Kickers were a topic of conversation during coach Bill Belichick’s meeting with the media this morning.

Stephen Gostkowski, selected in the fourth round (118th overall) by the Patriots, comes out of Memphis where he holds the top three spots on the Tigers' single-season record list for points scored by a kicker, totaling 101 points in 2003, 108 in 2004 and 101 again in 2005.

Belichick was asked this about the rookie and the process he will go through to find a replacement for the departed Adam Vinatieri:

Q: Gostkowski never really had a position coach in college. How appealing was it to you when you were evaluating him that this guy had never really been coached and now you can put him under Brad [Seely's] tutelage and maybe take him to another level?

BB: I think for the most part that's a common situation with specialists in college. Having coached special teams for a number of years in the National Football League, I can tell you that is what most college specialists say coming in the NFL. Even if somebody was responsible for them, they had a coach so to speak, but in college you're limited to whatever the size of the staff is, eight coaches or whatever it is. . . . I think there's more of a priority in college for recruiting and things like that and some bigger picture things than just to coach one or two players on a specific techniques. I would say that's fairly common.

Q: In your experience, you try to simulate those situations where you create distractions for the kicker. Is it really kind of hard to tell no matter what you do, how they're going to react in certain game situations and react to certain pressure situations without actually seeing them in it?

BB: Well, I think the more time you spend around them and the more situations that you put them in, the better gauge you can get and that to me, that is what training camp and the preseason games are for. Fifty practices. Four games. Some situational stuff inside the stadium. That's a lot of plays, at any position, and we'll know a lot more than we know now. And that is true of all of our players. To try to make a judgment on one practice, one kick, two days, you just run a much higher percentage that you're going to be wrong. That's all.

Q: Can kicking to win a job approximate kicking to win a game in terms of pressure situations? Can you see how these guys respond?

BB: Definitely, without one you don't have the other anyway. Yes there is definitely pressure at a position like that, where there are only so many you can keep. It's not like offensive linemen where you can keep 10 guys or nine guys, however many you end up keeping. It's a little bit different at positions like punter, kicker, long snapper, quarterback.

Q: Have you ever gone with two kickers?

BB: Not that I can remember.

The media caught up with Gostkowski following yesterday afternoon’s practice session at Gillette. Here’s what he had to say:

Q: How long were your last field goals of practice today?
SG: They were all about 44, something like that. We back up five yards every time.

Q: How about the experience at the mini-camp when they put you out there on the 43-yard line. If you made it there would be no running for the team and if you missed it there would be running; what was that experience like for you?

SG: It was nerve-wracking. It’s just the kind of situation that kickers go through. I didn’t get mad at the coach for putting me in that situation. We have to be able to handle that kind of situation. He threw it at me and I didn’t know what to expect. I’m glad I concentrated and didn’t let it bother me.

Q: Is that something you could take with you into camp as a positive?

SG: I tried to. You try to live off your last kick, and I made my last kick today, so I feel good going in. You’re only as good as your last kick.

Q: How's (fellow kicker Martin) Gramatica?

SG: He’s good. I can’t worry about what he does. He’s good competition. I think he’s good, but I can’t speak to what he’s doing or how he’s been doing. We all get along out there, and we’re just trying to do the best we can and make the decision as hard as we can for the coaches.

Q: How do you reconcile the way you like to kick as opposed to Brad Seely’s suggestions?
SG: You just talk about it day to day. He tells me what he sees and I tell him how I feel. It’s just a relationship that . . . you have to give and take, so you work on it every day.

Q: Can you talk about your first impression through the first three days of camp?

SG: It's tough. You just have to come out and try to get better everyday. You have to bring the same concentration everyday and that's just what I'm working on: getting better every practice.

Q: How do you feel about the ongoing competition? Is there overwhelming pressure with every kick? Do you know they're watching?

SG: When you're kicking, all eyes are on you anyway. So you never feel good when you miss; you feel good when you make it. You just have to try to be consistent. That's all I'm trying to do right now. If I miss one or two one day, I just have to shake it off and go out the next day. There aren't many kickers that don't miss at all, so I just try to go out there and make a lot more than I miss.

Q: How do you feel it's going so far in the regard? Ones you've made versus ones you've missed?

SG: The ones I've missed I know what I'm doing wrong. It's so early in camp we have plenty of time to go and preseason games. I'd rather miss them in practice than in the games so I'm just working hard everyday.

Q: Do you feel like you are yourself right now or do you feel there are some early camp jitters that you need to get over?

SG: I still think they're a few jitters to get over, but it's expected. I think I've handled it pretty well so far and I feel like I'm doing well. I'm trying to get better and better everyday.

Q: How does it feel to have a coach, a position coach, who knows the ins and outs of kicking probably better than anybody you've ever dealt with?

SG: It's good to have the attention. I try to use what he says and we collaborate together, look at my kicks and I try to take it out there on the field.

Q: How much is it the kicking versus the time? I see him sometimes with the stopwatch; is it more of the form or trying to get the timing down?

SG: It's whether the kick goes through the uprights. You want it to be done in a certain time and to be a certain height, but if it goes in at the end of the day you're not going to complain. That [stopwatch] is just top make sure you have the same time, every time.

--Carolyn Thornton