Wally Pipp. Could Ammon Lakip be Clemson’s version of Wally Pipp?
Pipp was the New York Yankees first baseman, who led the Yankees to a 1923 World Championship. Twice he led the American League in home runs. But no one truly remembers him. Why?
In 1925 Pip was injured and a young ballplayer by the name of Lou Gehrig replaced him. Gehrig went onto a Hall of Fame career and was the first player in Major League Baseball history to have his uniform number retired.
After replacing Pipp in the lineup in 1925, Gehrig did not miss a start until 1939 – a then record of 2,130 games, which stood for 56 years. Every sports fan knows the name Lou Gehrig, but no one knows remembers Pipp’s name.
“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” Clemson special teams coach Danny Pearman said.
On June 6, Lakip was arrested and charged with driving under the influence and misdemeanor possession of cocaine. He was immediately suspended by head coach Dabo Swinney and will miss at least two weeks of fall camp and maybe more depending on how he handles the situation.
With Lakip out of the picture, redshirt freshman Alex Spence will get the opportunity to win the job. Even if Lakip is allowed back on the team in mid-August, he is sure to serve a suspension that could be up to four games.
“He ought to take the opportunity and run with it,” Pearman said.
From what the coaches have said, Spence had a good spring. He has the qualifications to be a good kicker.
In high school, he was rated as the 34th best kicker in the country by ESPN. He played in the Shrine Bowl following a senior season at West Florence High School in which he made 14 of 17 field goals. That followed a junior season in which he was 11 of 13 on his field goal attempts.
“We felt like he was one of the best kickers in the south, and he was the best kicker in this state when we signed him. We were able to redshirt him last year. He is excited about his opportunity,” Swinney said.
But is Spence ready?
“When one guy is down, the next guy gets up. This is his opportunity,” Pearman said. “Hopefully, he has worked hard and he will make the most of it.”
The key will be if Spence used his redshirt year to adjust to kicking without a tee. That, along with playing in front of 82,000 people, is the biggest adjustment from high school to college for a kicker.
“In high school, most of them kick off a tee. It’s just like hitting a golf ball. It is easier teeing it up and hitting off the tee than off the hard pad,” Pearman said. “That takes a little bit to adjust to. Obviously, the atmosphere is totally different.
“A lot of it is a mindset. A lot of these guys have the physical attributes, but it is like anything you do, you have to put yourself in that environment and get that experience to have a shot of doing it. Every time they are out there, the chips are in. They are all in. Even with extra points, you either make it or you don’t. It is not always your fault if you don’t make it. It’s a snap, it’s a hold, it’s a kick all involved.”
Then comes the question, does Spence have the mental fortitude to get past a missed kick or a missed opportunity. Odds are, he will struggle early on. Some of Clemson’s best kickers of all-time, Obed Ariri, David Treadwell, Chris Gardocki and Chandler Catanzaro, struggled early in their careers.
Catanzaro missed seven of his first 16 attempts to begin his career, but then he got rolling. He became the most accurate kicker in Clemson history. At one point, Catanzaro made a school-record 20 consecutive kicks from 2011-2012. He missed just two kicks combined in his junior and senior seasons.
Lakip even got rolling after struggling early to start the 2014 season. He missed three of his first seven kicks, including a 23-yard field attempt at Florida State. He bounced back by nailing 17 of his final 21.
“There are a lot of reasons why a kid might not be inefficient in college vs. high school. Sometimes, it takes time,” Pearman said. “I remember Catman struggled and struggled early on, and finally it clicked. He has a good solid kickers’ mentality. It is about making a good pass of the ball and hitting it, striking it and getting hits to the target and making a constant swing.
“The guys that can do that, if they hit it good, they get on to their next kick. If they hit it bad, they get on to the next kick. It’s those guys with that type of mentality that are the most efficient.”
And those are the guys that are remembered. The question is will Clemson fans remember Ammon Lakip’s name or Alex Spence’s 10 or 20 years from now?