enough, my form’s way better than it was [on] day one.”

To go from playing soccer all his life to being a few weeks away from suiting up for a college football team is a unique journey. Fish reflected on his path.

“It’s pretty surreal,” Fish said. “If you told me three years ago that I would be kicking footballs in college, I wouldn’t even believe you. It was pretty crazy. I was shocked. Honestly, I thought it was just going to be something like I’ll play football for two years then go to college. Then, it just started to become real. It’s pretty wild.”

The first game for SUNY Morrisville is less than a month away, as the Mustangs will host Kean University on Sept. 3. Fish looked ahead to putting on the green for the first time.

“It’s going to be different,” Fish said. “I don’t know how I’m going to feel. I’ve never played football with a different group of guys. It’s going to be interesting. We have one kid from Lansing that goes there — Joe Miller-Labar. I’ve been in contact with him. But it’s going to be weird putting on different colors.”

Fish will be studying renewable energy for his four years at SUNY Morrisville while continuing to play the game he loves.

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