Iowa Kicker's Dream Realized in Win Over Penn State

Most young boys dream of making the game-winning play for their favorite team, but few ever realize that opportunity. The go-ahead touchdown catch, the full count strikeout: These are all plays those boys have run through and imagined countless times. And every time, it goes just the way they script it. For sophomore Iowa kicker Daniel Murray, those backyard dreams came to life on Saturday night, but the series of events that led Murray to that situation wasn't exactly how he'd imagined it. Murray, an Iowa City native and longtime Hawkeyes fan, was offered a full soccer scholarship to Kentucky but turned it down to walk on at the University of Iowa to chase his boyhood passions. As a freshman Murray split the kicking duties and finished the season 7-10 on field goal attempts. Coming into this season, the job was his to lose. By the fifth game, Murray had been demoted to "kickoff specialist," losing his job to freshman kicker Trent Mossbrucker. The change wasn't sudden, but in the ... (link)