Hello: Matt Goudis Comment Count

Tim

CA K Matt Goudis, though he said he wouldn't be decommitting from Boise State, has done just that and pledge to Michigan.

INFORMATIVE PORTION

goudis_m.jpg

GURU RATINGS

Scout Rivals ESPN
3*, #5 K 2*, 5.4, #12 K/P 3*, 77, #16 K/P

The sites are unanimous: Goudis is 6-0, 165 (however relevant that is for a kicker). They're in semi-agreement on his ability, too, ranking him anywhere from the #5 to #16 kicker in the nation (though Scout is the only service that ranks them independently from punters). If you separate punters, he's Rivals' #7 pure kicker, and #9 to ESPN, bringing the rankings much closer in line.

ESPN's breakdown is way more brief than we're used to:

Matt Goudis is a refined ball striker. The ball jumps off his foot and he in great control of his rhythm and follow-through. His motion is very repeatable... Matt's hang-times on his kick-offs are solid and he should be able to compete early in college on both field goals and kick offs. Matt gets good height on his FG off the ground and should not have a difficult transition to the college game. Matt has a solid high school resume and has game experience making big field goals for his high school team.

It also mentions that he's a good punter, with the athleticism to run the fake punt, but with Will Hagerup in town, that's likely to be irrelevant at Michigan. Scout hears from his kicking coach Chris Sailer:

Matt is an oustanding kicker. He has a good leg and makes kicks consistently with great height. He is the top field goal kicker in the nation in the Class of 2011. Hard working young man with a great attitude. Big time D1 scholarship prospect.

The the commitment post ($), Sailer says he's the "best pure field goal kicker in the nation." He was in Sailer's national Top 12 this summer, but Chris Sailer himself ranks Matt #2 in the country, saying:

He has a huge leg, makes FG's with ease off the ground, and kickoffs with the best of them. Mentally he is very strong showing great maturity to kick at the next level.

Matt himself tells Scout his power will improve when he gets into the weight room, so there's that to look forward to. His long this season was 54 yards (though I assume that's off a tee).

OFFERS

goudis_fg.jpg

Goudis decommitted from Boise State (to whom he committed in October) to join the Wolverines. According to the premium sites, his only other offers came from Cal and Fresno State.

STATS

Scout has partial senior stats:

6-of-10 field goals this year – his longest a 54-yard boot and another 52 yarder for good measure; averaging 43 yards per punt.

Those numbers don't jump off the page to you (especially if he's kicking off a tee), but without knowing the distances on the attempts he missed, it's hard to be too concerned about it - aside from the general panic we've grown accustomed to feeling.

Full game-by-game breakdown in the next edition of Friday Night Lights.

FAKE 40 TIME

The premium sites don't list a 40 time for Goudis, and since he's a kicker it's probably irrelevant. Five FAKEs out of five.

VIDEO

Junior highights:

There are several other videos on Youtube, including nailing a 54-yarder.

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

Goudis is a pretty good kicker prospect, but we've seen that in recent years without much success at the college level. However, the coaching staff feels he's good enough to spend a scholarship on, so he'll get every chance in the world to win the job for next fall.

Recruiting kickers is something of a crapshoot, so it's hard to project too much one way or the other. For a guy who's likely to be a four-year starter, he could be a moderate improvement over the 2010 kicking situation (gulp), or he could eentually become an All-American type.

I prefer to believe in the latter.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

Michigan has been actively recruiting a kicker for the better part of the 2010 recruiting season, so this comes as no surprise. It takes up one of those 18-20 spots - Michigan currently has about 15 commits, with Anthony Zettel, Chris Bryant, and Kris Frost likely leaning toward going Blue - leaving just a couple more to fill spots.

That means Michigan has to go hard after a defensive tackle (I'm now considering OH DE Commit Chris Rock a definite DT) and a safety, and then if they have another couple spots - for example if Antonio Kinard is not a part of the class - they can fill them as they see fit.

Comments

preed1

December 24th, 2010 at 11:25 AM ^

that we have to waste a recruit on a kicker.  Don;t get me wrong, after seeing the kicking disaster I see how important it is to have a kicker. But after 9 months of practice (voluntary) I am sure one out 30,000 students can kick it through the up rights consistantly from 45 and in.

M-Wolverine

December 24th, 2010 at 3:06 PM ^

And respectful replies to that post from others. "Yeah, dude" almost never falls into that category, especially when followed by flat out discounting of the opinion as stupid. Which is pretty much the trend with any responses. Which I don't think is great for business, but Brian must think otherwise.
<br>
<br>But in any regard, I don't see where the anger is coming from today. Guy was just posting an opinion (not something inflammatory like "Oh Rich Rod screwed this up, big dummy!"), and it might have been wrong, but just to say go take a flying leap for it is being unnecessarily rude. Because as we've seen from the papers, having a press pass doesn't really make one's opinion more valid. And on a holiday, it just seems, what's the point? just because your job is on a keyboard doesn't mean there isn't a need to deal with customers.

aawolve

December 24th, 2010 at 3:58 PM ^

It's hard to donate money to someone so contemptful of his readership. Needs a liitle bit more professionalism before he can climb out of mom's basement. As bad as most msm writers are, they're above this. This isn't a particularly egregious example, but he really wears his scorn on his sleeve.

willywill9

December 24th, 2010 at 6:09 PM ^

I understand where you guys are coming from. I see what you're getting at but take a couple of things into consideration:

  1. When this is your profession, you take it seriously.  As much as we're on MGoBlog, Tim, Brian et al actually have a vested interest in it: it's their livelihood.  Navigating through the boards you find comments like the above.  Granted, I agree that comment probably wasn't as inflammatory as others, but it had a tone of "I really wish we didn'thave to waste a scholarship...  Having a walk-on should suffice."    Which (to me) is kind of ridiculous, and borderline offensive to the recruit.
  2. You can't really read too much into a comment on a message board (the tone in which you read it could be wrong.)

That said, I agree, it would be a bad business model to ridicule your followers, I just don't know that Tim was being that offensive, given the comment.  Also, Brian isn't the only Mod (obviously) so it's not like Brian is crusading the boards to make sure everyone is being 'respectful' to one another.

M-Wolverine

December 24th, 2010 at 9:00 PM ^

But things like "mom's basement" are cheap shots.

I take it seriously. I've probably been seriously involved with people around the program since before Tim had his own computer. But the blog caters to all types. Some die hard knowledgable, some who are looking to learn and get information, and everyone in between. So you can kindly inform your readership "this is how it's usually done", or say get out of here with your stupid ideas.

The OP post was basically right. It is a shame we have to spend a scholarship on another kicker when we're hurting for numbers. Contrary to Tim, lots of walk-on's kick, preferred or not, even at Michigan. Have been the last few years. The idea that you can automatically whip one out of a student body is wrong, but lamenting the fact that it didn't happen isn't wrong, as long as you're not blaming the staff for it (which I don't think he really was). I don't see how it's offensive to the recruit at all. He's saying the situation is regrettable, but the fact that is the case shows we really need the recruit.

I could be reading too much into it, but your prior actions color your current view. There are a number of mods, and contributors, but only Brian and Tim are fully profiting from the site. So it's in their beat interest to police each other. FA or when GB was modding, or Misopogon, they get chippy, they're getting no reward for their work...and if they do too bad a job, Brian will pull them. But they don't HAVE to be concerned with It being a respectful board...just don't be shocked to be treated like any other poster and being called out on it. We're concerned with dumb content and boobies making us too much like MLive, but flaming posts seem to come from the top, so they're ok.

Tha Quiet Storm

December 24th, 2010 at 11:29 AM ^

it's a smart investment. And if there was an amazing FG-kickin' student out there, don't you think he would've showed up to one of the numerous open tryouts this year? As a coach, you can't just wait around for a walk-on to come thru the door and solve your problems, you have to go out and do it yourself, especially when your job is on the line.

FGB

December 24th, 2010 at 12:19 PM ^

a smart investment?  Was Adam Patterson a smart investment?  Was Justin Turner a smart investment?

In the overall scheme of recruiting for a team, the answer is yes, because coaches recruit with the knowledge that everyone is a risk.  At every position, guys fail to live up to their hype to some degree, by a little, by a fair amount, or by a lot. 

It's more glaring because there's only one kicker, but it's ridiculous hindsight to pick out specific guys who were top recruits after the fact and say it was a waste of a scholarship. Any team in the country has guys who fall short, it doesn't mean it's not worth taking a flyer (or something more than a flyer for a 4 or 5 star) on the guys to start with.

Go Blue Eyes

December 24th, 2010 at 11:39 AM ^

I was definitely in the "CC Circus" was hurting recruiting camp but with this bombshell commitment and the commitments earlier of Countess and Morgan recently I will be the first to admit I was panicking.  If RR can recruit like this with all the turmoil surrounding his fate here one can only imagine what he would do with 10, 11, 12, and yes, 13 win seasons.

The Nicker

December 24th, 2010 at 11:34 AM ^

Probably just me being paranoid, but I really wish we'd recruit cold weather kickers.

 

It seems a higher percentacge of them work out: Jay Feely, Remy Hamilton, Sheikh, Gillette. Even from our major rivals it seems their best kickers also come from cold climes: Nugent, Rayner, Edinger, etc.

 

Sure we had both Rivas and Epstein, but how good were they really at kicking FGs. Not to say this kid won't be better than Gibbons; just a thought.

bluesouth

December 24th, 2010 at 12:37 PM ^

what kind of kicker?   the ball travels on average 2 yards shorter in cold weather than in warm weather.  to boot Boisie State which is pretty damn cold offered this kid a scholly.  They seem like they have a pretty good eye for talent.  I just want a kid that can kick it through the up rights.

wildbackdunesman

December 24th, 2010 at 12:37 PM ^

We have an outstanding recruiting class coming in, especially given all of the drama.

We had the youngest offense in the BigTen and return virtually everyone.  We could have the best offense in the BigTen next year.

We had the youngest defense in the BigTen and return virtually everyone.  We might be able to have an average defense simply from more experience and if we do...look out we are looking at 10-3 if that is the case.

I honestly think the future is looking bright.  We have improved the past 2 years and will do so again next year.