Alive and kickin'

Standing on the sideline late in the first quarter Saturday, Travis Baltz listened to his Terrapin football coaches discuss just what they could do about the upcoming fourth down from the Terps' 29-yard line.

The punter overheard coach Ralph Friedgen say the Terps didn't have a kicker that could hit a field goal from that range — 47 yards.

From what Friedgen had seen of Baltz, it was true. The senior, on field goal duty for injured kicker Nick Ferrara, hadn't practiced any kicks from that distance. But his pride soon took over.

Baltz stepped up beside Friedgen. "Coach, I can make this," he told him.

To Baltz's surprise as much as anyone else's, he got the go-ahead: "Fine. Go kick it."

Friedgen ordered the senior, who had entered the season only as the team's top punter, onto the field at Byrd Stadium. He wasn't going to kick it away to Morgan State; he was going to try for three points.

Baltz nailed it. He drilled the kick high and long through the center of the uprights, extending the Terps' lead over the Bears to 17-0.

"He was a man of his word," Friedgen said.

Said Baltz: "I came over and I was like, ‘I told you.'"

Since taking over for Ferrara, who suffered a groin pull before the season opener, Baltz has surprised many with his success.

He still is excelling at the position he's most accustomed to, averaging 46.3 yards per punt, the third-highest average in the ACC. He booted the ball 61 yards against Navy, a career best. And four of his seven punts so far have landed inside the 20.

But while those numbers were expected of a punter who earned first-team All-ACC honors in 2008, his performance at kicker has stood out.

"I don't know that I have the range that [Ferrara] has," Baltz said shortly after Ferrara's injury this summer. "But hopefully, I can step in and be consistent and get the job done."

He quickly proved that he had no need to be humble.

The first field goal attempt of his college career was the game-winning score in the Terps' 17-14 win against Navy. But that 24-yarder proved a mere chip shot compared to his two field goals against the Bears — he added another 47-yarder in the third quarter.

"I thought Travis was MVP of the special teams," Friedgen said Saturday, adding that Baltz has played well enough to keep his dual duties.

"Right now, to me, he's got the job," Friedgen said. "Right now, the way he is kicking, I'm staying with him."

Friedgen affirmed Baltz's standing at his press conference Tuesday. Even if Ferrara is well enough to play against West Virginia on Saturday, Baltz will be the Terps' kicker.

"Until they tell me to not kick, I'm going to keep kicking," Baltz said. "I'm just going to do whatever they tell me to do, whatever will help us get wins."

Last year, Ferrara was the one pulling double-duty when Baltz injured his ankle. For five games, Ferrara stood in for Baltz on the punt team in addition to his normal kicking duties, averaging just under 40 yards per punt and hitting 18 of 25 field goals for the season, including one 50-yarder.

But Ferrara struggled early in fall practice before suffering a groin pull that has since kept him sidelined.

So after never before attempting a field goal in college, Baltz has been forced to become a jack-of-all-kicking-trades.

Against Morgan State, he even took over kickoffs for senior Ted Townsley, who was handling kickoffs to ease the load on Baltz's legs. But after Townsley suffered a minor leg injury toward the end of the first half, Baltz took over kickoff duty, as well.

"He's been kicking, kicking off, kicking very well, getting all the points on extra points," said running back Davin Meggett, Baltz's roommate. "I mean, to pull triple duty? The guy is pretty good."

Quarterback Jamarr Robinson, Baltz's roommate his freshman year, remembered watching film of Baltz playing in high school, when he served as a punter and kicker for Anthony Wayne High School in Whitehouse, Ohio, and marveling at his ability to do more than just boom punts.

"I always wondered why he only pursued punting as opposed to kicking off and kicking field goals, because in high school he did it all very well," Robinson said. "I'm just excited to see him now actually taking on those other roles."

So when Baltz stepped up to try his first 47-yard field goal Saturday, his roommates, both past and present, never doubted him for a second.

"Soon as the snap went down," Meggett said, "I said, ‘Oh yeah, he's going to make it.'"

Said Robinson, "I just took it as three points given."

Not all Baltz's teammates, though, knew quite how good their punter was at multitasking.

They do now.

"When I saw him go out there, I just stood on the sideline like, ‘Man, can he make it?'" wide receiver Torrey Smith said. "Then he drilled it."

kyanchulis@umdbk.com