10/27/2003 - Football
John Skaggs - Just Kicking it Around
The first time John Skaggs took the field at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium this season, he quickly found himself being swarmed by bodies. For the senior punter, there was no escaping the relentless wave after wave of people which quickly enveloped him. Instead of dodging the oncoming blitz or scanning the field for a way out, Skaggs kept inviting more people over to join him.
You see, Skaggs was not standing anxiously with his heels in the shadow of Navy's end zone, trying to punt the ball out give the Navy defense some breathing room. Instead, he was serving as the unofficial ringmaster of games for the multitude of children taking part in the annual Fan Fest prior to the start of the season. For over an hour, kids kept lining up to take part in one of Skaggs' contests as he threw passes, held for field goal attempts -- with his teammates serving as makeshift goal posts -- and taught the fine art of punting.
The way Skaggs looked at it, entertaining the kids was the least he could do. After all, he was once in their same shoes.
"It was great fun," remembered Skaggs of Fan Fest. "As a kid, you always dream about playing football with a football player. Having all of those kids lining up around you, waiting to kick or to catch a pass, made me feel good because I made them feel good. I know how I felt at that age.
"At home we used to have this Fred Waters Baseball Clinic. They used to have some professional players come in and teach techniques and afterwards you would get them to sign things. That was a lot of fun. Knowing how I felt back then, being at Fan Fest and pretty much being able to give the same experiences I had back to the kids, that was a real good feeling for me."
Football wasn't the main sport in his life while growing up near Pensacola, Fla. He was briefly on a youth football team, but as a 10-year old football took a backseat to baseball. It would take a "wager" between friends for him to try out for the football team as a junior at Tate High School.
"One of my buddies back home and I had a pact that if he went out for the team, I would too," said Skaggs. "We had made agreements like that before and I backed down from them a lot, but this time I said I would go through with it."
Skaggs not only made the team, he started in his first season and then received all-state honors as a senior, which led him to believe a future in football was a possibility. How he arrived at Navy was another strange story.
"During my senior year, one of the Navy coaches came through town and asked my high school coaches if there was anyone on the team worth looking at," said Skaggs. "My coaches gave him my name and he gave me the Navy packet. I pretty much was just being nice by taking it. I wasn't going to fill it out.
"Later on, after one of my baseball games, people kept coming up to me and telling me congratulations and I didn't have a clue what they were talking about, so I just kept saying, 'Thanks,' but didn't know why. Finally, one guy came up to me and said, 'Congratulations on the getting a scholarship to Navy.' I guess they were talking about it in the stands and eventually word made it to my parents. I hadn't told them anything about Navy yet, so they came up to me and said, 'We need to talk.' They sat me down and talked with me and told me how great of an opportunity this was going to be, so that was when I started seriously thinking about it."
In addition to having to speak with his parents about his decision, he also had to discuss the issue with his girlfriend, Emily.
"We have been dating since I was 11 years old and have gone to the same church since I was 9," said Skaggs. "Before I came to the Naval Academy the most time we had ever been apart from each other was for a week. Now, deciding to move 1,000 miles apart was one of the toughest decisions I had to make. Luckily, Emily and I have great church friends and families that loved us and prayed for us as we decided that going to the Naval Academy was in my best interest."
After spending his freshmen season competing with Navy's junior varsity team, Skaggs received the nod as Navy's starting punter in his sophomore season of 2001. He ended the season ranked fifth in the nation with a 44.8-yards-per-punt average, a mark which also broke a 60-year old Navy record.
After averaging 41.2 yards a kick last year as a junior, Skaggs is averaging 43.3 yards per punt this season. In addition, Skaggs' career 43.1 yard average is a Navy record. He has been named as a nominee for the Ray Guy Award presented annually to the nation's top punter, and will participate in the East-West Shrine Game, the premier collegiate all-star game to be played January 10 in San Francisco's Pacific Bell Park.
"He is a player who comes to practice each day with the intent to improve as a punter," said assistant coach Jeff Monken who oversees the Navy special teams. "He is easy to coach, has a strong leg, uses good technique and has a great attitude along with a desire to be the best punter in the nation. He works extremely hard on improving the fine points of his skill and has a real desire to tap all of his potential. For the most part, he coaches himself and I have a great deal of faith in him as a person and as a punter."
Despite the career he has had and the accolades which have come his way, the easy-going Skaggs doesn't seem fazed by it all. After all, this is the guy who goes into every game hoping he doesn't have to take to the field.
"Its a good feeling when I never get on the field," said Skaggs. "Some people say, 'I'm sorry you didn't get out there,' but I'm not sorry. It just means my team is doing really well. It doesn't bother me when I don't kick too much."
Skaggs only took the field once in Navy's victory over Air Force at FedEx Field, recording a 37-yard kick, but that was enough for him. He enjoyed the victory as much as any teammate did, especially the senior class who had endured an 0-10 campaign as sophomores.
"Since our sophomore year, because that is when most of us first got our chance, it seemed as if losing had been embedded in our minds," said Skaggs. "Then this year, it's been a 180-degree turn. The Air Force game was a big, big burden off our shoulders. On the field after the game, I went looking for all of my classmates and gave them all a big hug and told them what a great win this was for us. We've been through a lot.
"Everyone remembers Navy's 1996 and '97 teams. We want the 2003 team to be thought of that way."
While he may not take to the field all that often, the impact Skaggs has had on the team goes beyond the playing field.
"Though he impresses me as a talented athlete, John impresses me most with his calm, cool demeanor," said Monken. "He is a terrific leader and role model for our special teams corps, as well as for our entire football team. This is most apparent in the small group of kickers and long snappers. They all rally around John. He's the first one to congratulate them on a job well done or console them after a failed attempt. He has strong desire to win and never waivers from his rock-solid faith in his teammates and positive attitude, even when one of his teammates, or he, falls short of expectations.
"I am proud to coach him and am certain that the United States Naval Academy is equally as proud to call him one of their own. I know he will be an outstanding naval officer and will be respected by all those who work with him, just as he has earned the respect of everyone in the football program."
Now in his final year as a midshipman and as a collegiate football player, Skaggs is starting to think about life after the Naval Academy. An oceanography major because of his interest in meteorology -- "It really is a game to see who can predict how cold it will be or how much rain we will get," said Skaggs -- he plans on service selecting surface warfare upon graduation. As for any regrets about attending Navy, Skaggs has none, even with the changes in the landscape of the world since he made his original decision.
"I didn't really have any second thoughts about coming or staying here," said Skaggs of his thinking after the events of Sept. 11, 2001. "When we saw that, I was taken aback a little as we heard we were going to war and then realized that I was the one actually going to the war. I know what I have to do and just need to get prepared for it. After graduation, who knows where we will be."
Skaggs may not know where the military will place him after graduation, but he knows exactly where he will be June 5, 2004 -- in his family's church in Cantonment, Fla., for his wedding to his fiancee, Emily.
