New Perspective on FG Kicking Problems
- Thread starter Lucky Dawg
- Start date
My perspective from the 20 yard line was that there is no solution to the problem with the personnel we have.
Perspective? Ray Charles could see we suck. The only solution is to...
go for two after every score like some 2-A high school in the Delta....
go for two after every score like some 2-A high school in the Delta....
Zero trust in our kickers at this point. I don't know how you begin to fix it in the middle of a season. If we lose to LSU because of kicking there might be a riot.
I say go for 2 every time vs SEC teams. Let's actually use our strengths stay aggressive and go for 17'ing throats.
I'm at the point where I agree. We should be able to run the zone read and get 3 yards 50% of the time against anyone, which puts us right where we'd be anyway with a kicker who can kick PAT's reliably (dear god did I just say that?).
is there a rule against signing someone mid season that played juco last year that isn't playing anywhere now? surely there is a former juco player out there that can make an extra point.
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Remember, it only matters how well they kick in practice.
They're tearing it up during the week when they're by themselves with no pressure kicking the ball with that mechanical holder thing. That's what Mullen goes on. Seriously, we just need to go with Sobiesk. Graves is a scrub. There is no information online about him attending any kicking camps or being a highly rated kicker with scholarship offers, even from smaller schools. So he's not even a good walk-on. Just some guy who kicked decently at Jackson Prep and Mullen thinks that will translate into being a great SEC kicker because he is being taught by Mullen, the god of special teams. As bad as Bell was last year, I wouldn't be opposed to going back to him, or even trying Logan Cooke, even though we primarily signed him as a punter. Bell could at least make extra points.
They're tearing it up during the week when they're by themselves with no pressure kicking the ball with that mechanical holder thing. That's what Mullen goes on. Seriously, we just need to go with Sobiesk. Graves is a scrub. There is no information online about him attending any kicking camps or being a highly rated kicker with scholarship offers, even from smaller schools. So he's not even a good walk-on. Just some guy who kicked decently at Jackson Prep and Mullen thinks that will translate into being a great SEC kicker because he is being taught by Mullen, the god of special teams. As bad as Bell was last year, I wouldn't be opposed to going back to him, or even trying Logan Cooke, even though we primarily signed him as a punter. Bell could at least make extra points.
This whole "they both did great in practice so we're going to play both of them" ******** drives me crazy. Stick with Sobiesk. I'm curious to see how he can perform if he knows he will be the starter a week in advance. No more guessing. Name the starter. I'm still baffled on why we still do this rotation stuff. Why did Mullen do the same thing with Swedenburg last year? A ray guy nominee, yet we rotate him in because Bell did better than him in "practice"?
My 2 cents.
My 2 cents.
This exactly. It's not like Graves is a scholarship kicker or even a preferred walk-on. He's a true freshman walk-on from Jackson Prep. No reason at all he should be in a kicking competition at an SEC school. The only way a true freshman should kick in the SEC is either he is a highly rated high school kicker and on scholarship or the starting kicker gets hurt and the true freshman is the only backup. Graves is neither of those things. Not only is he not highly rated, he doesn't appear to be rated at all. I bet any decent high school kicker will kick pretty well in practice when he's by himself and there's no pressure and he's just kicking the ball with that mechanical holder thing holding it. It's completely different when you're in front of 65,000+ fans on Saturday against a heavy rush. Kicking is mostly a mental thing. Graves probably **** his pants when he has come out to kick because he's used to kicking in front of about 1,500 people at Jackson Prep and isn't mentally tough enough to take it. Sobiesk at least has experience kicking at the college level. Just go with him and see how he does for a few games. If he completely fails, then reevaluate. It's unbelievable to me that an SEC team still hasn't decided on a starting kicker after 2 games.
I've heard of some schools having open tryouts for students. Are we to that point yet? I think it was maybe Rutgers who did it. Could be wrong. I ain't googlin' it either! I know some teams have done it though. I think we're at that point.
Texas Tech put a student on the team who kicked a field goal during a halftime contest a few years back. I believe it was when Leach was still there. I think it worked out too
There are several juco kickers in MS that we be better than what we have. Kicker rankings by kohls and sailor camps have nothing to do with actual on the field live action. There is no defense or live situations in these completions. Ole miss has the no 1 or 2 ranked freshman kicker ranked by these two services. He is on the bench. Alabama or 99% of D1 schools do not have a qualified coach to teach the technical mechanics of kicking. It is not something that can be changed or corrected in a week. It has to start in the spring. Most people have no clue how technical it can be. The sweet spot on a football is about the size of a silver dollar. Not much room for error. It could be the holder is off an inch of where the kicker wants the ball placed in reference to his plant foot. There are plenty of reliable kickers out there. Don't know why we don't have a couple.
Bell was 14/21 his Freshman year. We all thought he stunk then, but we'd probably kill for that now.
It's not that technical. They may be struggling because they are over thinking it like you. And you can miss the sweet spot and make every extra point.
I think you have to go back with Bell. And you tell him look, your main duty is still punts and kickoffs. Just go kick extra points and fg too. No pressure. If you make them great; if you miss them, its not like it is any worse than what we have now. Guarantee you he does not miss two extra points.