Michigan kicker Dominic Zvada was made available to reporters on Tuesday night ahead of the Wolverines' matchup with Arkansas State on Saturday at Michigan Stadium. Interestingly, Zvada was a kicker for the Red Wolves for two seasons before transferring to Michigan.
Zvada will have an opportunity to play a plethora of former teammates in the largest football stadium in the world on Saturday, an opportunity Zvada is excited about. He currently leads the defending national champion Michigan Wolverines in scoring with 18 points (five field goals and three extra points) on the season. He is 3-3 from 50 yards or more and 2-2 from inside of 40 yards.
But aside from facing his former team and talking about his stellar start to the 2024 season with the Wolverines, Zvada detailed the interesting methods he uses to calm himself before big games and big kicks.
Throughout the week, Zvada said he will meditate to ease his mind and focus it solely on football.
"I do meditate on my own," Zvada said. "It's a big thing for me, especially I encourage all kickers to do it. And when a kicker in high school or someone you meet in college asks me, 'What's something that you do that might help you calm yourself — calm your nerves?' And I tell them, 'I just meditate.'"
"I listen to calming music. I lay on my floor, and I'll just put my headphones on and turn on a timer for 10 minutes and just lay there and visualize myself kicking the ball and try and keep myself focused on football."
However, only so much preparation can be done throughout the course of the week, and the kicks can only go through the uprights on Saturdays. Zvada explained his weekly routine before games to make sure he is ready to go when his name is called.
"Right when we get to the field, I immediately just put on shorts and my pregame shirt, go out to the field, and kind of just... It's nice because nobody else is out there. And I get to just pick out spots on the scoreboard. I usually pick one of the tunnels that people walk through to come sit. And that's what I'm aiming for, and that's what I'm telling myself."
"I'm like, 'Try and kick it through that tunnel.' So, I'm not really even focused on the goalpost at all. I'm just trying to put it through the tunnel."
Zvada said he tries to focus on the length of the kick as little as possible and just focus on kicking the ball through the tunnel. In Saturday's 31-12 loss to Texas, Zvada said he wasn't even aware that his 52-yard field goal in the third quarter was a 52-yarder.
"I came off the field and I talked to my coach, and I'm like, 'Was that really a 52-yard kick?' And he's like, 'Yeah, it was.'"
Part of what has made Zvada so successful in being 8-8 on kicks to start the season is his practice throughout the week — but not on an actual football field. He practices kicking with himself in the new College Football 25 video game.
"It sounds weird, but when you see the ball go through the uprights, it does something in your mind. It gives you a little more confidence that it can actually happen in real life, and I guess it does."
Zvada said he's only kicked with himself at Michigan Stadium so far in the video game, but when away games start getting closer, he'll practice with himself at those stadiums.
"When we get closer to the away games like Illinois and Indiana, then I'll definitely go in there and just start doing that."
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