A year ago, there was perhaps no Florida State player with more pressure on him than kicker Ryan Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald finished 12-of-20 kicking for the season in 2022. He went through a rough patch where he missed five of his seven field goals, which hurt his confidence after he switched his kicking approach.

However, the redshirt junior is perfect in his three field goal attempts this season, including a 30-yarder in the 31-29 victory over Boston College on Saturday. He is 19-of-19 on extra-point attempts.

“Ryan is off to a really good start. It started with how he competed in fall camp," FSU special teams coordinator John Papuchis said Monday. "I thought he did a really nice job. It’s carried over into the first three games. And I think you can tell he has some confidence to him in the way he’s playing, and he should."

Fitzgerald could be again called upon in a big game at noon Saturday against Clemson in Clemson, South Carolina for No. 4 FSU (3-0, 1-0 ACC) against the Tigers (2-1, 0-1).

"Really proud of Ryan for how he's operated, how he's kicked," FSU head coach Mike Norvell said at Monday's press conference. "He's done a great job to start off this season."

Despite the rough patch, Norvell and his staff kept their faith in Fitzgerald throughout the season. He said his teammates were always supportive, too.

Fitzgerald ended the season with the game-winning kick in the Cheez-It Bowl vs. Oklahoma, which helped boost his confidence heading into the offseason.

"Ending the season off on a high note definitely helped," Fitzgerald said. "Just getting better each and every day."

Finding his 'why'

After a rough season, especially at a position that requires a lot of mental fortitude, it's easy to understand if someone doesn't enjoy the game anymore.

Fitzgerald went through a rough stretch, missing five of seven field goals from LSU (Sept. 4) to Wake Forest (Oct. 1) last season.

For Fitzgerald, that was part of his offseason. Finding his love for the game, again.

"Just getting back to it, falling back in love with the game, knowing why I am here," Fitzgerald said. "Finding my place playing at a place like this. It's just knowing that and remembering that every day it's going to find your 'why' pretty easily."

Despite his struggles, special teams coordinator John Papuchis and Norvell kept pushing Fitzgerald out there.

Following a good kick against NC State on the road last season, his teammates greeted him with a big mob, as if he hit a game-winner.

The confidence has carried over from the end of last season to the offseason to this season.

"Confidence, real confidence, is earned through what you put out there on the field, and he’s been able to do a good job so far," Papuchis said. "So we look forward to that continuing. But I’ve been really pleased with how he started.”

Tyler Keltner comes in for competition

Norvell believes in competition at every position.

So the fourth-year head coach brought in graduate transfer Tyler Keltner, a two-time All-Southern Conference kicker, for competition.

It helped Fitzgerald that he was already familiar with Keltner.

"Tyler's a great player," Fitzgerald said. "I've got the utmost respect for him coming in. I mean, he has a lot of experience, too. We have like eight years of experience. It's good just every day be out there with just the camaraderie of it too.

"I've known him. We played travel soccer together. When we were little kids. He lived here in Tallahassee, I lived up in Thomasville Georgia. Tyler is a great guy and I have the utmost respect for him."

Kicking into the wind

It was only a 30-yard field goal but it should give fans confidence in Fitzgerald after an uneven season last year.

With winds sitting between 14-20 mph, with NOAA saying gusts could reach up to 38 mph, Fitzgerald calmly stepped up and came through for the Seminoles in the first quarter with a kick down the middle to get FSU on the board after a TD drive from BC.

He also hit all four of his extra-point tries in the game.

"That's something in pregame that we just determine," Fitzgerald said of kicking with the wind factor. "Really just trust in your swing, just figuring out what the wind is going to if it's going to really move the ball that much, or if it isn't a matter of just figuring out in pregame."

New Clemson kicker

While FSU is confident in its kicker, Dabo Swinney and Clemson are figuring out their kicking situation.

On Tuesday, Swinney announced the addition of Jonathan Weitz to the roster. The former walk-on kicker was with the team from 2019-22 behind star B.T. Potter.

Weitz graduated from Clemson in May 2022 and had been doing online classes before he got a call from Swinney.

Read Greenville News' Christina Long's story on Weitz here.

GAME INFORMATION

Who: AP No. 4 FSU (3-0, 1-0 ACC) at Clemson (2-1, 0-1)

When/where: Saturday, Sept. 23, noon.; Memorial Stadium, Clemson, S.C.

TV/Radio: ABC/94.9 FM

Live game updates: www.Tallahassee.com; @Ehsan_Kassim on Twitter; @JackGWilliams on Twitter; @JimHenryTALLY on Twitter

Reach Ehsan Kassim at ekassim@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Ehsan_Kassim. You can also follow our coverage on Facebook (NoleSports) and Instagram (tlhnolesports).

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU football: How kicker Ryan Fitzgerald improved from last season