The mental ease allowed York to be able to consistently repeat his kicking motion and strike the ball in the sweet spot. After converting 77.8 percent of his field goals as a freshman, he nailed 85.7 percent of his kicks as a sophomore and 83.3 percent as a senior.
His biggest field goal, perhaps, was a 57-yard game-winner against Florida on a foggy night in Gainesville.
His reaction after the kick — when he ran toward the end zone and then the LSU sideline mimicking the famed Gator chomp — was one of the few times York snapped out of his state of calmness, but who could blame him?
“It was kind of surreal in the moment,” he said. “You don’t necessarily realize it, but once you move on from that moment, you realize that’s what people are going to ask me about for the rest of my life: Either kicking, or LSU. I realized, ‘OK, I have a shot at this.'”
The “shot” turned into a real opportunity in Cleveland. The Browns drafted York 124th overall, the highest a kicker had been drafted…