July 3, 2009

(WVLT) -- Michael Palardy is ready to kick off his college career.

"I'm anxious for it. I wish my senior year was coming to an end right now," said Palardy, a rising senior kicker who committed Friday to play for Tennessee.

Palardy isn't just another big leg. Some recruiting services rate him as the top kicking prospect in the country. And with good reason -- in an exclusive interview with the Sports Overtime team, Palardy said he once made a 70-yard field goal in practice.

"A kicker is never perfect; there's always room to get better. For me, mechanics, accuracy, power -- that's all a kicker really needs, and I think I have all three," Palardy said.

But Palardy is quick to note that his big leg isn't his best attribute. He credits his competitiveness for helping him garner 13 scholarship offers, all from BCS schools.

"I'm a hard worker, a competitor," Palardy said. "I don't care if I was kicking against a guy who has played in the NFL for ten years, I'm gonna try to beat him. That's what I bring to the table. While everyone's sleeping on Sundays, I'm out there early in the morning, working and running. Not many people have that drive to do that."

So why did such a highly sought kicker decide to leave the football hotbed of the Sunshine State for the hills of East Tennessee?

"Knoxville is kinda like a home away from home," Palardy said. "It reminds me of Fort Lauderdale. I'm not going outside of my comfort zone. I just loved it. I fell in love with the facilities, the coaches, the players. Everything about it was just amazing.

"It's not that I wanted to be away from home, but I wanted to go to a big college town. Miami isn't a college town. Everything about [Knoxville] was a college town. The people were awesome...coaches, facilities, everything was amazing."

Palardy's admiration of the UT coaching staff also steered him north.

"I knew Coach Gran when I was a sophomore, when he was at Auburn," Palardy said. "I built a relationship with him through my kicking coach. When we went up there, we had an awesome time. He's an amazing guy. He's a real Christian guy. He cares about his family, his religion, and his job. My parents knew that I was gonna be taken care of, that I was gonna be in the right hands and with the right people. Coach Kiffin likes to take chances. What he's doing with the team is awesome, bringing in competition. People are coming in thinking they're gonna start and they get beat out by freshmen and sophomores who haven't played before.

"I wish I could be up there kicking, but I've got another season to go, which I'm excited for. We've got a tough schedule this year. I'm gonna be working hard, but right after that I'm hopefully gonna come up in the summer to train with the team."