(04-21-2020 07:13 PM)cpawfan Wrote: How has this thread gone 5 posts without a comment from our resident kicking expert.
I have been called (and finally found my camp notes), so I must respond:
You guys are spot on with Cole...leg over line if that makes sense. The one note I've always had is that he tries to kick the ball 60+ on every kick, even 30 yard chips or PATs...which is not normal. He's susceptible to blocks because of his lower trajectory (something I noted even back when he was a freshman straight from the camp circuit and had a few blocked in year one), and his form breaks down because he continues to try to kick the **** out of the ball which is why he tends to hook-miss instead of push-miss. Hook-misses are indicative of overswinging your pendulum or over-striding (two things you HAVE to do on longer kicks) whereas push-misses are typically down to under-rotating your hips through your pendulum or misalignment of your plant foot through the kicking motion.
The only kid of the youngins that I saw personally on the camp circuit in the past few years was Lundberg. Dude has got a serious leg on kickoffs WHEN HE HITS IT, but it didn't seem to translate to form kicking, as he was at or even below average in charting during our session at the '18 nationals. He also tends to stutter into his kickoffs, which is a bit problematic as it limits the length to which one can actually kick by slowing down your lateral momentum through the ball. Lastly has an issue with trajectories on KO's as well, as most of his balls come off a bit lower than normal when playing off of ground, and he was still kicking off of blocks in our camps for form kicks, which is kind of a big no-no [Requisite B-man note that if you want your kid to start kicking NEVER buy a block for him or her to kick field goals off of, it kills form, and their motion will need to be completely re-worked when you move to ground].
He did seem to have a straighter ball on most form kicks (FGs and PATs], but he tended to hook-miss too, which leads me to believe he suffers from a similar problem of kicking-the-****-out-of-the-ball-itis. All in all, he's worthy of a walk-on spot to see if he can figure it out without counting against the scholarship cap.
I can only comment on Burton from his highlight films, so I don't see what happens when his form breaks down...but he clearly has a flexibility issue, which is unsurprising for a guy with his measurables.
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Kickers this fall?
