By Craig Degel
Arizona Daily WIldcat
Arizona kicker Jon Prasuhn may not be a household name, but after Saturday night's performance against the Pacific Tigers, people may begin to at least pronounce it correctly.
Prasuhn (pronounced preh-SOON) made good on five point-after attempts and booted two field goals, including one from 57-yards as time expired on the first half. That kick tied a school record held by both Max Zendejas (vs. Arizona State in 1985) and Lee Pistor (at Iowa in '77).
"I knew it was a long kick. I could tell the uprights were pretty far away," Prasuhn said about his record-tying effort. "When I went out there I just pretty much told myself just to go out and kick this one like I do my other kicks."
Yet despite the record, Prasuhn was able to find fault in a kick that covered almost as much ground as Pacific's entire running game.
"Actually, it didn't go end-over-end so it wasn't a perfect kick," Prasuhn said. "But I got into it really good so it carried a long way."
Prasuhn, who attended Salpointe Catholic High School in Tucson, was a walk-on at Arizona but saw a lot of quality time during the '93 season after Steve McLaughlin suffered a hip injury. He then spent '94 as a back-up while McLaughlin kicked his way to the Lou Groza Award as the country's top placekicker and to All-America honors.
While Prasuhn was giving interviews after the game, one Arizona player walked by the kicker and shouted, "Steve who?" It was a statement that clearly did not sit well with Prasuhn.
"Everyone brings it up. He was an awesome kicker," Prasuhn said. "I'm following in his footsteps. I pretty much did everything he did and I learned a lot from him. But I try not to think about it because if I do it's just going to psyche me out."
However, that may be the only thing that psyches Prasuhn out. Consider this: He hit a 57-yard field goal that would have been good from much farther; he hit a 42-yarder earlier in the game; and he even wears number 13, which is, coincidentally, the same number worn be Zendejas and Pistor.
And while his kicks may have come as a surprise to the 48,434 in attendance, they came as no surprise to Arizona head coach Dick Tomey.
"I wasn't surprised that Jon Prasuhn was outstanding," Tomey said, "because he has been (that way) in practice."