Jacques Comeaux instantly knows if the kick is good or not.
Before you ask, no the Lafayette High senior kicker does not possess psychic abilities that allows him to see if his extra points or field goals or going to be long enough or straight enough. The actual reason Comeaux knows if one of his kicks is good or not isn’t attributed to a special ability but rather by the feel that comes with years of repetition.
“I know if the kick is going to go through by how it feels coming off my foot,” said Comeaux who also plays soccer and baseball. “I have kicked for so long that it is now just simply how it feels as soon as I kick it. I don’t have to look up.”
Comeaux hasn’t needed to look up to track the trajectory of his kicks this season as the Mighty Lion senior has been nearly automatic. In five games, Comeaux is 7-of-8 on field goals, with a long of 51 yards, and a perfect 17-of-17 on extra points. Comeaux is also 90 percent on touchbacks and has successfully kicked two onside kicks.
Comeaux’s lone field goal miss this season was a 55-yard attempt against Comeaux High that was blocked at the line of scrimmage.
“Jacques is a great competitor because he competes constantly year round in soccer and baseball as well,” Lafayette High head coach Rob Pool said. “He executes at a high level for us regardless of the circumstance.”
“It gives me a lot of confidence when my coach and teammates trust me to come in the game and make the kick,” Comeaux said.
The 17-year-old senior, who earned first-team District 3-5A honors and second-team all-state honors a year ago, grew up with kickers in his immediate family — to be more specific Mighty Lion kickers. His father Curt Comeaux kicked for Lafayette High during the 1986 season, and was proceeded by his uncle Marc Comeaux who kicked and punted from 1987-89.
The older Comeaux kickers passed down some valuables tips on place kicking — including do not change your kicking approach when it comes to extra points and field goals.
“For me I make sure to hit extra points the same way as a field goal,” Comeaux explained. “I was taught to hit an extra point the same way I would if I was attempting a 60-yard field goal.”
Comeaux keeps the same approach for extra points as he does field goals but what about punts? Comeaux, who is averaging 46.25 yards per punt with three downed inside the 20-yard-line and long of 62, says the main difference between punting and kicking comes down to control.
“The motion you use to punt the ball is of course different than kicking but the biggest difference is that the control is a lot different between punting and kicking,” Comeaux said. “Either way you just have to trust yourself no matter what.”
For Comeaux, who aspires to kick in college while studying sports adminstation and physical therapy, is right now enjoying the benefits with his teammates of trusting the process Pool and his staff put in place four years ago.
Lafayette High is 4-1 overall, 1-1 in District 3-5A, and is off to its best start since 2012.
“It’s an amazing thing to be part of,” said Comeaux who attended the University of Louisiana’s Special Teams Camp this summer. “It shows all of the hard work that Coach Pool and we as a team has done to change things around here but we’re not done. We realize that our time is now.”