Here’s the kicker(s)

Victoria Sun

Thursday, Jan. 4, 2001 | 10:26 a.m.

As the sun began to set Wednesday afternoon, Omar Cardenas and Marcus Williams took turns kicking field goals on a practice field just outside Sam Boyd Stadium.

Cardenas was barefoot.

And while a barefoot kicker might not be a novelty, the impeccable condition of Cardenas' kicking foot was surely unusual.

Except for a hardened right big toenail, there were no blood blisters or unsightly gashes on Cardenas' size eight foot to show the beating the limb had just endured.

"He's tough," Las Vegas Outlaws coach Jim Criner said proudly.

Whoever nabs the Outlaws' kicker position will have to be.

In the NFL, most teams have a field goal kicker and a punter and some teams, like the Indianapolis Colts, even employ a kickoff specialist.

But because XFL teams will be allowed to carry only 45 players, 38 active, the Outlaws will most likely keep either Cardenas or Williams, but not both.

The team began its training camp Wednesday with 70 players. The roster will be finalized Jan. 28.

"It's going to come down to whoever does all three most consistently," Williams said. "When you punt it is a more linear style and when you kick a field goal it is a soccer style of kick.

"The main thing here is there is only going to be one guy doing all three so it's important to make every kick. It's very hard to do all three."

So far, Criner said Williams is slightly ahead of Cardenas because he has more experience and has already been through two of the Outlaws' minicamps, while Cardenas was recently added to the team through the supplemental draft.

The two kickers' physiques are as different as their backgrounds.

Williams, 6-foot-1, grew up playing football and was an All-Pac-10 conference selection his senior year at Arizona State.

Cardenas, a 5-9 native of Mexico City, spent his youth playing the country's No. 1 sport -- soccer.

In 1997, a football coach in Mexico observed how hard Cardenas kicked a soccer ball and encouraged him to play football in the Organization Nationale Estudiantil Football Americano league, a college football league Cardenas likened to an NCAA conference. Cardenas took the advice and became the kicker for his college, Tech de Monterey.

Around the same time his friend Marco Rueda taught him how to kick barefoot.

"I'm getting used to punting, kickoff and field goal without a shoe and it's OK," Cardenas said. "For me, I get more confidence kicking barefoot and I feel more the feeling of the ball.

"It's better. At the beginning it hurts, but I get used to it and I prefer to kick that way."

After Cardenas began experiencing success playing for Tech de Monterey, he started thinking about playing professional football.

Last season, Cardenas made a 60-yard field goal, though he pointed out that ground tees are allowed in Mexico. Even without a tee, he estimates he can still kick it between 55 and 60 yards.

"He's going to go through periods here where his leg is going to tire on him because he's not used to this level of competition, but once he gets through that, if he continues to improve, he's going to be very competitive for the position," Criner said. "The biggest question is we don't know how he's going to handle the pressure.

"He's got excellent hang time on his kickoffs, he's very accurate on his field goals and punting would be his biggest weakness, but he's probably a 38 to 40 yard average punter, and if he has enough hang time then that could be good enough in this league."

Cardenas said a friend told him about the XFL four months ago and he started looking on the Internet for contacts and phone numbers.

The Outlaws' coaches viewed a tape of Cardenas and were impressed with the strength in his leg. Outlaws director of player personnel Don Gregory then invited him to work out in person before taking him in the supplemental draft.

"I was very excited," Cardenas said. "I was looking for a couple of years to play pro football.

"There's not many chances for players in Mexico to come over here. It's a once in a lifetime chance and I don't want to lose it."

Deciding between Cardenas and Williams won't be easy, but it will be one of the most important moves the Outlaws make.

"The kicker could make a difference in who wins a championship," Criner said. "In the end, it could be who stays healthy and who has the best kicking game.

"The rules are important because you have the opportunity to get a live ball on a punt. The ball that goes 25 yards and the punter's ability to control the ball makes a big difference. There are no fair catches in the punting game or on the kickoff so that's another opportunity to make a hit and create a live ball that the cover team has a chance to get, so I think that the kicking game will play a huge role in the success of the team."