Northern Illinois kicker Kanon Woodill’s sneaky wheels will be a reoccurring nightmare for Butch Jones. The 55-year-old head coach at Arkansas State will not soon forget what happened on Dec. 23 in Birmingham, Alabama.
He was big mad. Twice!
Woodill, a redshirt sophomore, stands 5-foot-11, 167 pounds. Although college football was ultimately his calling, he was a talented forward on the Plainfield North soccer team in high school.
While most of Woodill’s time is focused on putting the ball through the uprights, the Camellia Bowl presented an opportunity to show off his speed. The Huskies held a six-point lead over the RedWolves during the third quarter and lined up for a field goal from about 45 yards out.
It was a fake!
Punter Tom Foley, who served as the holder, flipped the ball back to his kicker out in the flat. Kanon Woodill took off running and never looked back!
There was no one within arm’s reach as he crossed the goal line. None of Arkansas State’s players could keep up with the (unofficial) fastest kicker in the country!
As awesome as it was for Northern Illinois, the fake field goal touchdown did not bring Jones any Christmas joy. ESPN cut to him on the sideline as he proceeded to unleash the fury of a thousand suns on his special teams staff through his headset.
Whomever was responsible for the special teams unit on Saturday got an earful!
As did the officiating crew during the fourth quarter.
Arkansas State successfully recovered an onside kick with just over one minute left in a two-point game. It was wrongfully called back for offsides.
Jones lost his mind, again.
To be fair, Jones had every reason to be upset. The officials were wrong.
Saturday did not go well for Arkansas State. Butch Jones lost his first bowl game with the RedWolves.
Butch Jones is a hot head!
He was angry at Central Michigan.
He was angry at Cincinnati.
That was also the case at Tennessee.
It is still the case at Arkansas State.
Jones’ anger knows no bounds. His face turns red. Spit starts flying out of his mouth. His eyebrows curl.