Dominic Zvada swung his arms and held the followthrough, the way a casual golfer might between conference calls as they dream of an afternoon on the golf course.
In this case, however, Michigan football’s star kicker was standing on the Chandler Park Golf Course in Detroit, waiting to be introduced at one of Bank of America’s “Golf With Us” clinics, an initiative helping bring the game in an affordable capacity to those not exposed to it previously.
Wearing a Champions Circle Michigan polo shirt, Zvada was excited for the day — but, respectfully, not quite as much as he is for the Wolverines’ upcoming season.
“Out here with Bank of America, excited to play some golf and meet with some kids,” Zvada told the Free Press on Monday, June 16. “Came directly from the facility, been working out, doing great. Team’s looking great, we had practice on Saturday and everyone’s looking really good. Just really excited.”
Among the elements that have him the most excited? An increased amount of hostile environments. Last year, the Wolverines had eight home games — which left just four away games (plus a neutral-site bowl). In 2025, however, U-M has both six away games, all across the country — September in Oklahoma (the Sooners) and Nebraska (the Cornhuskers), October in Los Angeles (against the Trojans) and East Lansing (hello, Spartans) and, finally, November in Chicago (against Northwestern in Wrigley Field) and Maryland (vs. the Terrapins) — for a challenge Zvada welcomes.
Another welcome challenge will be replicating his 2024 campaign, arguably the best ever by any Michigan kicker, despite the lack of Lou Groza Award recognition.
Zvada missed an extra point in the first half of U-M’s season opener against Fresno State — first-game nerves, perhaps. A few weeks later, he had a chip-shot field goal blocked when a lineman missed a block and let a rusher break through. Beyond those, Zvada was 26-for-26 on extra points and 21-for-21 on field goals. That included seven of at least 50 yards — a program record both for a single season and for a career.
“I mean you want to be perfect and it’s a little hard to look back at that season and say, ‘What could I do better?’ ” Zvada said. “But my mentality is I don’t need to do better, I don’t need to do anything. I just need to go out there and do my job and that’s go 1-for-1 every time.
“It’s one opportunity to make kick so I’m not thinking about the whole season. The season will progress as we go through, but right now I’m thinking about New Mexico, fall camp and summer. … Every time I line up for a kick, I decide if it goes in or not, so that’s all I focus on.”
Zvada laughed at the next question: After so many big kicks in his career now, like the winner vs. Ohio State in November, does he even get nervous anymore? The perhaps predictable answer: Of course, nerves never go away, even in practice.
But, Zvada said, the most important piece for kickers is learning to “live in that uncomfortable zone and being able to function” which is something special teams coach J.B. Brown and coach Sherrone Moore do almost every day in practice — put him in the toughest of spots so he can kick his way out of it.
He also confirmed a hit from more than 60 yards in practice this spring — though he’s taking his teammates’ words for it: His ritual on every kick doesn’t include looking at the yard line he’s on: he tries to hit the same kick every time, knowing it will have the leg if he connects clean.
Now, for the 6-foot-3, 180-pounder from Chandler, Arizona, it’s simply about putting in the work day in and day out, with the countdown officially under 75 days until the 2025 opener Aug. 30 vs. New Mexico.
“I’m excited to see what the team does because there’s a lot of hype around the community and I think we have a really good team headed into this year,” he said. “We’re gonna turn a lot of heads. … Finishing the way we did (last year) was super crucial.
“We all feel really good, we’re starting on a strong foot and there’s a lot momentum going into the season.”
Tony Garcia is the Michigan Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football: Dominic Zvada plans for 2025 encore: ‘We’re gonna turn a lot of heads’
Reporting by Tony Garcia, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
