David Dyches is hoping things play out very soon

The football life a field goal kicker is filled with nervous moments. Facing the pressures of making a game-deciding kick, with the eyes of thousands of fans and the confidence of your teammates riding on what could amount to an inch or two in any direction is enough to keep anyone up at night.

For Spring Westfield kicker David Dyches, splitting the uprights is the least of his concerns. In spite of being one of the top kicking prospects in the entire nation, Dyches has found himself on the outside looking in and he is still uncertain of what options are available to him.

The 6-1, 185-pound standout has several schools that are courting him, but he is still awaiting an official scholarship and trying to decipher where he’ll play college ball.

“I wouldn’t say it’s been frustrating, but I just want to know something,” Dyches said. “A lot of times, schools will say they don’t know and they’ll keep me up to date and then it’ll be like a week and a half before you hear from them. I have to make a decision, and if I’m waiting on them, it makes it hard.”

Dyches was the starting kicker for the West team in the Army All-American Bowl earlier this month and his performance in that game opened the eyes of several schools. He continues to talk with Ohio State, Texas, Toledo, Hawaii and UMass and he is hoping to receive at least one offer by week’s end.

“My coach said Hawaii was asking about me so he sent them some film last week and they’re going to look at it. They said they probably won’t scholarship a kicker but they don’t know for sure so they’re going to evaluate the tape and see,” Dyches said. “As of right now, I’m thinking it’s going to be either Ohio State or Toledo. Ohio State talked to me about being greyshirted. They gave me three options … nothing could happen, they could scholarship me or they could greyshirt me.”

In the greyshit scenario, Dyches would be a non-scholarship player during the fall of 2003 but would still be able to practice with the team. He would then be awarded a ship in 2004 and have four years to compete. Ohio State is in solid shape with kicker Mike Nugent, who will be a junior next season, and the Buckeye staff has told Dyches that he would have the opportunity to win the punting duties in 2004 and then take over the field goal responsibilities in 2005.

“I’m hoping to hear from Ohio State sometime this week,” Dyches said. “I’m just going to have to weigh my options. Playing for Ohio State is something that grabs me though.”

Along with the Buckeyes, Dyches is keeping a close eye on the Texas Longhorns with hopes that Mack Brown and his staff will have room to extend a scholarship offer.

“I’ve tried to call (UT assistant) coach (Darryl) Drake but he has his cell phone off so I guess he’s busy,” Dyches said. “I hope they offer, because if they do I’ll take it for sure. But if they don’t, I need to move them out of the way and look at my other options.”

Dyches, who at number 12 is the only kicker in the national top 15 that is without a team, at one time had offers from Arkansas, Michigan, Iowa State and Baylor before they all pulled their scholarships off the table after receiving commitments from other kicking prospects.

“If I knew then what I know now, I would have taken one of those offers,” he said. “At the least, then I would have had something to fall back on.”

As a dual-threat in the kicking game, one would have to believe that Dyches will have a few options between now and signing day, but right now it is still anyone’s guess to which team his talented chips will fall.