Pitt's Alex Kessman: 'Every kick is a game-winning kick'

Alex Kessman is a kicker. By definition, he stops and thinks about everything.

“Ninety percent of what I do is between the ears,” he said.

The snap, the hold, even the wind.

Why should his future get less attention?

No one at Pitt has booted more field goals (64) through the uprights and only Chris Blewitt, his predecessor and friend, has scored more points as a kicker than Kessman’s 322.

But he had a decision to make: Did he want more, or was it time?

Kessman’s a senior who could have returned in 2021 — thanks to the NCAA’s gift of a free year of eligibility in 2020 — but he’s decided to move on at the end of this season, his fifth at Pitt.

“I thought long and hard and had many conversations with a lot of people,” he said. “Coach Duzzy, one of them, and obviously my father (David).

“I’m ready for the next chapter in my life, whatever that may be. I’m pretty confident with that decision.”

Still, it raised the emotional level for his final game at Heinz Field last Saturday. To his credit, the situation didn’t overwhelm him and he kicked four field goals in the 47-14 victory against Virginia Tech.

Setting aside his emotions might be as difficult as any of those 50-yard-plus field goals — a school-record 12 — he has launched in his career.

When he stepped out of the tunnel before the game, he said, “I looked around. It was a surreal moment. Kirk knew it. Cal knew it,” he said of his two friends (Kirk Christodoulou and Cal Adomitis, his holder and long snapper).

“And (Pitt assistants) coach (Andre) Powell and coach (Charlie) Partridge knew it. All of them gave me a hug. Coach Powell came up to me and said, ‘Center your mind and be ready for the game.’ ”

Not even the 16 family members in the stands — “I had an army there,” he said — could distract him.

“I let my emotions go, and my focus started to heighten.”

Which describes the mindset he now carries into every game.

“My mindset has changed a little. I’ve become more professional in the things I’ve been doing, preparing my body.

“And I just feel like every kick is a game-winning kick for me. Whether that be practice, making every single kick that I possibly can and playing it up as that Clemson kick (Blewitt’s winner in 2016). Whether that be a PAT at Boston College.”

The Boston College game might have been Kessman’s turning point this season.

After booming a school-record, 58-yard field goal with the outcome on the line, he missed an extra point in overtime to hand BC a 31-30 victory.

“Everything happens for a reason. I’m a big believer in that,” he said. “That kick in Boston College taught me a lot about having the mindset of every kick matters. Every kick’s a game-winning kick.

“And I was punished for it at Boston College. I was reflecting on the 58. That’s in the past. It was done and over with. I needed to move forward. Live and learn. I could dwell on me costing the win. Or, the potential for a win. Or, I could move forward, learn from it, get better from it, change my mindset throughout the season.”

Senior center Jimmy Morrissey said the miss was “out of character” for Kessman.

“Then, you have those thoughts where it’s not going to happen the rest of the year.”

And it did not.

Perhaps it’s no coincidence Kessman has hit 11 of 12 field goals since the BC game, and he’s been perfect on all 27 other PATs.

“Stay level-headed,” Kessman said, “not too high, not too low, just like coach Junk (Bob Junko, Pitt’s director of player development) says.”

Kessman was in Death Valley four years ago when Blewitt hit the winner in Pitt’s upset victory against Clemson.

“As a young kid, obviously, I wanted that to be me,” he said.

Kessman may not get the same chance to decide the outcome when Pitt visits Clemson on Saturday, but he said the game’s “an amazing opportunity and we all know it.”

“The level of focus is there. The discipline is there. We just have to go execute.”

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