Look for Arizona’s placekicker to cook after sophomore struggles | Michael Lev

Some would argue that shouldn’t be difficult. After all, Arizona’s placekicker had the lowest field-goal percentage in the Big 12 in 2025.

But even for the most results-based position in football, the process remains paramount. And the process the Wildcats’ placekicking unit is undertaking this spring is miles ahead of last year. Well, months actually.

The snapper (Drew Nicolson), holder (Chase Ridley) and kicker (Salgado-Medina) are all here. They’re taking “reps on top of reps on top of reps,” UA special-teams coordinator Craig Naivar said.

Contrast that to last season, when the snapper (Avery Salerno) and holder (Ian Wagner) didn’t arrive on campus until summer.

Naivar compared the situation to ... brisket. We’ll let the Texas native explain.

“Slow-cooked brisket that goes for 18 hours at 225 (degrees) is a hell of a lot better than one that’s in the microwave for four minutes,” Naivar said. “Having the time to prepare it and get it right makes it taste a hell of a lot better.”

Arizona is slow-cooking its kicking operation this year. Salgado-Medina should be the biggest beneficiary of that after falling victim to an erratic operation last year.

Wagner did an excellent job, for the most part, as the holder. Salerno’s snaps were inconsistent at best. I’m not saying that was the sole reason Salgado-Medina missed 13 total kicks between field goals and extra points, but it was a contributing factor.

“The kicker gets the good or bad based on the make or the miss,” Naivar said. “But it's a process. It's a snap, the hold, the kick and everything with that.

“I feel a lot better with the time we have to build, to ramp up, to get that to where it needs to be for the season. It's already better than it was. Hence Mike's performance that you guys have seen in practice.”

Salgado-Medina has had a superb spring camp thus far. He has missed only one field goal in practices open to the media, a mishit 61-yard attempt Thursday. He recovered quickly, nailing 54- and 40-yarders.

Every attempt is accompanied by good-natured harassment. Salgado-Medina’s teammates do everything they can to distract him.

You know the “Mine! Mine!” scene in “Finding Nemo” where the seagulls try to eat Nemo and Dory? Just sub “Mike!” for “Mine!” — that’s what Salgado-Medina heard Thursday.

On Tuesday, the players surrounded Salgado-Medina as he lined up for a kick. They were in his face to such an extent that our photographer couldn’t get a shot of him.

“I just kind of block it off,” Salgado-Medina said. “Seeing the guys around me, it's cool. But I kind of don't notice it. It's just one kick at a time, same kick.”

That’s the right mentality to have. Because the ribbing his teammates give him is nothing compared to the online harassment Salgado-Medina receives when he has a bad game.

Unrealistic expectations

Kickers are the easiest targets in the sport. Most of the time, you don’t need extensive analysis or film review when a field goal is shanked. Everyone can see whether the ball sailed through the uprights. As Salgado-Medina said, “It is a make-or-miss business.”

Salgado-Medina made 19 field goals as a sophomore in '25, his first season as Arizona’s placekicker. He missed 12. His success rate of 61.3% was 12 percentage points lower than the next-ranked qualifiers in the Big 12.

You know what Nick Folk’s success rate was over his first three seasons at Arizona? A mere 55.6%.

Folk made 75% of his field-goal attempts as a senior in 2006. He’s still playing in the NFL.

Folk is one of three UA kickers on NFL rosters, along with Lucas Havrisik and Tyler Loop. Havrisik made 59.4% of his field-goal tries over his first three seasons at Arizona, 71.4% over his final two. A little patience goes a long way.

Loop was exceptionally accurate from the start, finishing his career with a school-best 83.8% success rate. He spoiled UA fans who expected Salgado-Medina to be just as good from the jump.

Luckily for Folk, social media as we know it today didn’t exist when he played for the Wildcats. Salgado-Medina has to deal with that mean-spirited rubbish regularly (as does Loop). Or he can follow Naivar’s advice and ignore it.

“I always say that you turn down the outside noise and amp up the inside noise,” Naivar said.

What is the inside noise?

“The confidence from your teammates, the confidence from the coaches, the confidence from yourself,” Naivar said. “Because it can go both ways. If he goes and hits nine in a row and listens to the outside noise (of) how good he is, that can also affect what he does.”

Ups and downs

Positive reinforcement came directly from the head coach last season. Brent Brennan never wavered in his support of Salgado-Medina, whom he dubbed "Money Mike." He most definitely noticed that.

“It's a great feeling, bro,” Salgado-Medina said. “Having a coach that's always there for you and ... always has faith in you, it's a big thing. I love it.”

Salgado-Medina needed it to navigate what he aptly described as the “ups and downs” of his sophomore season. Sometimes those ups and downs happened in the same game.

Salgado-Medina was 2 for 4 entering the fourth quarter against Cincinnati on Nov. 15. With his team clinging to a three-point lead and facing fourth-and-12 at the UC 33-yard line with 1:38 to play, Brennan sent Salgado-Medina onto the field for a 51-yard field-goal attempt. He drilled it, and Arizona won 30-24.

In the Territorial Cup 13 days later, Salgado-Medina missed three of his first four attempts. He made his last two, including a 49-yarder, to give the Wildcats a nine-point lead in a grinder of a game they eventually won 23-7.

Those were all learning experiences for Salgado-Medina. They will make him better, too.

“Just try to treat every kick as the same,” Salgado-Medina said. “Don't make it more than what it is. ... Just train your mind. That's how I try to keep it now.”

Those challenging, pressure-packed moments might have been when the smoker was first fired up. Brennan was willing to take chances on Salgado-Medina, and he ultimately came through.

No risk it, no brisket.