Carston Kieffer will be ASU football’s kicker for Peach Bowl
Dec 12, 2024, 7:30 AM
Arizona State will roll with redshirt freshman kicker Carston Kieffer during the Peach Bowl in the College Football Playoff, head coach Kenny Dillingham told Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo on Monday.
Kieffer made his first college field goal in ASU’s Big 12 Championship win Saturday against Iowa State, hitting a 32-yarder to cap the game’s opening drive. And Dillingham saw him fired up on the sideline after giving the team an early lead.
“He made that kick, he ran off the field and said, ‘I’m gonna make them all night, coach.’ And I believed him,” Dillingham said.
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Arizona State did not line up for another field goal in its 45-19 rout of Iowa State, although Kieffer did his job by hitting six extra points.
Carston Kieffer’s path to the starting kicker job for Arizona State
For how special this ASU team has been, the kicking game never fully stabilized before the Iowa State win.
The Sun Devils have cycled through three kickers with Ian Hershey and Parker Lewis getting opportunities along with Kieffer, and the team is only 9-for-17 on field goals. It had not made a field goal since Nov. 16 against Kansas State before Kieffer punched the ball through.
Dillingham hosted tryouts following a loss to Cincinnati going into the bye, criticizing the kicking game and later apologizing for his comments.
Kieffer was 0-for-1 this season having missed an attempt during the season opener, but Dillingham said he saw something in the Tempe native and Corona del Sol High School alum after he hit an extra point in the Territorial Cup victory over Arizona.
“Once he made that kick versus Arizona, the extra point, he came off the field and you just saw a different look in his eyes, like a comfort,” Dillingham told reporters on Monday.
“Like, ‘Whoa, I just scored a point versus Arizona. Like holy cow, is this real life?’ I think ever since then, I just saw a look in his eye that was just like that’s the dude I want to put out there. … It was super exciting to see a guy who grew up a passionate Sun Devil go and be a part of a game that’s going to be remembered in the history books.”
The Sun Devils have a break before their quarterfinal matchup in Atlanta kicks off on New Year’s Day. ASU will take either Clemson or Texas, who will battle in the opening round on Dec. 21.
ASU has attempted 30 fourth down tries, the 17th most in FBS. If the Sun Devils opt to take the points, the plan is for Kieffer to receive the opportunity of his career.
