Short, sweet and smooth

Sometimes, Parker Colburn can be found helping out the Hewitt-Trussville High School defense during practice. 

“He’s a good athlete. He can run around and go catch a pass,” Hewitt-Trussville head football coach Josh Floyd said.

But that’s only when he’s not putting in the work for his primary role with the Huskies football team. Colburn has served as Hewitt-Trussville’s kicker and punter since his freshman year of high school, and he enters his senior season as one of the top special teams weapons in the state, if not the nation.

Colburn has experience on the defensive side of the ball — if you can call it that — but he’s definitely contributing at the position that best suits his skill set. He remembers being labeled a middle linebacker as a kid, “even though I didn’t play.” 

From toy cars to footballs

Many kickers have different journeys to occupying that position, particularly at the high school level. Some have backgrounds in soccer and translate those skills to the gridiron. Others have simply always been the best athlete on the field growing up, doing everything from playing quarterback to linebacker to punter.

“I played [soccer] one year, and I stopped playing after that. I hated it,” Colburn said.

Colburn has been purely a football kicker from the start. At least, after the initial phase of kicking his toy cars in the backyard before he was able to strap on a helmet.

He said, “I’ve been kicking my entire life.”

He found the game of football in recess at Paine Intermediate School. Colburn always served as his team’s kickoff specialist when a playground version of football broke out. That was when Antonio Reed — now also a senior on the Hewitt football team — suggested Colburn join him in playing organized football.

The move paid off and has worked perfectly for Hewitt. Colburn was moved up to the eighth-grade team as a seventh-grader because of his ability to kick extra points. Once he moved into the high school ranks, he was next in line to replace TJ McGettigan, who is now playing at UAB.

Floyd has known nothing other than a reliable kicker, beginning his coaching tenure at Hewitt-Trussville in McGettigan’s final season and now entering the fourth year with the steady contributions from Colburn. 

“I wish he was going to be around for a few more years,” Floyd said of his current kicker.

Colburn has seen the Hewitt-Trussville program rise rapidly throughout his career. The Huskies went 6-5 overall in 2015, Colburn’s freshman year. They have followed that up with back-to-back unbeaten regular seasons and second-roundstate playoff berths. 

This fall, Colburn hopes he can be part ofa team that advances even deeper in theplayoffs.

“I think it’s going to be fun,” Colburn said.

Makeup of a great kicker

Colburn does it all for the Huskies. He serves as the placekicker on field goals, handles the punting duties and kicks off. 

He doesn’t see himself as being significantly better in any of those facets than the others, although he said he kicked off well throughout the summer.

“I’m really excited, because I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better,” Colburn said.

What makes him so good? It’s a combination of confidence, routine and trust, especially when it comes to kicking field goals.

Colburn has no shortage of confidence. He believes that each time he steps between the white lines, he will get the job done for his team. The stats back that up, as Colburn converted 14-of-15 field goal tries in 2017.

“You’ve got to have some confidence,” he said. “You’ve got to have a little swag to you.”

When he lines up for a kick, he goes through his “cues.” He takes the same steps, “shakes it out” to make sure he’s loose and repeats the same three words to himself: short, sweet and smooth.

“Then I’ll just kick it,” Colburn said.

There is also the trust factor, something that is cultivated between kicker, holder and snapper. Colburn will have a new holder this fall after the graduation of Jacob Bishop.

“Especially on field goals, that’s the No. 1 thing,” Colburn said. “If the snap is a little off, then the holder has to be a little off. … I like not having to worry about it.”

Colburn said he feels completely confident on any field goal from 45 yards and in and said he has successfully kicked one from 63 yards away in a casual setting.

He hopes to achieve the dream of kicking at the Division I level after his already stellar career concludes at Hewitt-Trussville. Beyond that, Colburn has a big goal.

“I want to go pro, that’s it,” he said.