Hello: Matt Goudis Comment Count

Tim

CA K Matt Goudis, though he said he wouldn't be decommitting from Boise State, has done just that and pledge to Michigan.

INFORMATIVE PORTION

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GURU RATINGS

Scout Rivals ESPN
3*, #5 K 2*, 5.4, #12 K/P 3*, 77, #16 K/P

The sites are unanimous: Goudis is 6-0, 165 (however relevant that is for a kicker). They're in semi-agreement on his ability, too, ranking him anywhere from the #5 to #16 kicker in the nation (though Scout is the only service that ranks them independently from punters). If you separate punters, he's Rivals' #7 pure kicker, and #9 to ESPN, bringing the rankings much closer in line.

ESPN's breakdown is way more brief than we're used to:

Matt Goudis is a refined ball striker. The ball jumps off his foot and he in great control of his rhythm and follow-through. His motion is very repeatable... Matt's hang-times on his kick-offs are solid and he should be able to compete early in college on both field goals and kick offs. Matt gets good height on his FG off the ground and should not have a difficult transition to the college game. Matt has a solid high school resume and has game experience making big field goals for his high school team.

It also mentions that he's a good punter, with the athleticism to run the fake punt, but with Will Hagerup in town, that's likely to be irrelevant at Michigan. Scout hears from his kicking coach Chris Sailer:

Matt is an oustanding kicker. He has a good leg and makes kicks consistently with great height. He is the top field goal kicker in the nation in the Class of 2011. Hard working young man with a great attitude. Big time D1 scholarship prospect.

The the commitment post ($), Sailer says he's the "best pure field goal kicker in the nation." He was in Sailer's national Top 12 this summer, but Chris Sailer himself ranks Matt #2 in the country, saying:

He has a huge leg, makes FG's with ease off the ground, and kickoffs with the best of them. Mentally he is very strong showing great maturity to kick at the next level.

Matt himself tells Scout his power will improve when he gets into the weight room, so there's that to look forward to. His long this season was 54 yards (though I assume that's off a tee).

OFFERS

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Goudis decommitted from Boise State (to whom he committed in October) to join the Wolverines. According to the premium sites, his only other offers came from Cal and Fresno State.

STATS

Scout has partial senior stats:

6-of-10 field goals this year – his longest a 54-yard boot and another 52 yarder for good measure; averaging 43 yards per punt.

Those numbers don't jump off the page to you (especially if he's kicking off a tee), but without knowing the distances on the attempts he missed, it's hard to be too concerned about it - aside from the general panic we've grown accustomed to feeling.

Full game-by-game breakdown in the next edition of Friday Night Lights.

FAKE 40 TIME

The premium sites don't list a 40 time for Goudis, and since he's a kicker it's probably irrelevant. Five FAKEs out of five.

VIDEO

Junior highights:

There are several other videos on Youtube, including nailing a 54-yarder.

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

Goudis is a pretty good kicker prospect, but we've seen that in recent years without much success at the college level. However, the coaching staff feels he's good enough to spend a scholarship on, so he'll get every chance in the world to win the job for next fall.

Recruiting kickers is something of a crapshoot, so it's hard to project too much one way or the other. For a guy who's likely to be a four-year starter, he could be a moderate improvement over the 2010 kicking situation (gulp), or he could eentually become an All-American type.

I prefer to believe in the latter.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

Michigan has been actively recruiting a kicker for the better part of the 2010 recruiting season, so this comes as no surprise. It takes up one of those 18-20 spots - Michigan currently has about 15 commits, with Anthony Zettel, Chris Bryant, and Kris Frost likely leaning toward going Blue - leaving just a couple more to fill spots.

That means Michigan has to go hard after a defensive tackle (I'm now considering OH DE Commit Chris Rock a definite DT) and a safety, and then if they have another couple spots - for example if Antonio Kinard is not a part of the class - they can fill them as they see fit.

Comments

Rico616

December 24th, 2010 at 5:34 PM ^

So whats wrong with a 10 win season? Since 2000 11 wins has only happened once, being the 2006 season when Michigan started 11-0. Considering the last few years a 10 win season would be great for Michigan, Rich Rodriguez, and what we all love...recruiting.

2007: 9-4

2006: 11-2

2005: 7-5

2004: 9-3

2003: 10-3

2002: 10-3

2001: 8-4

2000: 9-3

Bodogblog

December 24th, 2010 at 12:39 PM ^

No. Barwising doesn't work with kickers, as Gibbons tells us.
<br>Instead, take a quick drive up I-94 to Allen Park, see a man named Jason Hanson. Ask how he do how he do. Do how he do.

StraightDave

December 24th, 2010 at 1:02 PM ^

 

this kid should win the starting job if he can kick the ball inside the 20 and in the field of play.  one of the two and he's the man.

is it just me or does this kid look like David Cone's little brother?

wolverine1987

December 24th, 2010 at 1:04 PM ^

Granted, I now see black helicopters everywhere, but his stats both junior and senior years are nothing great. 6 of 10 and 8 of 12. You would think a stud HS kicker would be more accurate no?

ChesterBlue

December 24th, 2010 at 5:14 PM ^

for some kids coming out of HS.  Like hitting a fairway wood. Maybe this is Gibbons problem. 

No matter the cause, its pretty amazing that he was rated by Rivals on 1/28/09 as having the 3rd strongest leg of all HS kickers and now he can barely generate enough power to kick an EP into the netting!

Dick Laurant

December 26th, 2010 at 11:22 AM ^

First time poster - long time reader -No "cc" 

As we gave a scholarship to Gibbons the year before, also brought on Hagerup (sp?) for punter, this would make 2 pure kickers on  scholarships. I have some questions about this situation if someone could answer.

  • I. I was wondering if this has happened before, and if it is natural for a team to have more than a couple of Kickers on scholarship, and if so who has done this in the past?
  • Does this scholarship take from a limited number of scholarships we have to give, and can it affect recruiting of positions at need (Dt, FS, SS, LB)? 
  • What will happen to Gibbons scholarship? Will it be honored. - I would hate to see us do what is so prevalent in the SEC right now. 

Anyways, I am a little confused by the kickers commit (though extremely happy, as I believe this was the most significant problem - possibly even over defence IMO) 

Anythoughts would be apprecitated. 

sportsfreak0819

December 24th, 2010 at 1:33 PM ^

kicking competence? i like the signing... wasn't gibbons the #1 kicker out of high school though too? and since this goudis guy is coming in can we take away gibbons scholly to give to someone else?

GO BLUE!

michfanfromct

December 24th, 2010 at 4:44 PM ^

I find it interesting that Rivals and Scout rate kickers so low in general.  I saw that he was a 2 star on Rivals and noticed that even their #1 ranked kicker had only 2 stars.  I guess they just don't value kickers very high.  In any event, I'm glad that we signed him!

Princetonwolverine

December 25th, 2010 at 12:30 PM ^

Glad to see the coaches are addressing the position of need. Maintaining the status quo was not an option. Welcome Matt. (sorry for the pun)

RoxyMtnHiM

December 25th, 2010 at 1:49 PM ^

I would feel a lot better about throwing a scholie at another kicker if our special teams in general weren't such a trainwreck but it sure seemed this season like we needed another body to give it a shot. Hopefully this guy will be reminding of a Jay Feeley before too long.

justthinking

December 26th, 2010 at 11:26 AM ^

...especially one with a leg like his - welcome to Michigan, son. Go do your thing!

How many vital 4th down conversions did we miss and turn the ball over this year? When 3 points would have been sufficient?

I have no faith in our current kickers, and I'm still pissed at Hagerup for #$%^ing up and sitting out the OSU game.

See you at the Big House, Matt!

Go Blue!

MGoDemon

December 26th, 2010 at 5:16 PM ^

We are giving up on our kicker after just ONE SEASON? ONE SEASON?

How can we give up on a FRESHMAN kicker after just ONE SEASON???

How can we give up on ANYONE after JUST ONE SEASON? HMMMMMMMM???