With Szmyt, Vernon Hills has a leg up on the competition

Peer pressure isn't always a bad thing.

It brought Andre Szmyt to football. And now football might bring Szmyt to opportunities he could have never imagined just a couple of months ago.

"It's crazy. It's like I've done a 180-degree turn in my life," Szmyt said. "Words can't explain how thankful I am to my friends for getting me to try this."

Szmyt is the kicker for Vernon Hills, which is 5-2 on the season and looking to secure a playoff berth tonight against Glenbrook North. He used to be a hard-core soccer player, starting at age five, playing year-round and competing on club soccer teams against some of the best players in the region.

His goal had always been to play soccer in college, and he was a star at Vernon Hills up through last year.

Then his friends, all players on the football team, "recruited him" for football. "You've got a leg, come out for your senior year. We could use you," Chris Mariella, Kyle Hull, Drew Winegardner, Andrew Smith, Nick Marras, Trey Hommer and Jeff Rosenstock would tell Szmyt.

Now, eight weeks into his fledgling football career, his goal is to play football in college. And he's starting to turn heads.

With virtually no formal training or coaching heading into the start of the season, Szmyt has managed to be Mr. Reliable for the Cougars. He's also impressed with his cannon of a leg, which was his calling card as a prolific scoring forward on his soccer teams.

"Some college (football) program will get a real steal with this kid," Vernon Hills coach Bill Bellecomo said. "I haven't seen a leg as strong as Andre's in all my years of coaching. If he didn't come out for football so late, he would be a heavily recruited kid.

"I feel confident sending him out there to kick at any range."

Szmyt is a perfect 26-for-26 on his extra points. He's connected on 6-of-9 field goals, including a school-record 47-yarder earlier this season against Zion-Benton. He had about 15 yards to spare on that one. He also nailed a 38-yarder against Deerfield that won the game with less than two seconds left.

Last week against Maine East, Szmyt was sent out for a 59-yard field goal, a distance that would have put him high in the IHSA record books.

"It was dead on, but it was just shy by about a yard," Szmyt said. "There was no wind helping me, just a cross wind. If there had been the slightest wind behind my back, or if it had been a little warmer, it would have been good.

"I was kind of bummed because that may have tied or broken the state record."

Tucker McCann of O'Fallon High School holds the state record. He kicked a 60-yard field goal against Belleville East in 2014. Nick Setta of Lockport ranks second in the record books. He hit a 59-yarder against Bloom in 1996.

Szmyt, who also handles kick-offs and punts for the Cougars, says his goal is to get at least a 50-plus-yard field goal this season.

"I'm really hoping coach will let me go out and try it. I know I can do it," Szmyt said. "I'd also like to stay perfect on my extra points."

Some good-natured trash talk about a missed extra point is what prompted Szmyt's friends to bug him about going out for football in the first place.

"Last year, I was at a game and we missed an important extra point, and we ended up losing the game," Szmyt said. "I told my friends on the team after the game that I could have made that kick no problem. It's a chip shot in soccer, basically a 20-yarder.

"My friends were like, 'Well, let's see what you can do. You should go out for the team.'"

Szmyt already kind of felt like he was part of the football family.

With so many friends who play football, Szmyt had become a big-time fan of the team. He was unmistakable in the stands.

"Me and a couple other guys would always lead the cheers at football games, we called ourselves 'The Crew,'" Szmyt said. "We'd get decked out for every game. We'd go to road games. About five of us even drove like an hour and a half last year for the Joliet Catholic playoff game.

"I was a super fan. I never thought I'd go from cheering with all

the other fans at football games to being cheered for. It's crazy."

Szmyt could have never imagined his change in college plans either.

He was hoping for a chance to play soccer at a small college, a mid-major Division I at best.

"I was trying to get my name out there in soccer, but I was kind of in the middle of the pack (a dime-a-dozen) forward," Szmyt said. "Now, I'm going to be contacting some of the bigger schools in the country for football. I don't know if I'll get anything now because most schools already have their guys set up for next year. If I don't, I'm just going to try to walk on somewhere big and then try to beat out the kicker in front of me for the job.

"It will be hard to do, but it's crazy to think it's even a possibility now."

The same friends who "pressured" Szmyt to try kicking for the football team sometimes trek out to the football field on their days off to shag kicks for him.

"That's what I do in my free time now," Szmyt said. "I like to go out to the field and kick. It clears my mind, and I want to keep getting better.

"I want to get my name out there. I want to be a college football player."

pbabcock@dailyherald.com

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