probably about welcome week. or fish. but probably welcome week.
bob8202
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- Member for
- 2 years 22 weeks
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Recent Comments
| Date | Title | Body |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year 36 weeks ago | Really Long (Sorry, I'm riled up!) |
"I know nothing about which I'm going to speak..." Most of you should have employed the same header . . . then left it at there. I won't go into all my bona fides, but trust me that I know a lot about the specialists' portion of football, and I also have some direct contacts on the UM Coaching staff. With that background, here's what I think about Will Hagerup's performance in the first two games. First, if you've watched him in pregame and halftime punting, you will see that he is an extraordinarily gifted punter. Watch how the ball jumps off his foot faster than other punters and, thus, goes higher and farther. Before the UConn game, he was punting beautiful punts, with probably 5 seconds of hang time, that were travelling well over 55 yards (sometimes 70 or more yards) from the line of scrimmage. You can't coach that -- that is shear ability. You CAN coach proper techniques, and he'd be considered very very solid even if he were a senior. That fact that he is punting like this already is remarkable, and I haven't ever seen a guy this young punt this well, with technique this strong. Assuming he stays healthy and keeps working at improving and becoming more consistent, I will be shocked if he isn't the first punter drafted in his class or if he doesn't have a long and profitable NFL career. He is that good. Turning to his game performance, in the UConn game, he intentionally punted a rugby-style punt. For those of you complaining about that, do you even understand what that is? It is (1) a design punt, (2) kicked low and mostly end over end, (3) that is intentionally kicked away from coverage, and (4) that properly is not fielded and rolls forward to a dead ball. Based on those criteria, what didn't he accomplish? The air time is not an issue on these punts. It isn't supposed to look like what he was doing in warmups. It was 100% efficient for how it's designed. I am very impressed that a true freshman even knows how to produce that kind of a punt, since it is an entirely different technique from a regular punt. This brings me to the ND game. As RR said, I'm sure Will is more disappointed than anyone at some (not all, by any means) of his punts. He did have a true near whiff from our half of the field and a couple others that weren't good (even though none were returnable). But, you need to look at things other than his average to figure out how he really did. IIRC that he missed one out of bounds on a short field (the spiral that went into the third row). That was actually well-executed, except for the fact that it was about 10 yards to the right of where he wanted it. Also, I think it followed a very good 46-47 yarder, that took two hops into the EZ (and that should have been covered inside the 5YL). So, he probably got some flack after the first one for getting a TB, and he overcompensated on the next one.
Even though this wasn't a good stats game, he did come through in the 4th Q when it really mattered. He had at least two that |I recall that were downed inside the 15 (or maybe even 10) and one for sure inside the 10. Those were probably only 30 yard punts (which hurts his average) but they were exactly what was called for.
If this was Will's worst day ever -- and it might be in view of the fact it's his first away game (AT ND!) with wet footballs that don't travel as far even if they are struck cleanly -- then I am very happy about our punting the next four years. The kid's a stud and will only get better. |I expect some breakout punts the next two weeks. Those games should have a much higher comfort level for hm. |
| 1 year 43 weeks ago | The other thing to note is |
The other thing to note is that his film is all from his SO and JR years! Does anyone have a link to his 2009 season? |
| 1 year 43 weeks ago | No one will call Jibreel |
No one will call Jibreel Black white. P.S. Jimmy Leonhard from WI is another great example of an unde-rrecruited guy who could fat out play, especially on punt returns. Drew reminds me of him more than a little. |
| 1 year 43 weeks ago | This is the first time I've |
This is the first time I've watched his film, and he looks great. Some of it is less than superb competition, of course, but that is true with all high school film. There were reports on other sites that shall not be named that he was at the indoor facility returning Hagerup punts a few weeks ago. Most of the report was on the punting, so I don't know how Drew looked. I think he's a diamond in the rough get for us. |
| 2 years 4 weeks ago | Being objective. . . . |
I would admit that, while our K and P game was excellent last year, we are eally starting over this year. The punting in the Spring game was atrocious, but, assuming Will-Verine Hagerup has college-level maturity, he should be a great punter for us for the next four years. The fact that Gibbons couldn't beat out a walk-on last year, and hasn't separated himself this spring is disturbing. I wasnt at the SG, but from what I could see on the BTN and posted pix, our kickers are not at a B10 level in technique right now. Converted soccer players almost never have the right FG technique without a lot of work. The motion is close, but not close enough that you can just kick it like a soccer ball. It's not an easy transition. Gibbons looks very inflexible, which is why it appears he hits lots of low balls. My sources indicate that Will-Verine is being encouraged (pressured) by the coaching staff to prepare to compete for kicking dutes in addtion to punting when he arrives. From his youtube stuff, he looks like he could be a big time kicker, too, and unlik the others, his technique looks extremely sound right now. |
| 2 years 22 weeks ago | I'm pretty sure Bryan Wright |
I'm pretty sure Bryan Wright is finished. I read soewhere else that Hagerup is the only punter set for the roster next year. I assume we'll have some walk-on competition. |
