Good Article on P Blake O'Neill
Blake comes from a very reputable organization in Australia. Prokick Australia has put punters and kickers in the college, NFL and CFL ranks ranging from Ole Miss, Wake Forest, Arkansas, Utah, LSU, OSU, Hawaii, Indiana, Memphis, Green Bay, Tampa Bay, Jets, Miami, Calgary, Hamilton, Winnipeg, and Hamilton.
This year alone we are going to face 5 teams on our schedule that have Aussie "Prokick" trained players on their teams (Utah, Oregon St, Rutgers, Penn St, and Ohio St). I found that to be very interesting that we would face that many Aussies and have one of our own. That's 4 in our conferencec alone and all in the same East division.
"At 6-foot-2, 230 pounds, he doesn't fit the conventional frame and won't hesitate to mix it up."
"He's powerful, he's strong," said Nathan Chapman, the owner and coach at Pro Kick Australia in Melbourne, the company that helps Australian "footballers" transition to become American punters and kickers. "He's thick, he'll want to run down and tackle you and rip your head off. He's got speed, he can throw, there's a lot of bonuses and pluses to Blake as a player, which is going to be a great player for coach (Jim) Harbaugh coming in and getting the program back on track straightaway. I know Blake is a very important and crucial piece to that puzzle, because he can flip the field."
http://www.freep.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/wolverine…
April 12th, 2015 at 10:31 AM ^
April 12th, 2015 at 10:36 AM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
April 12th, 2015 at 11:11 AM ^
Well she certainly is. Holy crap.
Michelle Jenneke.
Those two girls behind her's reactions
April 12th, 2015 at 10:59 AM ^
Surely like a black hole for the eyes.
April 12th, 2015 at 11:19 AM ^
TO MY SPECIAL PURPOSE????
Would be an awesome couple!
If she mated with Norfleet, think of the dancing babies!
for everyone!
would love to see the guy lay some people out on a kick return, or throw that ball. i think JH has a history of liking trick plays, and not having some 173 lb kicker probably feeds right into that. if we had a space emperor for a punter, why not the high commander of the southern hemisphere?
I caught that as well. A big kid that can also throw the football. I wouldn't put that past JH to have him roll out and pitch it.
comes naturally to a rugger. plus just merely faking the roll out and sucking in some of the punt receive team's blocking scheme, then booting it on the run down a sideline/alley, making returns difficult.
but failed miserably and we abandoned the rugby style kicking game that year. Pretty sure we had a couple blocked and a few shanked that year.
I couldn't remember the year. I knew it was a disaster though!
"... a team that should've played for a national title ..."
That could be said by multiple teams in multiple years. National championship teams don't take Top 5/10 talent and $%#@ away games like those (the dreaded Pac Ten road game, of which there were many, and a loss to a team with inferior talent).
Let's not forget that they lost to USC at the end. Those are the games that elite teams win.
BUT, (1) just because it can be said about multiple teams doesn't make it untrue, (2) I find the 2003 UofM team to be a tad different since those two losses can be squarely placed on the shoulders of a totally out of his depth, first year special teams coach who decided to experiment with a new punting formation the week before Oregon and didn't shelve it after it went terribly, thus causing a second loss to Iowa two weeks later, and (3) yes, they lost to USC, the AP national champs that year; notice I said "played for a national title" not won it. Learn to read if you really want to get this troll thing down.
April 12th, 2015 at 10:25 AM ^
C'mon, Vector. When you state an opinion that a team "should have played for the national title," you should really expect someone to disagree. In this era of Harbaugh, competition and accountability at Michigan, it just sounds like excuses.
It has become obvious that there are going to be no "shoulda woulda couldas" around the program now. Winners eat steak and losers are looking for the mustard jar.
April 12th, 2015 at 11:19 AM ^
April 12th, 2015 at 11:58 AM ^
April 12th, 2015 at 11:30 AM ^
Attended the Oregon game in Eugene that year. I can confirm it was a comedy of errors, but not funny.
April 12th, 2015 at 12:19 PM ^
Pro Kick has five punters Michigan's schedule this year from Utah (Hackett) to Oregon State (Nick Porebski), Rutgers (Tim Gleeson), Penn State (Daniel Pasquariello) and Ohio State (Cameron Johnston).
I didn't really realize it until now, but it seems like Australia could very well copyright the slogan "America's preferred source for punters" at this rate. The film and stats on this kid - even if it is only one season at Weber State - look very promising.
This kid can flip the field. Having 6 aussies in the B1G definitely caught me by surprise.
Ok, so the question now is when do we get the next Austrailian kicker. This is a good start, but we should obviously be getting Aussie kickers more often.
pipeline....
with music played
'i come from a land down under,
where women blow and men chunder'
I like the way JH has embraced the 5th year grad transfers to shore up some weaknesses.
It may be just 4 or 5....Indiana, Rutgers, PSU, OSU, and Michigan. Checking now to see if Indiana's Aussie is still there.
EDIT: It's 4 in the B1G (Rutgers, PSU, OSU, Mich). Changing original post now. Thanks.
He is a grad. transfer studant but has only played 1 year of ncaa football.
Does he still have 4 years left to play in collage? IIRC some QB's are begining to get there digrees in three years so if things are not looking good at their school they can transfer and have 2 yrs eligibility remaning. What say you?
April 12th, 2015 at 10:37 AM ^
April 12th, 2015 at 10:54 AM ^