Belief led kicker Ben Sauls to become one of the most reliable players on Pitt's roster

Two years ago, equipped with a scholarship and a strong leg, Ben Sauls could not win Pitt’s kicking job over a walk-on who is no longer on the team.

But in the fall of 2022 and now, in the spring of 2023, Sauls is and has been one of the most valuable pieces on the Pitt roster.

“The key is to believe in yourself,” he said.

And that includes in all phases of athletics.

A former point guard at Tippecanoe (Ohio) High School, Sauls compared his style on the basketball court to that of Kyrie Irving. OK, if that sounds a bit much, he said he’s at least top five among Pitt’s football players on the hardwood (or concrete, whatever is available).

“We go real light because nobody wants to get hurt, but I love to shoot hoops,” said the 5-foot-10, 185-pound Sauls. “It really gets my mind off things. I’m not going to lie. I’m nice. I’m shifty. You ask some guys around here, they’ll put me top five.”

He’ll defer to teammates and Aliquippa graduates M.J. Devonshire and Eli Kosanovich as two of the best basketball players on the team, but in regards to kicking, there are not many better in the ACC.

Without Sauls’ efforts, that thrilling 37-35 victory against UCLA in the Sun Bowl on Dec. 30 would not have happened. On a windy day in El Paso, Texas, he kicked a school record-tying five field goals, breaking a Sun Bowl standard that had stood for more than a half-century.

Included in his 17-point effort was the game-winner from 47 yards with four seconds left, his 20th field goal in 24 attempts. Throw in his 47-for-47 effort on PATs, and Sauls ended his first season as Pitt’s starter with 107 points, the third-highest kick total in school history.

Out of nowhere? Not really.

Coach Pat Narduzzi and his staff knew Sauls could kick. He was so focused on kicking in high school that he gave up basketball before his senior season.

Still, there was much growth ahead of him.

“We knew Ben was great kicker out of high school,” Narduzzi said Friday as Pitt approached the end of its second week of spring drills. “It took him a while (mentally). I don’t think a year and half ago he could stand by this microphone and carry a conversation. But now he’s much more mature.”

With maturity came belief.

“If you trust yourself to a point where nobody can tell you different, that’s a mindset that takes time to build,” Sauls said. “It took me three years to do that. To this day, I get a little bit nervous. My heart’s beating a little bit.”

But he has changed his approach to kicking. The outcome matters, of course, but he focuses on the process, one step at a time.

“At some point early last season, I was scared to miss,” he said. “You think about it. Why are you scared to miss? If I step where I want to step and I plant where I want to plant and I follow through and hit the ball where I want to hit it, nine times out of 10, it’s going to go exactly where I want it to go. You can say 99 times out of 100.”

No promises, of course. Outside forces — weather, the snap, the hold, opponents overwhelming his blockers — sometimes intervene. Perhaps his aim could be off, too.

But he called the Sun Bowl “a perfect game, from the line to the snap to the hold.”

“I wasn’t anything of a different person. That mindset that carried all season long and got built over time, through misses and through makes, was there, and it was sharp and it was ready to go,” he said. “It was time.”

Now, the trick is to repeat or come close to his production this season. Pitt couldn’t rely on its offense in 2022 like it did a year earlier when Kenny Pickett was setting records. And, now, with two more new quarterbacks joining the team, who knows what to expect?

No team likes to lean too heavily on its kicker, but sometimes there is no other choice. Looking back on the Sun Bowl, Sauls’ 17 points were only one short of what the rest of the offense recorded.

“A lot of work went into that,” he said. “It was a good platform to jump into this following season.

“Back home, my family was very proud. But the biggest thing is, you put the work in, you get rewarded. That’s a big deal.”