[NU Sports] Talent

[Beamsley, Jeff]

Didn't do an exhaustive search, but a quick google search turned up  
rugby kickers at Nebraska, missouri, and Ohio state. The articles in  
each case quoted huge punts of 70 yards or more that are possible with  
the big rolls that you can get from this style.

Now that the rules allow it, a lot of teams are looking at schemes  
which can leverage the ability of the punter to see what sort of  
return is setup and kick away from it.

I agree that our kicking has been a weakness.

I don't think it is a function of the style of kicker, but the quality  
of our special teams.

Jeff

Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 21, 2009, at 10:49 AM, "Evans Schoeman"  
<eschoeman at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> Great point about the kickers.  We yearn for the days of Valenzisi,  
> Burton, and Gowins!
>
> I think that a fair amount of responsibility must go to the way we  
> use our kickers (i.e. coaching).  I think of Huffman, who was a fine  
> kicker coming out of high school and became very ordinary (remember  
> his nightmare at TCU?) at NU.
>
> Aren't we asking way too much of a kicker when we have him doing  
> kickoffs, punting, PATs, and FGs?  Not only is it wearing on the  
> leg, but it also requires him to spend practice time on all of those  
> areas and not focus on one or two of them.
>
> And I firmly believe that our tactics of pooch kick-offs and rugby- 
> style punts are very dubious ones that rarely pay off.  Just look at  
> the results.  I would say that maybe 20-25% of the time do they  
> yield the results that we desire.  For every Purdue-like success  
> where we recover a muffed punt, there's a 25 yarder or a Macklin- 
> type return.  Same with kick-offs, where our opponent typically sets  
> up around the 40 yard line (why not just kick the ball out of  
> bounds)?  Yet we refuse to abandon either approach.
>
> If you look at all of the good teams on TV, you will very rarely see  
> any pooch kick-offs or rugby punts.  I don't think that's a  
> coincidence.
>
> ...and I really don't think that reflects the talent that we have.   
> It's coaching.
>
>
>
>
> 
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> From: Jim Leonard <jleonard518 at yahoo.com>
> To: nwu-sports at tssi.com
> Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 8:23:47 AM
> Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Talent
>
> I agree completely that our academic standards will always make  
> recruiting an uphill challenge - and I never want to see the  
> standards change. However, the one area that has always baffled me  
> is the kicking game. Thousands of young men handle kickoffs, field  
> goals, and punting on their high school squads. There have to be a  
> bunch of academically-minded kickers out there. For someone with a  
> brain and a good leg, a free NU education should be very attractive,  
> yet we struggle.
>
> Go Cats!
> Jim
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Sportsbiz <sportsbiz at gmail.com>
> To: hakirsch at aol.com
> Cc: tbng at comcast.net; nwu-sports at tssi.com
> Sent: Tue, October 20, 2009 8:16:50 PM
> Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Talent
>
> And we are not going to lower our academic standards for football,
> basketball or any other athletes (no that Harry suggested that) so the
> built-in disadvantage will continue.  However, Fitz is one who can  
> more
> effectively sell those football players who qualify that NU is a  
> better
> place to be than the state schools that are also recruiting him  
> because he
> lived it and he breathes it.  Give him a few more years and let's  
> see the
> talent level rise a bit.  The level of the starters will be  
> improved, it
> will always be depth that is an issue.  If Fitz can significantly  
> upgrade
> our depth so that the second team is not a major drop-off in talent,  
> then we
> will be able to compete for Big Ten titles consistently.  I, for one,
> believe he can given the tools and I think Philips and President  
> Shapiro
> will give him what he needs.
> Mark
>
>
>
>
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