[Isaiah Hole/247]

The top-ranked kicker in the country is staying home.

Rockford (MI) K Quinn Nordin announced his long-expected commitment to Michigan yesterday morning after a high-profile recruitment that included an over-the-top commitment video to Penn State and, yes, a Jim Harbaugh sleepover visit. Those have been discusses ad nauseam, so let's focus on football, and how good Nordin is at kicking one.

GURU RATINGS

Nordin is the top-ranked kicker in the country to every recruiting site save ESPN, which still has him as a top-ten prospect at the position. He's listed at either 6'1" or 6'2" and 200 pounds.

[Hit THE JUMP for the informative portion.]

SCOUTING

The most detailed scouting report comes from former Michigan kicker Brandon Kornblue, who runs kicking camps across the country and ranked Nordin first among placekickers in the class:

Quinn is the Fab 50’s #1 nationally ranked kicker for the class of 2016. He is one of the strongest placekickers in the nation and continues to make gains with his consistency and accuracy. Quinn has trained exclusively with Kornblue Kicking since middle school. He spent four days of private training in January 2015 with Coach Kornblue in Naples, FL. During the training, he drilled a 65 yard FG off the ground (can be seen on our Twitter page). His ability to get great height, ball rotation, and distance on FG’s as a high school junior sparked national recruiting interest. At our Ohio Fab 50 Camp (July 2014), Quinn charted four monster kickoffs (with a 5-10 mph wind): 81/3.91, 75/3.97, 75/3.75, 77/3.8. His worst charted kickoff traveled 64 yards. He also continues to improve as a punter. Best punt at that camp charted 4.66/41 yards. Quinn has a great work ethic, athleticism, and toughness. He’s also gained significant recruiting attention as a high level lacrosse player but is focused on playing football in college.

The other available evaluation comes from ESPN:

Can easily hit the ball 75 yards, had a high percentage of touchbacks as a JR. The ball jumps off of his foot, fast leg, and great lift on his FG's.

Ball striking is impressive, repeatable steps on FG's, clean rotation on the ball, good lift on his kicks, strong athlete.

Smooth and repeatable swing up and through the ball. Continuing to clean up and improve tempo/consistency of his approach on KO's will help him become even more elite.

Very talented and coordinated athlete, he has a great frame and kicks with a lot of confidence. Great lift and power on his kicks, he should be able to compete immediately for the starting job, one of the best kicking prospects in the country.

The "repeatable steps" and "repeatable swing" should make him quite accurate; the most important thing for kickers in that regard is to have consistent mechanics. Nordin's high school team rarely attempted field goals—he went 2/3 with a 51-yarder during his senior year—so most of what we have to go on is the above, which is quite promising.

OFFERS

Nordin held offers from Arizona State, Baylor, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Louisville, Michigan State, Penn State, Pitt, USC, and a bunch of MAC schools.

HIGH SCHOOL

Nordin attends Rockford, which recently produced Michigan guard Ben Braden.

STATS

Nordin already has an MGoBlue profile that contains his junior and senior stats:

• Punted 10 times as a senior, with seven going for 50+ yards, including a 67-yard career long (52.9 avg.); had six punts downed inside the opponent's 20-yard line
• Converted 2-3 field goal attempts with a long of 51 during senior year 19 of his 23 kickoffs went for touchbacks as a senior
• Punted the ball 26 times for 1,020 yards (39.2 avg.) with a long of 55 as a junior
• Totaled 12 kicks inside the opposition's 20-yard line and had five kicks of 50+ yards junior year
• 22 of his 29 kickoffs resulted in touchbacks as a junior

Again, not many actual field goal attempts, but the leg strength is apparent.

FAKE 40 TIME

Nordin doesn't have a listed 40 time. As a former high-level lacrosse prospect, he should be more athletic than your average kicker.

VIDEO

Early-season senior clips include his 51-yard field goal:

Full junior highlights:

Kickoff workout at Penn State's camp last summer:

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

Nordin could see the field right away if Michigan doesn't want to saddle Kenny Allen with kicking, punting, and kickoff duties. Given how well Allen performed last year—and that Allen was originally brought in to punt, the one aspect he didn't handle in 2015—it may be more realistic to expect Nordin to redshirt before competing with Andrew David for the placekicking and kickoff spots in 2017. Given the coaches decided to use a scholarship on Nordin just a year after David was brought in on scholarship, Nordin is the favorite to take over for Allen—though, of course, trying to predict #collegekickers is difficult at best.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

It has a kicker.