UW kicker clutch

SEATTLE – Erik Folk felt like he was stealing money.

During his first two years on scholarship as a University of Washington football player, the kicker from Southern California’s San Fernando Valley couldn’t stay healthy and wasn’t contributing to the Huskies’ cause.

“Being hurt, you can’t really help the team out,” said Folk, who had hip problems last season and a bad back in 2007. “I definitely felt really guilty about not being out there helping the team win.

“I was feeling really bad about that, feeling like I shouldn’t have been here because I’d been hurt for two years.”

Eight weeks into the 2009 season, Folk has certainly made up for lost time. The third-year sophomore has been one of the most pleasant surprises of the UW football season.

“I love what Erik’s done,” head coach Steve Sarkisian said this week. “He’s hit some enormously big kicks for us. … I can’t have asked for more out of that guy than what we’ve gotten out of Erik Folk.”

The younger brother of Dallas Cowboys place-kicker Nick Folk, UW’s kicker has already made a name for himself this season.

Folk’s career-long, 46-yard field goal in the fourth quarter of the USC game put the Huskies ahead 13-10, then he nailed the winner from 22 yards out in the final seconds of the upset victory.

That set off one of the biggest on-field celebrations Husky Stadium has ever seen.

Two weeks later, while playing at Notre Dame Stadium for the first time, Folk drilled a 37-yarder with 6 seconds left to send a game against the Irish into overtime.

And on Saturday, Folk bettered his career long by hitting a 48-yarder at the end of the first half.

“It’s been great,” Folk said of his many opportunities to hit clutch kicks this season. “I’ve got to give props to (snapper) Danny (Morovick) and (holder) Ronnie (Fouch) and the line. Ronnie’s been money on the holds, and Danny, his snaps have been perfect. With Ronnie and Danny doing what they do, all I have to do is kick it.”

Folk can also thank his bloodlines. Not only has his oldest brother made it to the NFL – a middle brother, Greg, played soccer at UCLA – but Nick Folk has also helped Erik with the mental part of the game. The Huskies’ kicker has proved to have a level head in even the most critical situations.

The end of the USC game was Folk’s first chance to attempt a winner in the final seconds – he never did it while at Notre Dame High School in Woodland Hills, Calif. – and yet he showed no nerves when coming on for the 22-yard field-goal attempt.

“Once you go out there thinking about it, that’s when you start missing,” he said. “So I tried to not think about it at all.”

Folk admits that his back is still not 100 percent, which is a big reason why his kickoffs have not had as much distance as he and Sarkisian would like. But when it comes to field goals, he’s been money for the Huskies this season.