This reminded me of the Texas intramural football team I created back in the day that I’ve discussed on the board before.
What I’ve never recalled until I read your story was the fact that the whole team decided on one guy as QB for the team, a decently athletic guy with a good arm. Three series into our first game, not only was he a disaster, but when I went up to talk to him his eyes were wide open and he looked like he’d seen a ghost. Dude just could not handle the pressure. You’d could just see it.
I replaced him on the spot with a guy who’d never played QB, didn’t have a great arm, but who I knew was cool hand luke under pressure. The team, and the displaced QB, protested but since it was theoretically “my” team, I had the final call. That team made the finals and only lost because a student ref didn’t know what an interception in the end zone was.
When it comes to kickers and QB’s, you can always see it in their eyes.