Kicking specialist questions....

[thekimmer]

I'll say this first and foremost. I admire WG for making it as far as he has with his talent. He just does not possess the skill needed for this level of football. That does not lessen him as a person or make him a loser. I played football myself and at no time in my life could I have probably been able to place kick a ball over the line of scrimmage much less through the uprights from any distance. With that said we must move on. The questions I have are this.

1. Is WG done attempting FG for this season? I really hope so for his own sake. It really is painful to watch a young man struggle like that. If he he does sit, who is the next guy up?

2. I can't fathom him coming into 2017 as the #1 guy but do you think he will be on the roster next year?

In any case, I really wish him the best in life and harbor no animosity. I am sure he did his best and that is better than 99% of the population could have done but just not good enough for an SEC program.

 

[kired]

Is there any truth to the rumor that WG is injured? I'd heard that this weekend... no clue if it's true. Something about his back.

I'm not sure why we continue to trot him out there for FGs but have another guy kicking off. I just assume the other guy cannot hit a FG to save his life. I do know watching them warmup Saturday, we had three guys kicking and they all appeared to be about the same (I didn't see any of them consistently kicking through the uprights). So I would say it doesn't appear there is anyone on the roster now that can do better.

 

[msf88]

With an effective kicker we are sitting at 6-5 right now and in a slightly better mood

 

[patdog]

The only FG he's made in the last month was 47 yards. That doesn't sound like an injury problem to me.

 

[civildawg88]

Yes, he has 2 buldging discs in his back because a coach wanted him to leg press more weight than he should have in summer workouts.

 

[civildawg88]

I am not giving him a pass with the injury at all but he is injured. He has plenty of leg on the kick so it must not be effecting him too much.

 

[Pookieray]

We went through this a few years back when we had to swap holders. Once Dak was put back in as the holder the kicking woes disappeared. Last year WG was 15-18 on FG. 20-29 yds 5/6 30-39 yds 7/7 40-49 yds 3/4 50+ yds 0/1. Has he gotten worse or is there another problem that no one seems to know how to fix?

I do remember that the holders had the seems turned on several kicks this year as was seen and pointed out on instant replay on several occasions.

I feel for the young man, I think it has gotten in his head and the fans booing doesn't help. I don't think he is 100% responsible for all the misses, and I'm sure the
pressure is so great now that it is almost impossible to make one. If any one has any games from last year or maybe the year before watch and see that it is always a miss to the left until Dak started holding again, then they were right down the middle.

 

[aTotal360]

Is he statistically worse than JMM?

 

[o_dawgnabit]

Is there any truth to the rumor that WG is injured? I'd heard that this weekend... no clue if it's true. Something about his back.

I'm not sure why we continue to trot him out there for FGs but have another guy kicking off. I just assume the other guy cannot hit a FG to save his life. I do know watching them warmup Saturday, we had three guys kicking and they all appeared to be about the same (I didn't see any of them consistently kicking through the uprights). So I would say it doesn't appear there is anyone on the roster now that can do better.

Yes he is. Hurt his back before the season started and hasn't recovered.

 

[philduckworth]

The game plan should be no FG's and no punts. Unless it's 4th and 8+ from inside our own 20. With our defense and our special teams, it's the mathematically correct strategy.

These coaches kill me. Mullen punting on 4th and inch. Did anyone see Bill O'Brian punt on 4th and 5 last night with 3 minutes on the clock and only 1 TO. They didn't get the ball back. It's just laughable.

 

[bruiser.sixpack]

Sooo. If we call them "kicking specialists" in college, what do we call the pro kickers that missed 12 extra point attempts this past weekend? "Kicking Practitioners"?

I feel for Graves. But even though we ask in jest if there isn't someone on campus or on the club soccer team that we could have tried out during the season, it has happened at other programs. Remember Texas Tech? The guy that won the job was a cousin to soccer players from Pearl.

There are talented make soccer players in the Mississippi High School ranks. There needs to be a legit way to try them out.

 

[DudyDog]

We need to be offering a scholarship to the top punters and kickers in the WORLD. We don't have to settle for walk-ons from Mississippi. It's not that hard. Dan, all the work has been done for you. It's like a buffet. They are all lined up and ready to be taken. Let me help you. Here are 3 websites offering you the best in the WORLD. You should be able to take it from there. Give them a look. Send someone to go to these camps and watch them kick. Look at their film. These guys from Australia are dying to come to America and go to school and be seen by the pro's. Once you get one or two and they have a good experience, the rest will be calling you.

http://www.ozpunt.com.au/current-players/view-all

https://www.prokicker.com/

http://www.prokickaustralia.com/players/

I have been saying it for 5 years. Since we can't sign multiple 5 stars in a 4 year period and don't sign as many 4 stars as the top teams we compete against, we need to do everything we can to at least win the kicking game within the game. We can't compete against Bama and go toe to toe with them on offense and defense, but there is nothing stopping us from winning the kicking game when we play them. We can have a better punter, field goal kicker, and kick off man than them. We need to at least match them on return men. Against other opponents that would definitely give us an edge.

But unfortunately, it seems like that part of our game is an afterthought.

eta....Dan, maybe you could have a split camp with Harbaugh again. He thinks it's important enough to take a look over there....

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/05/australia-jim-harbaugh

 

[Todd4State]

Yes, he has 2 buldging discs in his back because a coach wanted him to leg press more weight than he should have in summer workouts.

That's terrible.

 

[Todd4State]

We need to be offering a scholarship to the top punters and kickers in the WORLD. We don't have to settle for walk-ons from Mississippi. It's not that hard. Dan, all the work has been done for you. It's like a buffet. They are all lined up and ready to be taken. Let me help you. Here are 3 websites offering you the best in the WORLD. You should be able to take it from there. Give them a look. Send someone to go to these camps and watch them kick. Look at their film. These guys from Australia are dying to come to America and go to school and be seen by the pro's. Once you get one or two and they have a good experience, the rest will be calling you.

http://www.ozpunt.com.au/current-players/view-all

https://www.prokicker.com/

http://www.prokickaustralia.com/players/

I have been saying it for 5 years. Since we can't sign multiple 5 stars in a 4 year period and don't sign as many 4 stars as the top teams we compete against, we need to do everything we can to at least win the kicking game within the game. We can't compete against Bama and go toe to toe with them on offense and defense, but there is nothing stopping us from winning the kicking game when we play them. We can have a better punter, field goal kicker, and kick off man than them. We need to at least match them on return men. Against other opponents that would definitely give us an edge.

But unfortunately, it seems like that part of our game is an afterthought.

eta....Dan, maybe you could have a split camp with Harbaugh again. He thinks it's important enough to take a look over there....

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/05/australia-jim-harbaugh

I totally agree. I don't know why we don't think outside the box a little bit on this- and actually this really wouldn't be thinking outside the box because a lot of people are doing this now. I'd also call up Ray Guy and tell him that he can hold his kicking camp in Starkville for free with free use of the facilities at MSU.

 

[thekimmer]

What I would call it is the NFL getting exactly what they wanted when they moved the PAT spot back 15 yards.

The PAT, like so many football elements, is really a bit weird when considered in light of most other sports. Things such as, most of game clock consumed while not playing. Certain play outcomes that stop the clock and others that do not. Which leads to the odd one-of-a-kind spectacle of the 'victory formation'. Just think about how different football would be if the clock stopped at the conclusion of every play. That would largely eliminate the two minute offense and the victory formation not to mention the game clock would have to be reduced to 5 minute quarters.

 

[thekimmer]

The game plan should be no FG's and no punts. Unless it's 4th and 8+ from inside our own 20. With our defense and our special teams, it's the mathematically correct strategy.

These coaches kill me. Mullen punting on 4th and inch. Did anyone see Bill O'Brian punt on 4th and 5 last night with 3 minutes on the clock and only 1 TO. They didn't get the ball back. It's just laughable.

I would agree with this strategy but would wait to employ it after giving the D a couple of chances to make a stop. You never know if the D we saw vs TAM might show up. For place kicking that strategy should be a no-brainer at this point.

 

[pmdawg]

A kid from my alma mater high school is a 5 star kicker in Tennessee. He committed to Oklahoma State a couple weeks back. He's the #4 Punter in the country and also kicked a 56 yard field goal to win a game this season. Why couldn't we go after him and offer a scholarship? I'm sure there's plenty of other solid kickers out there we could offer

 

[Xenomorph]

We have a long history of relying on walk-on kickers that "come out of the woodwork" in the spring to try out. In 2002 we didn't recruit Steven Gostkowski at Madison Central and he signed with Memphis. Check out our kicking stats in 03-06.

 

[bruiser.sixpack]

We have a long history of relying on walk-on kickers that "come out of the woodwork" in the spring to try out. In 2002 we didn't recruit Steven Gostkowski at Madison Central and he signed with Memphis. Check out our kicking stats in 03-06.

The Memphis kicker this year is also up for the Lou Groza Award. Those Memphis coaches sure can find kickers!

 

[Drebin]

We have a long history of relying on walk-on kickers that "come out of the woodwork" in the spring to try out. In 2002 we didn't recruit Steven Gostkowski at Madison Central and he signed with Memphis. Check out our kicking stats in 03-06.

To be fair, there was more to the story with Gostkowski. He was also a baseball player - he was actually on scholarship at Memphis for baseball, and he was a walk-on for football.

 

[Todd4State]

We have a long history of relying on walk-on kickers that "come out of the woodwork" in the spring to try out. In 2002 we didn't recruit Steven Gostkowski at Madison Central and he signed with Memphis. Check out our kicking stats in 03-06.

I doubt he would have taken an offer to go to MSU to be honest with you. Also, he actually lost the kicker job at Madison Central to John Skelton who ended up walking on at MSU.