I spoke too soon y'all - the Wi-Fi on this bus is really awful. I might not be able to get through a whole week of posts. I've basically been staring at my Gmail being 90 percent loaded for an hour, then hitting refresh and watching it get to 90 percent again. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy - to be fair, I'd probably wish significantly worse things.
No. 37, Jeff Budzien, junior, kicker
Who he be: Buddy Z, as I call him, was an All-American kicker outta high school - Rivals had him as the seventh-best kicker in the nation - and NU landed him somewhat early in his 'cruitin process. The Wisconsinite kicker redshirted a year, kicked one (1) PAT his second, and was used sparingly as a sophomore. Budzien clearly has an accurate leg, nailing all 50 of his PAT's, but doesn't exactly have much power: the Cats used Steve Flaherty to do kickoffs, and only had Budzien kick ten field goals all year, often passing up field goals of 40 yards or more in favor of trying to pick up a fourth-dovn conversion, which often worked - notably, against Nebraska, where there was a lot of wind and Budzien didn't come out on a fourth-and-seven from about 45 yards. He did hit a 47-yarder, but seemed spotty from distance.
Right answer:
Q: If you could have a starring role in any film already made, which movie would you pick and why?
A: Easy--Maverick in Top Gun
AMERICAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
The fact that he responds with "Easy" is really encouraging. Also, I would say the same thing.
Other NU football players who have names that can in part be used to refer to marijuana: Treyvon Green
Looking forward: Buddy Z is Northwestern's go-to placekicker this year. Hopefully, he can add a little bit of power to that leg of his, so Northwestern can count on him to hit figgies from up to 50 yards. Because that's nice! However, having an inaccurate kicker does force Pat Fitzgerald to go for it more often than coaches might usually, so that might be a good thing, so maybe don't become better at kicking? I don't know.