University of Tennessee Athletics
Four Downs: Chad Cunningham
October 07, 2009 | Football
Oct. 7, 2009
BY JOSH PATE
UTSports.com
Chad Cunningham is a small-town guy. Well, sort of. He was born in Mableton, Ga., just outside of Atlanta, but moved to tiny Dawsonville about an hour north of the metropolis when he was in fifth grade.
All that doesn't mean he's a Georgia guy. That is, he's no Georgia Bulldog like the rest of his friends from back home. It comes with the territory of leaving the state and playing for a conference rival school. For Cunningham, orange always trumped red in his house.
Chad's father, Rory Cunningham, was a Tennessee letterman in 1980 at offensive guard. When Chad decided to follow his father's path and come to Knoxville to punt for the Vols, he took a little heat from back home. That makes this week's game against the Bulldogs special.
First Down: Playing second fiddle ...
Cunningham is the first big-time college football player to come out of Dawson County High School. But he's still not the star of the town.
"Oh, there's tons of Bill Elliott fans there," Cunningham said with a smile, noting the small hamburger joint in town that's owned by local Gordon Pirkle and dedicated to the 1988 NASCAR champion. "The Pool Room is awesome."
Cunningham admitted he keeps up with NASCAR, but gave no indication of a favorite driver. As for the town, Cunningham is proud of his small home.
"It's a little country town with a square and courthouse in the middle," he said. "We had an old jail but we just got a new jail - that was front-page news. There's just one high school in the county. It's a little town."
Second Down: Not much bark ...
Just because orange is in the Cunningham family, that doesn't eliminate the red in the punter's life. He's got a few friends who attend Georgia and will be rooting against the Vols this weekend. But Cunningham is soaking in being the underdog.
"Everybody back home is Georgia fans. They give me a hard time," he said. "This game means a lot since I'm from Georgia. To get our first SEC win, that would be huge to get the season turned around in the right direction."
As for the hometown folks getting onto him about being a Vol, that just doesn't happen. Not in serious tones, at least, until the player has to make plays.
"It's fun and games to a point, and then you've got to get serious and do what you're supposed to do," Cunningham said.
Third Down: Doing the job ...
Punting isn't just snap the ball, kick the ball. It's an art form to some degree. There's aiming. There's positioning. There's placement. There's the drop. That's when Cunningham's mind goes blank.
"During the process, as a kicker, you try not to think about anything," he said. "When you start thinking, that's when you start messing up. Before the kick, you want to do everything that you're supposed to do: visualize the kick, visualize a good kick. Then after that, it's all down to your motor skills."
Once the kick is away, he's not just filling space. Last Saturday, Cunningham made a potential touchdown-saving tackle when one of Auburn's return men broke through the Tennessee punt coverage.
"I'm kind of filling in as the safety, being the safety/linebacker a little bit," Cunningham said of his defensive role after the punt. "If I see a hole open, I get up in it to try and make a tackle. But hopefully it's a good kick and they fair catch it and can't return it."
Fourth Down: See the ball ...
Punting can be scientific, as well. For Cunningham, it's all in the head. As he mentioned, before he even takes the snap, he pictures himself booting a perfect ball and placing it exactly where he has aimed.
Cunningham is seeking his master's degree in sport psychology, and he got his bachelor's in three years in sport studies with a concentration in a similar area. So yes, Cunningham has learned to visualize his kicks and see himself being successful. And it's worked.
"It definitely has helped, seeing Dr. Craig Wrisberg and others," Cunningham said, referring to one of the UT professors in sport psychology. "It takes you to the next level, past all the physical stuff. You visualize and see yourself being great, and then you can end up being that way. Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, all of the great ones, they've been doing it for a while. If you're not doing that, you're behind."
