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AUSTIN – The best thing that can be said about Joshua Rowland right now is Tom Herman likes the Texas kicker.

Sorta.

“I like him more than other kickers I’ve been around because he’s halfway normal,” Herman said of the junior college transfer said following Wednesday’s practice.

Kickers are quirky. If only such a word could be used to accurately describe the kicking situation for the Longhorns in 2016, Herman might still be in Houston waiting on a job too good to turn down to come his way with Charlie Strong preparing for his fourth season on the Forty Acres.

Instead, the unmitigated disaster that was the field goal/extra point team last season was one of several problem areas that kept the Longhorns from being on the good side of .500 and is something Herman has to get fixed. Like a lot of the things on his checklist, Herman wasted no time doing something about the kicking situation as Rowland became Herman's first commitment shortly after he was hired last November.

Texas doesn't need Rowland to be spectacular. Rowland just needs to be reliable and boot the ball with some level of consistency to be an upgrade over what the Longhorns were working with in 2016.

Whereas Trent Domingue went 7-for-14 on field goal attempts in the seven losses Texas piled up last season (Domingue also had three extra points blocked in a loss to Oklahoma State) and was eventually benched in the season finale, Rowland hasn’t disappointed Herman through nine practices.

“I think he’s got a bit of a toughness to him,” Herman said.

The toughness about Rowland that matters is his mental toughness, which he showed off on Wednesday.

With the offense going through two-minute offense at the end practice, Herman lined up the field goal team for a try by Rowland to try and finish the drive with points. Never one to miss out on seeing what a player is made of, Herman threw everything but the kitchen sink at Rowland to try and throw him off of his game.

“We simulated bobbling a snap with still a timeout left, so the holder fell on the ball, call timeout, so now we’ve got to back it up, try it again,” Herman said. “Then we iced him, brought the whole team out and formed a tunnel of noise.”

What was the result of the try from 40-plus yards out?

“He nailed it,” Herman said. “Right through the uprights.”

After a spring where Rowland was said to struggle at times, the transfer from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College seems to be finding himself on the practice field. A reliable kicker is something the Longhorns need, and that’s what Herman wants to keep seeing out of Rowland when he’s called upon to deliver.

“Keep making kicks under those kind of circumstances and you’re going to stay in fairly good graces,” Herman said.

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