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11 D uring his first three seasons at the Univer- sity of Iowa, Miguel Recinos, a kicker, was 2-for-2 on point-aer attempts, 1-for-3 on field goals, and he kicked off twice. His leg was well rested. e redshirt junior from Mason City, Iowa, has elevated himself to Iowa's No. 1 kicker this season, a title he didn't earn through attrition. Recinos emerged as the Hawkeye starter by winning a close competition with incumbent sophomore Keith Duncan. During Iowa's 24-3 season open- ing victory over Wyoming, Recinos was 3-for-3 on PATs and closed the game's scoring with a 44-yard field goal. He kicked off five times for an average of 63.2 yards and three touchbacks. At Mason City High School, Reci- nos had career totals of 18 PATs and 10 field goals. irty-four of his kickoffs went for touchbacks. But his career started slowly at Iowa. He redshirted in 2014 when Marshall Koehn was Iowa's kicker. Koehn was the kicker again in 2015 and Duncan took over last season. e secret for Recinos was to simply simplify. "I was doing a lot of stuff that wasn't necessary," he said. "Kicking is a simple thing when you boil it down." e first three seasons were tough for Recinos psychologically. He paid his dues in the weight room, gaining more than 30 pounds that added strength and power to his right leg. "I can hit from distances I never thought of before I came here," Recinos said. In the offseason he also worked on his mental game, taking an objective view of what was work- ing — and not working — in his approach as a Hawkeye. "I took that into spring and improved a lot over the spring and the summer," Recinos said. "It was very much a progression." e first kick of the 2017 season was memorable, and nearly disastrous, for Recinos. Iowa took a 6-3 lead on a 2-yard touchdown pass from Nate Stan- ley to Noah Fant and Recinos trotted out for the chip-shot PAT. When Recinos is ready to kick, he gives holder Colten Rastetter a subtle nod of the helmet. But when Recinos looked toward the uprights to eye his target, Rastetter correctly called for the foot- ball. Recinos wasn't ready. "I shouldn't have been moving my head around," Recinos said. "Of course I look up, snap came in, I saw the corner(back) coming in, slung my arms forward trying to get momentum and kicked it as hard as I could. It swung around him and through the uprights. at was exciting." It also made the next two PATs and field goal seem like a stroll down easy street. "It was a situation I wasn't expecting and I was able to handle it," Recinos said. "By the time the 44- yard (field goal) came around, I had eased into the game. I had several hits by then. Not to say it was an easy field goal, but I had a lot of confidence go- ing into it. It was much more cut-and-dried." Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said Recinos was "excellent" and kicked with confidence against Wyoming. He enjoys the luxury of having two competent and experienced kickers on the roster. "We are going to let those guys compete, and they may both play this year," Ferentz said. "at's very, very possible. And Dunc is doing a good job on the practice field. Right now it's two guys that have been performing well and it's hopefully a good situation for us." SEPTEMBER SCHEDULE Sept. 9 at Iowa State Sept. 16 North Texas Sept. 23 Penn State Sept. 30 at Michigan State