On Xbox he does, that counts for something right?
I wonder if he is going to make shirts like Ferns.
Or be a recruiting juggernaut like Shane...
Either way should be interesting having a kicker as the ring-leader :)
Does he have luscious locks of hair and appreciate the goodness of brunette girls?
Too soon.
That will never not be too soon. Gibbons had miraculously cleared his freshman season from my brain, now I remember it all again
Laces out, Andrew!
They say kicking ass and taking names.
How about "Kicking Ass and taking first names"
That is the heart of Ohio football right there.
Brady Hoke drinks from your milkshake, Urban.
You snooze, you lose Runyan!
Welcome aboard, Andrew. PK and LS are spoken for in 2015. Now we just have to figure out the holder situation over the next few years. I'm a little concerned...will we nab a top 5 holder?
Who's the LS?
Sorry for the confusion...I was counting Scott Sypniewski as the long-term LS since we probably won't explicitly recruit one for awhile. That being said, I'm sure preferred walk-on status could be bestowed on another LS-type for Andrew's class.
Like Tom Brady?
More like Tshimanga Biakabatuka, IMO.
Ahem...
Sorry, just had to clear my throat for a moment.
Go blue!
Well, good for Andrew David and good for Michigan. Trust in the coaches.
Now here's a question ... imagine a kicker who's really consistent inside X yards, but his production outside X drops off.
At what value of X does a kicker really become a strong asset?
For exmaple, a kicker who's consistent out to 60 would be the #1 recruit and the top NFL draft pick. Worth their weight in gold. But they don't come along very often, if at all.
So at what value of X does a kicker's stock really start to rise? 35 yards? 40 yards? 45 yards?
Are you saying that a kicker who consistently hits from 60 yards and in would be the number one recruit and a first rd NFL draft choice? If so, I have to disagree.
Yeah, I am ... if you have a kicker who can put 3 points on the board every time the team touches or cross the 50, that's worth a bunch.
What I'm not saying is a team can win with only such a kicker. Obviously there needs to be a balanced team around that.
I might have indulged in a bit of hyperbole ... but I do believe such a person would be highly valued.
If there is a guy that can hit from 60 yards with the same consistency as an average kicker does from 35 yards (no such player exists in real world), I would take that kid with the very first pick in a heartbeat. You are talking about HUGE point differential between having him and not having him.
He was one of the rare kickers taken in the first round (wikipedia link). While there was some rule changes after his college career (e.g., no tee on field goal attempts allowed any more), he did have a great career at Texas but never did much in the NFL.
As an aside, I had no idea he did time for securities fraud.
This isn't to say a great kicker isn't valuable, but just that it's not always easy to identify one.
Well guys who can constantly hit 50 yarders and have range out to 60 yards are currently going in the 6th round, Blair Walsh and Greg Zuerlein.
Blair Walsh definitely had a great year with Minnesota. And you're right ... he went 6th round. But he also went "only" 21 for 36 his senior year at Georgia, with 56 his longest. I wonder if his draft stock took a hit because of it?
Look, I take your point. But I think you're looking past mine. The point I'm trying to make is that a good kicker is of value to a team, and a great kicker is worth even more. And by great I meant someone who was banging 60 yarders like PATs. Blair Walsh is not that guy. Very good, but not that guy. Nobody is that guy. But if such a guy existed, I'm saying he'd be highly valued.
He was a 1st rounder and hits within 50 and 60 yards on a pretty regular basis
Knocking the touchbacks through the uprights and think "he'll be in the league forever"?
Yes, of course. That was the point of my original question ... to explore at what point the value curve really shoots up. Apparently asking questions and encouraging discussion is flamebait nowadays. Whatever.
Of course, which is why I asked the question the way I did -- if X is the yards at which a kicker is strong and consistent, at what value of X does a kicker really become valuable.
Clearly a kicker who's good to only 30 but inconsistent after that would be average at best ... probably less than average at the D-1 level. He wouldn't even be invited to tryouts for the NFL.
The answer is probably in the 45 yard range where D-1 kickers start to be seen as worth a good look and maybe a scholarship. Consistent at 50+ (such as is the hoped-for promise of Mr. David) and the value curve starts to spike in college, but probably is the low-end in the pros. Really consistent (90%+) all the way to 60 is extremely rare, which is why I said they'd be highly valued. I made the mistake of using too much hyperbole. That proved too much for some.
Taken to the absurd extreme, someone who was 100% from 110 yards would be paid a lot of money. A guaranteed minimum 3 points per possession would probably mean Super Bowl title for any team with even a half-way decent offense and defense.
Andrew David appears to be that kind of guy who's strong in the 50+ range. Which is probably why the rating folks were high on him, and why Michigan offered him.
That kind of discussion was really all I was seeking with my question.
I asked the original question simply to stir some discussion around kickers' value. I had no desire to stir up any dissent. So I very much appreciate your response.
Jason Hanson's career stats:
- 20-29 yards - 97.8%
- 30-39 yards - 93.3%
- 40-49 yards - 73.1%
- 50+ yards - 55.9%
So it looks like he was darn close to automatic out to 39, but less so further out. Some years were better than others. For example, 2008 was a great year for him ... he hit 8-for-8 from 50+.
There's a fair amount of articles on the web about kicker value and draft levels. There's also some articles about fantasy league drafting, and it appears kickers are an often overlooked value item in that space.
From what I can gather there's an ocean of decent kickers so NFL teams tend not to spend draft picks on that position. My comment above about high draft pick was supposed to be for the case where someone was clearly superman ... all day, every day from 60 with no hint of inconsistency.
Welcome Andrew. Look forward to seeing you split the uprights in the Big House.
Does anyone know what Fred Jackson's evaluation of Andrew is?
He kicks like a combination of the Karate Kid and Remy Hamilton. If Mike Gilette had icewater in his veins he'd kick like Andrew David. When Shane Morris gets nervous he calls up Andrew David for an encouraging word. Footballs don't get kicked by Andrew David; his foot blesses them with the laces.
Remember.... Think BRUNETTES
I bet everyone gets a kick out of you having two first names, huh?
The real question is will a Kicker hurt our 247 Composite rankings for 2015 especially this early in the class!
/s
if he has a committable offer from Urban?
14/15 you say. Does he think of brunettes?