Maximilian Schulze-Geisthovel drained his soccer eligibility with three seasons at Saint Leo University and one at Boston College in which he led the team in goals, with seven. With two classes left to finish his master’s degree in applied economics, he wanted to remain an athlete. That’s when he approached his former soccer coach at BC, Ed Kelly.

“Coach, I think I can kick field goals,” Schulze-Geisthovel said.

“Why would you think that?” Ed Kelly replied. “Have you ever kicked a football in your life?”

“No,” Schulze-Geisthovel said.

That interaction was in late June. By August, Schulze-Geisthovel had made the football team as a walk-on kicker. Since, the German has kicked off 43 times in 2017 for BC (6-5, 3-4 Atlantic Coast), averaging 63.5 yards per kick, while 28 have resulted in touchbacks. In 61 kicks for the Orange, junior kicker Cole Murphy has 31 touchbacks. On Saturday, Schulze-Geisthovel will kick off inside for the first time in a game this season against Syracuse (4-7, 2-5) in what is the Orange’s final game of 2017.

“I am very competitive,” Schulze-Geisthovel said. “I’m not like a regular student, I cannot just hang out and do classes. That’s not me. I just wanted to be around a team, and I thought it would be a great experience, because I am a foreigner.”

Schulze-Geisthovel said his friends and family laughed at the thought of him playing football. He didn’t even have coaching. So, like any amateur picking up a new hobby, he took to the internet and watched instructional videos on YouTube. He analyzed the techniques behind kicking a football.

While staying in Boston this past summer, Schulze-Geisthovel was given three balls and a tee from the BC football coaching staff. With them, he practiced nearly every day at a field on the Harvard University campus with a friend from a past soccer team. The friend shot soccer balls while Schulze-Geisthovel launched pigskins.

The two took turns training each other. When it was Schulze-Geisthovel’s turn to train, his friend videoed Schulze-Geisthovel in slow motion, to break down his mechanics. The kicker found that his background in kicking a ball helped with foot-eye coordination. But overall, kicking a football and kicking a soccer ball are two vastly different things.

“Mental toughness is a really big part of kicking, and you’re not used to that when you play soccer,” Schulze-Geisthovel said.  “As a forward you don’t think of that situation when you’re about to finish and you’re in front of the goalie, you don’t really think.”

In an Oct. 21 game against Virginia, it was more than just the kickoff that was different for Schulze-Geisthovel. His kick came up shorter than expected and the Cavalier returner darted up the right sideline unscathed. Schulze-Geisthovel threw his body in the front of the returner and pushed him out with two hands.

It’s one of the countless new things Schulze-Geisthovel has done this season. When he tried out for the team in August, he had never attempted a field goal. Now, he’s kicked up to a 60-yarder in practice, while still never attempting a field goal in a game.

Less than six months after the meeting in his soccer coach’s office, Schulze-Geisthovel is finishing up the regular season with his new team. In a few weeks Boston College will play in a bowl game, the 26th in program in history. It’ll be another first for Shulze-Geisthovel in a season full of them.

Published on November 25, 2017 at 10:20 am

Contact Josh: jlschafe@syr.edu | @Schafer_44