Michigan Kicker Recruiting
I came across this Article on K Matt Goudis (paywall article) who committed to Boise State and then visited Ann Arbor a few weeks back. Despite paywall issues, the header says a lot. Right now it looks like Goudis is remaining a Bronco despite our interest. I guess it's possible to read more into what he says -- especially the "right now" part. But I don't see it happening. Hopefully Gibbons can still develop into a decent kicker. Who knows at this point.
Have we offered any other Kickers this year?
Here's the Link:
November 16th, 2010 at 3:17 PM ^
we can grab a soccer player from the B10 championship team?
November 16th, 2010 at 3:26 PM ^
Hopefully the men's soccer team will be busy the remainder of the football season.
November 16th, 2010 at 3:46 PM ^
I love soccer, but I would rather have a great kicker on the football team that a national championship soccer team.
November 16th, 2010 at 4:02 PM ^
when the football team finances the existence of said soccer team!!!
(Yes, 3 exclamation points. Deal with it.)
November 16th, 2010 at 10:13 PM ^
Way to throw down the Gaunlet!!! LOL!!!
November 17th, 2010 at 1:02 AM ^
are you crazy? i dont care what the sport is a national championship for uofm comes before 1 player on the team.
November 16th, 2010 at 3:26 PM ^
He was on the roster last year but I guess decided to focus on soccer...can't blame him since the team's now Big Ten champs.
November 16th, 2010 at 3:37 PM ^
this just made me angry to watch.
November 16th, 2010 at 3:45 PM ^
That made me feel in ways that I haven't felt since...Remy Hamilton. All tingly and warm and jelly-legged. Is this what it feels like to be a tweenage girl at a Justin Bieber show?
We need to Stoyanovich this guy.
November 16th, 2010 at 3:57 PM ^
(and probably Broekhuizen) have equally impressive videos floating around the web.
November 16th, 2010 at 4:01 PM ^
Exactly... impossible to know how good he is without knowing how many takes this took.
November 16th, 2010 at 4:37 PM ^
how he'd perform in actual game situations.
November 16th, 2010 at 5:10 PM ^
Not to mention he basically kicked either straight on or from the left hash every time....he kicked once near the right hash but it wasn't a far kick. Just saying, during a game you wont always be able to kick from the left.
November 17th, 2010 at 11:37 AM ^
I thought it was more difficult for a right footed kicker to kick from the left hash than the right hash.
However, I am not a kicking expert. Anyone know what hash is easier for a right footed kicker?
November 17th, 2010 at 12:31 PM ^
I think it just depends on the individual kicker. Some just simply prefer one hash over the other. It could also do with how the kicker's ball hooks one way or the other.
November 16th, 2010 at 3:39 PM ^
November 16th, 2010 at 3:41 PM ^
That made me sad.
November 16th, 2010 at 3:41 PM ^
is it just me or does he look like he knows he's gonna make every kick?
November 16th, 2010 at 3:49 PM ^
Aren't the current kickers supposed to have done well in practice, too? Not to say that Meram isn't clutch, because he certainly is. But this is alone in the practice facility, and only the ones he made.
November 16th, 2010 at 4:30 PM ^
that metal thing to be a holder. i think that is the missing ingredient
November 16th, 2010 at 5:11 PM ^
Ugh. RR needs to focus his recruiting muscles on our soccer team and find the guy with the strongest leg and see what happens. If our soccer team is the best in the BigTen (hopefully the country) then I'm sure we have multiple candidates.
November 16th, 2010 at 7:20 PM ^
That may be worse than watching Terelle Everybody Kills Pryor highlights. Seriously I was hoping for him to miss one just to make me feel better the next time we miss an XP
November 16th, 2010 at 9:50 PM ^
Unfortunately it's so much easier to kick when you aren't in a game. You should see what field goal kickers can do in practice.
Even RR said this is part of the problem.
November 16th, 2010 at 11:32 PM ^
I thought the next quote by Goudis in that article was most telling. I'm looking forward to a time, hopefully in the near future, when our coach, hopefully Rich Rod, has some job security. Recruits are obviously affected by the unknown:
“The coaching staff at Michigan was great, but you know, with Michigan, they could be gone when I get there,” Goudis said. “That was a major factor for me..."
November 16th, 2010 at 3:23 PM ^
Need some alumni with sons that can come in and help our kicking game! Ali was about the first true kicker Bo recruited (born in A2, grew up in Texas)!
November 16th, 2010 at 3:42 PM ^
He actually has a son who was kicking in high school somewhere in oakland County Michigan but I think he's in college now.
November 16th, 2010 at 3:59 PM ^
his son was the punter at Lasher. He is a student at UM and walked on the team as a punter during the fall tryouts. He is practicing with the team, but not sure if he is "on the team."
November 16th, 2010 at 3:40 PM ^
I'm a junior in high school and Goudis is in my AP Stat class, and after talking to him about it, i would say he is still considering Michigan. He thinks the team is on the rise and that denard is amazing, but he said he didn't like Ann Arbor or the cold too much. He likes that Boise is winning, so i would say a strong finish by michigan would go a long way with him.
November 16th, 2010 at 3:43 PM ^
we would at least be 8-2 right now. Goudis could take solace that he would be a game winner for U of M.
November 16th, 2010 at 3:52 PM ^
the warm and tropical Boise winters
November 16th, 2010 at 3:55 PM ^
but he said he didn't like Ann Arbor or the cold too much.
He realizes that Boise is practically the same weather wise as Ann Arbor?
November 16th, 2010 at 11:16 PM ^
Boise is also turrrrible.
November 17th, 2010 at 1:52 AM ^
good stuff.
November 16th, 2010 at 3:44 PM ^
I know the local kid is gone to ND and this kid seems to want to head to Idaho (like thats much warmer than Michigan???). Is there not anyone else?
November 16th, 2010 at 3:49 PM ^
...that we would want to gamble a scholarship on.
November 16th, 2010 at 3:55 PM ^
Part of an e-mail I sent to M football.
<br>
<br>Well, this is freaking crazy.
<br>
<br>So I was checking out the Sarasota Gun club, specifically their sporting clays range and Dan's coach and brother was working the range. I was wearing my new Michigan golf shirt (I know, strange choice to wear at the range but it was Saturday). We started chatting about his brother Dan.
<br>
<br>Florida
<br>Urban Meyer talked with Dan personally when he was visiting a Riverview game to see a RB. Meyer said Florida would "grey shirt" him (I'm not quite sure what that is) but his brother's understanding is that Dan would not start his Freshman year. This is not what Dan wants, his brother says he wants to play right away.
<br>
<br>Ohio State
<br>OSU has contacted the family but they don't consider it an official or serious effort on OSU's part. They are VERY excited about OSU due to the past history OSU has with putting kickers in the NFL. BUT...OSU is ONLY talking to the family and Dan's brother didn't think this was proper.
<br>
<br>Service Academies
<br>He has offers in hand for all of them. He is not going to a service academy.
<br>
<br>Michigan
<br>This is all from Dan's brother and coach. Michigan has contacted the coaching staff and asked for film. Film has been sent. Michigan asked for film on FG from the ground (not a tee) and they provided that including a 60 yarder that was good (from a kicking camp). "Michigan is recruiting the right way", according to the brother, Michigan is not making promises or talking shit to Dan they are talking to coaches and have indicated that if the film looks good and Dan is interested an offer might be coming. One negative for Michigan is that they do not have a kicking coach. He also indicated that Dan DVR's EVERY MI game and watches the game during the week with his entire family. The brother (I never got his name), says that he played at a D3 school in Ohio and that he has counseled Dan on the weather and the football environment, he talked about how positive the Midwest football community and Big Ten schools are in general. He also talked with awe about kicking in the Big House (but this was his brother, I don't know how Dan feels himself).
<br>
<br>Also, he mentioned that David Baas from Sarasota comes to games and practices often and has talked to Dan about Michigan at least once.
<br>
<br>I have seen this kid kick in games twice. From the 40 he puts the kickoff out of the back of the endzone. He has hit a 57 yarder in a game this year and he can punt, but his coaches have restricted him to kickoffs to "protect" him from injury. He is a solid 6'3" probably about 240 maybe a little less.
<br>
<br>On more thing...Dan has a 3.5 GPA and has a 1400ish SAT, according to his brother. He wanted to talk to me for hours...I had to cut off the conversation after 45 minutes.
<br>
<br>I joined the gun club so I'm sure I will find out more in the coming months.
November 16th, 2010 at 4:26 PM ^
I'm missing something here. Who is Dan?
November 16th, 2010 at 4:32 PM ^
Dan Gradkowski from Riverview HS in FL.
November 16th, 2010 at 4:48 PM ^
Dan of Riverview HS. Sorry about the previous incorrect post.
November 16th, 2010 at 8:49 PM ^
Gun club is the place to be.
November 16th, 2010 at 4:01 PM ^
and he is practicing everyday to be a kicker for the 2016 team.
November 16th, 2010 at 5:45 PM ^
Don't let him be lazy by sleeping at night!
November 16th, 2010 at 11:17 PM ^
that nothing makes a kid better than a good ol' electrical shock when he does bad.
November 16th, 2010 at 4:01 PM ^
We had a guy on our flag football team this year who has the distance to nail 50 yarders though admittedly needs work on his accuracy. Nothing better than declaring kick from around the 40 yd line, the other team snickering, then him nailing said kick and the look of disbelief on the other team.
He went to Penn State though so doubt he wants to kick for Michigan.
November 16th, 2010 at 4:27 PM ^
Good thing you said Riverview, FL and not Riverview, MI.........I thought a Paul Peristeris mention was coming. Guy got beat out as a kicker on the high school team, but since his family catered for M he was able to stay on as a punter.
November 16th, 2010 at 5:07 PM ^
I think the thing with these kickers is you never know until you see them under real game pressure. A lot of them will look good in a tryout or high school game but it is going to be different in a D1 game. I'm sure the guys we have now look a lot better in practice than we have seen in games. What you need is a guy with the ability, and some ice in his veins.
November 16th, 2010 at 5:33 PM ^
I heard recently that Meram is still considering coming back to football. He was discussing a 5th year of eligibility and back earlier in the fall RR said, "Justin Meram, a soccer player who was working with the football kickers, is now focusing on soccer, and Rodriguez said they have talked to him about a fifth year of eligibility and returning to football in the spring."
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20100922/SPORTS0201/9220409/Wolverines-taking-look-at--interesting-gamut--of-student-kickers#ixzz15UGxnL4B
November 16th, 2010 at 7:16 PM ^
Should we be so fortunate to land of said kickers would it be too much to ask for...oh...I dunno....an actual Special Teams Coach?
Just saying.
November 16th, 2010 at 7:18 PM ^
Good kickers don't want to come to a northern state because half the season has crappy weather that is hard to kick, let alone Michigan doesn't have a kicking coach to speak of. It seems like something the program could afford and something that would be a worthy investment to draw the top kicking recruits and add 50-75 points a season and possible 1-2 wins in close games. That still doesn't explain him going to Boise beceause the weather is even worse.