Anyone know much about our second string kicker?
- Thread starter Hanmudog
- Start date
Mullen said last week that they compete each week and whoever kicks best during that week plays that weekend. My rebuttal to that is - maybe Bell just under performs during the game. You have to give the other guy a shot.
Yes the other guy needs a shot. I'm surprised that Bell hasn't kicked a ball that somehow found a way to go backwards. Not like the other guy can do any worse.
I'm still much more of a "Mullen guy" these days than I'm not, but that statement sounds like one of the asinine ones that would have come out of Croom's mouth six years ago and that I'd have been rabid over. At what point is Dan going to finally decide that the sample size is large enough to reach the conclusion that Bell does not perform well under game pressure? He may be hitting 60 yarders with the back of his left foot during practice, but that is clearly not translating to gameday. It's time to at least give the other guy a shot.
I think Mullen has said that Bell does fine in practice. I don't care how a kicker kicks in practice. It's a lot different kicking in front of 60,000 screaming fans. Bell has been given WAY too many chances. You've got to give the other guy a shot no matter how he kicks in practice. He can't be any worse than Bell. And even if he is, you can always go back to Bell.
I am not making excuses for Mullen or Bell, but I will say that I would yield to Mullen on this decision, because he sees the guy every day and he knows stuff we don't.
I'm reminded of a guy we should've recruited, out of Jackson, pretty good baseball player too. His name was Stephen Gostkowski. He got off to a very rocky start kicking at Memphis, but by the end, he was very consistent, got drafted, and is now one of the best kickers in the NFL. Sometimes you have to be patient with kickers...they are a little different.
**** watching Bell kick Field Goals is like watching Happy Gilmore trying to putt.
GO TO YOUR HOME BALL
Just to offer a rebuttal, do you really think Mullen is WATCHING the kickers? If he is, then no wonder we cant beat a ranked team. Also, one of my best friends was, self admittedly, a terrible kicker in practice, but is currently the most accurate kicker in NCAA history and made multiple long distance game winning kicks in his career. Which by the way, he is from Central MS, but our staff didn't bother to offer him.
I wouldn't be opposed to Mullen saying to the kickers "You have the job till you miss the next one. Then the other guy gets the job till he misses it."
I think Bell has a lot of kicking talent. He obviously has a strong leg, and has done a great job with booming deep kickoffs this year. And he may kick very well in practice. But there is a HUGE difference kicking by yourself in practice and kicking in front of 60,000 fans and 11 defenders rushing you in a pressure-packed game. Bell apparently is a head case. He misses WAY too many short kicks. He is less than 50% on field goals between 30 and 39 yards in his career. Those should be made at least 90% of the time. Less than 50% is inexcusable for a JUCO kicker, much less one in the SEC. Maybe the backup Sobiesk doesn't have as strong a leg, but surely he can make 30-39 yard field goals at a better than 50% clip. Let him kick the shorter field goals, and Bell kick the long ones over 45 yards or so. That seems to be the best solution to me. But what do I know? I'm not the all-knowing special teams coach.
I'm tired of this learning on the job stuff from Mullen. Plus, he seems to put people in a position to fail (e.g., Russell Gator Bowl 2013). He needs to go back to coaching QBs and hire a special teams coach. State'll never stay in games if they can't hit a field-goal from 30+ or in crunch time. How great it was to have kickers the likes of Scott Westerfield!
Plus, not having Holloway on KR make me shake my head.
No -- he's not "watching" the kickers. But basically everything that happens at an MSU practice is watched, recorded, documented, and reviewed daily. So, yes, he knows exactly what's going on in that regard.
It's past time that Sobiesk gets a chance...and I don't care what is happening in practice.
Bell is one of only 2 kickers in all of FBS with 3 misses from 30-39 yards. The other guy is FAU's kicker. Nuf said.
If it is based on practice, then they need to find better ways to put pressure on the kickers in practice to see how they respond.
I know this isn't a good analogy but I am derhntr afterall: I missed a couple doe one season while bow hunting but was shooting better in practice than I had ever shot. Pops decided that I should come home from school and get just one shot at my 3d target before dinner and nothing else. One shot counted. Worked like a charm. I still practice like this several days a week during deer season.
Like I said, not the greatest analogy but shirley our coaches can find a better way to assess ability under pressure. What they are doing now doesn't appear to work.
I know this isn't a good analogy but I am derhntr afterall: I missed a couple doe one season while bow hunting but was shooting better in practice than I had ever shot. Pops decided that I should come home from school and get just one shot at my 3d target before dinner and nothing else. One shot counted. Worked like a charm. I still practice like this several days a week during deer season.
Like I said, not the greatest analogy but shirley our coaches can find a better way to assess ability under pressure. What they are doing now doesn't appear to work.
I've often thought of what would have become of the Sherrill era had Jackie recruited Gostkowski instead of JMM. I forgot the numbers, but if Gostkowski is the guy and makes the kicks he did at Memphis at State, thats a few more victories for the Bulldogs. Lots of hypotheticals, but JMM crappy kicking haunts my dreams.
He hit 14 of 18 (78%) over the last 11 games last year. He had a rocky start missing his first 3, but seemed to get things figured out.
After the first 3 misses he had one blocked against Bama, and missed from 35, 38, and 41. Not great but 78% would rank him in about the top 1/3 of kickers.
I have no idea what's happening this year but you could visually see the relief from Bell after he hit the 35 yard FG. When you get as nervous as he appears to be getting... I don't know how you quickly fix it.
After the first 3 misses he had one blocked against Bama, and missed from 35, 38, and 41. Not great but 78% would rank him in about the top 1/3 of kickers.
I have no idea what's happening this year but you could visually see the relief from Bell after he hit the 35 yard FG. When you get as nervous as he appears to be getting... I don't know how you quickly fix it.
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