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UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 14, 2011Justin TuckerQ. Final home game, man, final game in Austin. I remember you a little freshman at Westlake, a little freshman here, and you're a grown man now. Where does the time go? JUSTIN TUCKER: Man, it goes by quick. I mean, like you said, I remember meeting you when I was a freshman at Westlake and now seven or eight years down the road here about to graduate in December actually, and then out into the real world, I guess. But coming into this last game, it is a little bit surreal, kind of looking back and reflecting, seeing how quickly it all really goes by. Q. What legend and legacy do you leave here? JUSTIN TUCKER: I hope I can be remembered by fans and by friends and family more than anybody else as just a reliable, dependable player, and somebody who just put their best foot forward and just really tried to put their best effort out on the field as possible. Q. What do you think Saturday night is going to be like emotionally? JUSTIN TUCKER: As a kicker, emotions don't really come into play for me. I mean, sure, walking out onto the field before the game it'll be a little bit -- all I can think about is it will just be a fun experience being able to walk into DKR for the last time. All I really want to do, and my teammates and I, all any of us want to do is send myself and the rest of the seniors out with a bang and just send us out right. Q. Does anyone on the team have any rituals as you do after you kick? JUSTIN TUCKER: I mean, I have a lot of rituals in pregame. When I'm in the locker room I'll lay my uniform out in the shape of a man on the floor. I always walk off to go get tape and somebody messes up my setup. That's part of the ritual, though, is somebody has to mess it up. But as far as on-the-field rituals, I mean, I really don't know. I know there's a lot of other kickers in the Big 12 and across the country that I've met throughout my career during camps and other events, and there's some guys with some pretty interesting rituals, as well. Q. Do you come up with new ones with different teammates each year, depending on who your holder is? JUSTIN TUCKER: Not really. Kicking is about consistency, so my rituals have to stay the same game to game and season to season. Q. When did they first start, back at Westlake? JUSTIN TUCKER: Well, laying the uniform out on the floor is one that was kind of inspired by "Primetime" Deion Sanders. I've been a big Dallas Cowboys fan ever since I was a little kid, and I know Deion Sanders, I guess he said in an interview kind of like this, he said, one of my rituals is I lay my uniform out in the shape of a man on the floor and just kind of gets me ready for game day, and ever since I was about 12 or 13 playing soccer, I started doing it then, and I just kept the tradition alive coming up until -- and it's still alive, still going strong. Q. Talk about all the different handshakes you do with McCrary after the kick. JUSTIN TUCKER: Cade and I, the handshake has evolved. It started out as really simple. We've added a few things here or there, and of course Greg Smith and I, we had a little salute that we did last year, and this year Alex Zumberge and I, we have a little salute that we do, as well. We do want to make sure that we keep these traditions alive because they're really important, and they just provide a positive energy going into the next kick that is always really important. Q. You said there were some other interesting rituals you've seen. What were some of those? JUSTIN TUCKER: Oh, man. I mean, some of them are really specific, like some guys will shave their beards before games but they'll leave the neck beard, the "neard." I'll see if I can think of some others, but that's one that really stands out. I know myself, I always put my left shoe on before my right shoe, and that goes for any day, whether I'm playing football or putting on the oxblood oxfords. I always tie the left shoe first, the right shoe second. There's got to be a process. It's methodical. But for me it just sets everything up on a positive note. Q. Are you going to retire those shoes? Is anyone going to wear shoes like that anymore? JUSTIN TUCKER: I've actually got a lot of comments about the shoes, so it's not surprising that I'm getting another question about them. But I don't know what I am going to do with the shoes. I mean, I have a little collection of shoes I've kicked in over the course of my career, and of course stubs will be missing on a few of them or the soles will be splitting off. I can't really use them. But I know somebody else would probably like to use them, so that's probably what I'll do. I'll give them away and let somebody else get to enjoy them. Q. How did those shoes come about? JUSTIN TUCKER: The shoes came about more or less just because that's what Nike had available for us at the time. Soccer shoes are not typically made in black and white, they're every color of the rainbow except for black and white, and those were the closest to orange that we could find. Hey, they're working out, I'm kicking well in them, so I'm not too worried about it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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