Illinois walk-on kicker Ethan Moczulski left a prestigious situation at Texas A&M in the search of an opportunity and with four seconds left until halftime last weekend, he got what he was searching for.

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

September 20, 2024

Ethan Moczulski 59-yard FG vs CMU 2024 courtesy Illinois Athletics

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — In the era of pay-for-play college athletes, Ethan Moczulski’s motivation to transfer from one power conference school to Illinois was very much an old school mentality based not in dollars or a promise of anything but simply opportunity.

Moczulski, 2022 All-American Bowl selection out of high school as a placekicker, would likely be the first to tell anybody who asked that his two-year experience at Texas A&M University wasn’t exactly what he anticipated after traveling over 2,000 miles as one of the nation’s top kickers in the 2022 recruiting class.

Specifically, after arriving as the special teams gem of a Texas A&M recruiting class ranked by 247Sports.com as the No. 1 group of athletes in the nation, Moczulski thought he’d get a chance to well, kick.

“I went two years and wasn’t able to feel like I was being used as a productive member of the team and that was mentally challenging,” said Moczulski, which is pronounced ‘muh-CHOW-skee’. “To know I certainly wasn’t the guy at A&M and wasn’t going to be the guy at A&M wasn’t a good feeling.”

When he entered the transfer portal, Illinois head coach Bret Bielema assumed he had been the Aggies placekicker and wanted a specific school as his next destination. Bielema, like several power conference head coaches was wrong.

In two seasons at A&M, Moczulski, who was rated as the No. 6 kicker in the nation and No. 72 player out of the state of Washington by 247Sports.com, accumulated just two kickoffs and connected on just one PAT in a 47-3 win over the University of Louisiana-Monroe. Suddenly, the lure of the Southeastern Conference, a 102,733 capacity of Kyle Field and the promise of an elite recruiting class leading to national championship goals didn’t mean much to Moczulski as he watched veteran Randy Bond do all of the kicking on teams that went 12-13 in two years resulting in a firing and a $77.5 million buyout for head coach Jimbo Fisher.

Suddenly, Moczulski was more than ready to find a college program ready to promise him the one thing A&M never gave him - an opportunity to showcase his kicking power.

“I knew exactly what he was looking for - an opportunity,” Bielema said. “I mean, I literally thought when we started this season that he’d kicked a field goal before, and he hadn’t.”

Despite already having a highly touted scholarship kicker on the roster in David Olano, who played in the 2023 All-American Bowl, Illinois coaches wanted to see if they could find a kicker to do the kickoff duty so Olano’s leg strength could be saved simply for field goals and extra points. Immediately, Moczulski knew his specialist's skill would be greatly appreciated by Illini tight end coach/special teams coordinator Robby Discher.

After giving his verbal pledge to Illinois as a preferred walk-on less than a month after he entry in the transfer portal, Moczulski was hampered by some soft tissue injuries in the summer but was immediately able to convince Bielema they’d found the right guy to answer a kicking power need.

“That first practice I was like, ‘Oh, this is different,’” Bielema said about watching Moczulski kick. “In camp, the first three or four practices, he was perfect. Never missed. He hit one from 60-plus. Then actually had a little soft tissue injury pop up, and that’s why we backed off a little bit. Then David had just been hitting the ball so well. It’s hopefully a 1-2 combo that will pay dividends for us.”

Through three games, Moczulski has averaged over 70 yards on his kickoffs with every one of them going into and oftentimes out of the end zone.

During preseason camp, a fully healthy Moczulski let the coaching staff know he could be a weapon on deep field goals as well by making a non-wind aided 61-yard field goal during practice with the second-string field goal unit.

“I’ve always just had great leg swing velocity on my kicks especially as I’ve perfected by routine and mechanics but the one of the things I was able to do here at Illinois was learn how to get my leg stronger with the conditioning program here,” Moczulski said. “My short time here has even increased my distance range on field goals and kickoffs.”

Therefore, with just four seconds remaining in the first half on Saturday, Bielema believed a 59-yard attempt was the perfect opportunity for Moczulski to make his collegiate debut as a field goal kicker. Without having to change the trajectory of the kick at all, Moczulski easily cleared the uprights for the kick that broke the shared school record of 57 yards first set in 1975 by Dan Beaver and matched in 2019 by James McCourt. The 59-yard attempt, which Moczulski said he “actually got under it a little bit” also came close to the Memorial Stadium record of 61 yards, which was set by Michigan State’s Ralf Mojsiejenko in 1982.

“There was more excitement than nerves honestly,” Moczulski said. “I had done this in warmups and done this consistently in practice, so it wasn’t something where I felt I was being asked to do something out of my comfort zone. This is what I wanted.”

On Monday, Bielema was able to present Moczulski with the actual game ball that he kicked through the uprights. In two years at Texas A&M, Moczulski never got his opportunity but in his first field goal at Illinois, he was able to hold a piece of program history in his hands.

“(Bielema) said I might have some deep field goal opportunities when it’s outside of David’s range,” Moczulski said. Olano made field goals of 49 and 34 yards in Saturday’s win. “Once I got the head nod from him, I was like, ‘Let’s go!’ It was a great opportunity.”