According to Jean, we just got a pretty good walk on kicker/punter...

[CadaverDawg]

My buddy just sent me this...

Corner (AL) High School Troy Elliott, one of the top kicker/punter combination players in the nation, will be walking on at MSU this fall.

This past season, he made the class 4A honorable mention all-state team. In January he was selected the No. 1 field goal kicker and No. 2 punter (45.83 average distance on 6 punts) at the 2013 Adidas Expo One-On-One Expo Kicking Camp in January, 2013.

 

[FISHDAWG]

with schollies left over why would he have to walk on ... if Freeze wanted him he would go get him ... why does Dan even take a chance on losing a quality kicker ? .... maybe I'm just to much of a sceptic but I'm not sold on the (hopeful) development of Bell and how much longer do we have Brandenberg ?

 

[missouridawg]

with schollies left over why would he have to walk on ... if Freeze wanted him he would go get him ... why does Dan even take a chance on losing a quality kicker ? .... maybe I'm just to much of a sceptic but I'm not sold on the (hopeful) development of Bell and how much longer do we have Brandenberg ?

To use for next year...

 

[FISHDAWG]

so do you have faith that Bell will develop into the kicker we want ? ... not being cynical here but I'm curious as to how others feel about his potential

 

[maroonmania]

To use for next year...

Plus I'm not sure what we have left over. I know we are trying to get Toby Johnson but we are bumping hard against the 85 overall limit. Likely anybody we add now means we are going to need some attrition from somewhere else to accommodate them.

 

[tenureplan]

I think Mullen thinks so

This guy appears to be our punter of the future.

 

[missouridawg]

so do you have faith that Bell will develop into the kicker we want ? ... not being cynical here but I'm curious as to how others feel about his potential

Yes. I'm confident with Bell.

But this is irrelevant... Mullen got a kicker to walk-on... which is better than using a scholarship on him. Especially as good of a kicker as this guy sounds.

 

[Original48]

I'm pretty optimistic about Bell. I thought he did a pretty good job as a true freshman. He started off a little shaky but made 4/5 fgs in November and was 2 of 2 in the bowl game. He got better each month of the season. He also had a better percentage vs ranked opponents than non ranked so he doesnt seem to get flustered on the big stage or on the road. Again..he was right out of high school. Also made 43/44 pats. His stats are linked below. To your scholarship point, kickers don't get scholarships that often. Generally they get a preferred walk on which essentially puts them in a kicking contest in practice/games to win one.
http://www.cfbstats.com/2012/player/430/1048185/kicking/split.html

 

[GulfCoastDawg]

Christ, how many times have we heard this??

ANYTIME I hear MSU kicker/punter this automatically comes to mind.

http://sixpackspeak.com/UAB07_McAdams.mp3

 

[fishwater99]

So Bell will be punting too?

 

[tenureplan]

Uhh - I'm not following you

nm

 

[fishwater99]

Bell will also handle punting duties for State? He did both in High School.

 

[FlotownDawg]

What happened to Sobiesk? He was a preferred walk on last year and I thought he would handle field goal kicking while Bell would kick off and punt. Bell was a better punter than kicker in high school while Sobiesk was the better kicker.

 

[FISHDAWG]

thanks 48 ... I never knew that was the way it worked for kickers ... all I know is that when Saban saw that he needed a better kicker - he went and signed the # 1 kicking recruit

 

[RocketDawg]

Could he at least get an out of state tuition waiver? You'd think there would be some little carrot to give if be can contribute to the team.

 

[jwbigcreek]

I thought MSU waived out of state for AL kids now? Or heard some rumor to that effect. In the old days, we could have pulled an Ole Miss & adopted him (eliminating out of state tuition).

 

[HammerOfTheDogs]

What's the deal with kickers at State? I know one guy from Meridian High, when he kicked off for them would knock them through the goalposts. Then, when he came to State, he could barely pooch it to the 30.

I know in High School they have tees for field goals, but they have tees for college on kickoffs. What happens at State? Do the coaches teach them how to hit low line drives that barely reach the 10 yard line?

 

[downwarddawg]

ANYTIME I hear MSU kicker/punter this automatically comes to mind.

http://sixpackspeak.com/UAB07_McAdams.mp3

Haha!! That was outstanding!

 

[RocketDawg]

Don't know. They might, but didn't when my son went there (unless on scholarship).

 

[esplanade91]

Don't know. They might, but didn't when my son went there (unless on scholarship).

I'm a senior so I haven't dealt with admissions in a long time, but I know they heavily discussed it and either accepted a plan to start immediately or deferred the plan to start in year 20__... But the new admissions policy is no out-of-state tuition (not sure if at all or for only Louisiana, Alabama, and Tennessee). They found it only made people not want to come here in the first place or that some current students who lost their waiver transferred to their instate schools after one year. Either way it kept MSU's numbers down and did nothing for $ sake for the school.

 

[esplanade91]

so do you have faith that Bell will develop into the kicker we want ? ... not being cynical here but I'm curious as to how others feel about his potential

What don't people understand about the 85 scholarship limit? We can't sign anymore people because we don't have any scholarships to give. You're ALLOWED to sign 25 athletes a year, you can only have 85 people on your roster.

To boot kickers/punters never get scholarships out of high school. Mullen had to out of necessity 3 times so far (2 kickers, punter) because Croom left us with a pile of **** on special teams and ZERO connections with high school coaches and their specialists. The only incentive they had to come here was a free education.

Bell was a typical true freshman kicker this year, but he found his groove and it worked out down the stretch. No worse than Carlson his senior year, so that's saying something. Swedenberg is textbook how a kicker/punter should work out in college. Enroll in a school. Greyshirt. Redshirt. Put on scholarship. Have one of the greatest statistical seasons in school history. They're not all going to greyshirt and that's fine, but I wanted to point out to you that Baker has been on the team for like 10 years.

 

[Vivace]

AL kids do not get an automatic OOS waiver

They either have to make the OOS waiver scholarship ACT (26 last year, I think) or they can get them waived through the Academic Common Market if they qualify like that. That requires you to be from one of the 16 partner states and major in something that isn't available in your state. (http://www.sreb.org/page/1304/academic_common_market.html) Being the kid of an alumni will get a 50% waiver, too.

Having said that, a LOT of the kids from Alabama that come to state do get the OOS waiver. With OOS waived, it's cheaper than UA or AU. Without it, it costs a lot more to go to State.