The junior made two field goals and an extra point in UMass' loss to Michigan.
Brendon Levengood, pictured here in 2011, has taken hold of the UMass placekicking job.
AMHERST — Entering Saturday’s game at Michigan, the University of Massachusetts and Iowa were the only teams yet to kick a successful extra point in the 2012 season. The Hawkeyes, though, had six field goals to their credit, while the Minutemen had none.
Entering Saturday’s game at Michigan, UMass was the only team yet to put a ball through the uprights in 2012.
Junior Brendon Levengood would have none of that.
Levengood banged through a 25-yard field goal 1:06 into the second quarter, and that was that. He went on to hit a 32-yarder and an extra point later in the frame. He just missed a 45-yarder in the second half.
“It was just a huge relief and a huge confidence booster,” Levengood said. “I was a little nervous going in there, the nerves were running a little bit, struck the ball, looked up and saw it was going right through.”
Levengood kicked for much of last season before he suddenly lost his confidence, and soon after, his job. Coming into this season, he believed he had regained that confidence entering 2012.
Unfortunately for Levengood, that didn’t translate into a starting spot to begin the season, as special teams coach Rod Plummer decided to go with true freshman Blake Lucas as the team's placekicker, with Levengood responsible for kickoffs.
“Blake had the best numbers going into the first game. We chart every field goal, every make, every miss, by every kicker, as well as punts and kickoffs,” Plummer said. “It was really numbers that made the final decision.”
Those numbers were rendered useless when Lucas missed his first two kicks — an extra point and field goal attempt against Indiana — and once again the job was Levengood’s.
He hopes not to give it back.
“I knew I had to just go out there and prove myself again,” Levengood said. “It was an important game for my career and everything to prove that I still can do it.”
MILHIM, MICHEL UPDATES
Left tackle Stephane Milhim was out of the boot that he had previously worn in practice on his sprained right ankle, and Molnar said he was optimistic about Milhim’s chances play against Miami (Ohio) on Saturday.
The status of wide receiver Marken Michel, who is still recovering from a shoulder bruise, is still uncertain.
Molnar said that Michel took part in the early part of practice, but “faded away” toward the end. His status is “questionable” for Saturday, according to Molnar.
MINISTERS OF DEFENSE, OFFENSE AND SPECIAL TEAMS
After Wednesday’s practice, coach Charley Molnar had eight players surrounding him in McGuirk Stadium’s south end zone.
The cadre of media on the sideline joked that it was “his cabinet.”
The joke wasn’t far off from reality.
The Minutemen elected two representatives from each class to serve on this committee.
Seniors Quinton Sales and Darren Thellen, juniors Brandon Potvin and Rob Blanchflower, sophomores Marken Michel and Ed Saint-Vil and redshirt freshmen Randall Jette and Mike Wegzyn make up the committee along with true freshman A.J. Doyle, who Molnar jokingly described as a “non-voting member.”
The group talks to Molnar about things like which uniform color combinations the team wears, signage inside the locker room and other administrative matters.
“I like to get their input on just a few things — nothing earth shaking, but pretty much they’re in line with what I would be thinking,” Molnar said. “But not all the time, so it’s interesting.”