Finding placekickers

Submitted by crg on
This was briefly mentioned in a comment somewhere, but I would like to open this up for greater discussion. Why is it so difficult to find kickers that can hit moderate field goals? I am NOT suggesting that any kid can just walk on and hit 35 yarders reliably, but it seems as though any respectable college team can open up the competition to their soccer players (men and women) as well as others with reasonable leg strength (cyclists, wrestlers, martial arts, etc.). One would think that would lead to a few reasonable back up options to supplement (not replace) scholarship kickers. They would not even need to make a significant time commitment compared to other positions. Maybe I'm way off here, as I do not have much familiarity with kicker development, but it seems plausible. Additional insight is appreciated.

Also, this is not a call to bench Allen or Trice. They obviously earned their time in practice and probably just had some bad luck.
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go16blue

October 2nd, 2016 at 10:01 PM ^

The idea that soccer players/etc can just waltz in and be great field goal kickers is ridiculous to me. FG kickers practice that exact motion every practice for literally years - maybe a decade by the time they hit college. And people think that can be outweighed by a guy having put similar hours into kicking an entirely different ball in entirely different ways? I don't get it. Why should anyone be as good at kicking field goals as the guys who practice it and only it their entire lives?

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Qmatic

October 2nd, 2016 at 10:21 PM ^

Back in high school we had a soccer player who never played football join the team the day before the first game. He would only show up for walkthroughs and the game.

He missed only 1 PAT and was like 6-7 or 7-8 on FG. He actually hit a 51(!) yarder. We lucked out, but there were dozens of other soccer players in the school who probably couldn't even make an extra point. Kicker is a bizarre position. Both mentally and physically

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Lampuki22

October 2nd, 2016 at 10:10 PM ^

Ex kicker. First I have nothing against Allen. It's hard. It's incredibly hard. Like some athletes in other sports some guys just either have the natural ability or work at it to make it routine. Great muscle memory + OCD helps.

I do think the punting is a problem. Like a hitter playing golf it can mess you up. Totally different motion. You also hit the ball with a different part of your foot. He could have an injury that is throwing him off. Finally Allen seems a bit tall for a kicker. There's a reason most are shorter. Height amplifies any mistake. I think he figures it out and wins a close game for us before all said and done.



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Drbogue

October 2nd, 2016 at 10:12 PM ^

Because nobody kicks field goals in high school. Even Nordin, the #1 kicker in the country kicked like 3 FGs his senior year. OTOH, it seems like a great way to get your son a football scholarship



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7words

October 2nd, 2016 at 11:26 PM ^

Not sure who the left footed kicker is but he took some kickoffs in the first game or so and couldn't get it to the end zone.  I dont remember what or if Tice took a kickoff.  But if we're gonna have someone besides Allen do kickoffs, i prefer he be able to atleast put it 5 yards into the endzone.  

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mbrummer

October 2nd, 2016 at 10:14 PM ^

It's not a simple as getting a guy with a big leg.  If it was, any number of players on the soccer team could help.

It's the timing, its hard to kick consistantly that quickly.  Soccer players have tried and invariably its the rush and short set up that makes it difficult.

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barneythesailor

October 2nd, 2016 at 10:30 PM ^

Another issue with 99% of college teams is that they don't have a coach who understands the actual process of kicking or punting. Most college kicked have a private coach who they have worked with but when they start to have trouble/struggle there is not a coach on the team who can analyze specifically what is wrong with their technique. So many kickers when they are having problems end up sending a tape of thier missed kicks to their private kicking coach for suggestion on what is wrong. Since the private coach had worked with them lots they can often see something that has changed that is causing the problems. But often this then in done over the phone or email. But the kicker has to try to fix it on his own.

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Mr. Elbel

October 2nd, 2016 at 10:58 PM ^

he's doing all of the kicking. it's like asking Jake Butt to also play righy tackle and also play full back. he can block decent to well, and he could probably run someone over at the goal line, but ask him to shift his focus to those positions for a few plays a game and you stretch him thin. he might be able to do that and his current position decently (though OL would be crazy...work with me here), but he's not likely going to keep up All-American pace at TE still. when you ask a player not wearing number 5 to do too many disciplines at the same time, you stretch them thin and their play is going to suffer somewhere because of it.

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Mr. Elbel

October 3rd, 2016 at 7:49 AM ^

it's the practice. you have to have reps for each discipline. that's why you should only focus on one or two at a time. doing all three means doing the reps for all three. really difficult to do each at a high level all the time, especially when you don't get enough reps for any of them because you're playing what's technically two different positions.

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Yooper

October 2nd, 2016 at 11:12 PM ^

His current slump is a real mystery. If they stick with him I bet he gets back on track. They have Tice but also brought in the best kicker in the country, who got hurt. How many kickers get hurt when they aren't playing? The point is that they had the position covered with confidence. The good news is we have 4 weeks to figure it out.

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Wolverine in S.C.

October 3rd, 2016 at 12:03 AM ^

Texas Tech did open student body tryouts when Mike Leach was still their coach. The walk-on that tried out was a random student that actually ended up starting the rest of the season and finish college on a football scholarship!
There has got to be someone in Ann Arbor with eligibility that can kick!!

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benzolamas

October 3rd, 2016 at 12:35 AM ^

I'm going to go out on a limb and say Allen had a bad day. Everyone does. He was pretty solid last year and the beginning of this one up unitl Wisconsin. Pushing him with Tice will get him back to normal!

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treetown

October 3rd, 2016 at 2:10 AM ^

I don't mean using the Michigan Daily to find a placekicker.

Rather like the infamous Sports Illustrated "curse" perhaps being a feature story in the Michigan Daily played a role.

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chatster

October 3rd, 2016 at 3:35 AM ^

A year ago, during his pre-season write-ups, Magnus predicted that Kyle Seychel would be Michigan’s placekicker and that he was among the top 25 important players on the roster. LINK I don’t know whether he ever got into a game in 2015, but he still might be enrolled at Michigan. Couldn’t they call out to him to see if he’d be interested in trying out again?
 
In hindsight, unless Andrew David was completely underwhelming as a placekicker, I wonder whether the Michigan coaching staff might have benefitted from giving David the chance to also play baseball (apparently his better sport) while also working on his placekicking. Having David available as a backup this season might have been pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good.
 

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MGoStrength

October 3rd, 2016 at 5:52 AM ^

I feel like being a FG kicker is sort of like being a closer in baseball.  It takes a certain mentality.  Imagine being in front of 110,000 people and having to make a kick under pressure.  How do you prepare for that as a high school kid?  Also, it's a fine motor skill versus a gross motor skill.  So, playing most positions in football are gross motor skills.  Kicking is more like golf, which requires repeating the same mechanics consistently.  These kinds of skills are more likely affected by things like pressure, confidence, mental stability, etc.  This makes it difficult to predict how consistent a kicker will be in situations beyond practice.

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Mr. Elbel

October 3rd, 2016 at 7:57 AM ^

it's also like golf in that you focus on the details of the repeated motion over and over and over again. the problem is when you're doing that for multiple motions. you don't have enough time to take enough reps to be able to do each discipline perfectly. I think that's why golf is so difficult. every part of the swing counts, and it has to be perfection mixed with strength and skill. I can imagine trying to kick off a tee and kick from a holder and kick punts. three totally different things. hard to do it all. Harbaugh said as much in his presser.

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Carl Spackler

October 3rd, 2016 at 7:19 AM ^

you have a strong legs (wrestler) doesn't mean you can kick.  Why wasn't Arnold Schwartzenegger a major league pitcher?  You are pretty naive sir when it comes to sports.  

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myislanduniverse

October 3rd, 2016 at 8:44 AM ^

Kenny had a pretty good year last year place-kicking, and handling the long punts. I'm wondering what's happening that's shaken him on the FGs this year. Do you suppose the defense has been getting to him in practice and he isn't 100% confident in his blockers, so he's maybe rushing the kick a little bit?

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