Late last September at Reliant Stadium, Rice kicker Chris Boswell pulled off one of the greatest onside kicks. YouTube is littered with videos of his outstaning special teams play. The Owls lost to Houston that day, but the unique, rubber-legged style in which Boswell was able to surprise the Cougars as a topic of discussion five months later.
Today at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Boswell was asked about the kick, and he very modestly described it's genesis.
"A lot of soccer players can do it," Boswell said. "It's not anything that I invented or anything. I was just kind of messing around with it one day at practice with my buddy James Farrimond. We were kind
of just trying to figure out ways to trick teams. We kind of just put the ball on the tee and that happened."
"Messing around" with the kick in practice is a bit different than actually implementing it in a game, much less pulling it off. Boswell described the sales process he had to use on special teams coach Darrell Patterson.
"I had to show my special teams coach," Boswell said. "From the first moment he saw it, he really liked it. Then we kind of just started working it in practice the week before. We got the time to work it in a game against Houston."
Trailing 31-26 with 2:16 left in the game, Boswell and the Owls were able to get the ball back at their own 47-yard line. Rice was unable to score again, but Boswell did his job and did it in a memorable way.
