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(10-19-2022 11:17 AM)BearcatMan Wrote:  

(10-19-2022 07:11 AM)OKIcat Wrote:  Interesting article in Monday's Wall Street Journal, "The Rise of the Long Field Goal". It's about the NFL this season, where teams have attempted more field goals of 50-plus yards than they did in the entire 2000 season. The Bengals saw a 58 yarder by the Ravens in their recent matchup. Needless to say, we witnessed a pretty long field goal by Georgia in the closing minutes of the Peach Bowl.

Field goal consistency and distance have not been strengths for UC in recent years. At the college level, is that a recruiting issue or a player development issue? With UC being a 3-point pick Saturday it suggests that against better opponents, such as in the Big 12 next year, it will become even more critical in winning close games.

Thoughts?

UC's kicking game over the last 6 years is still in the 60th percentile on the aggregate. We had one ****** kicker that skews the perception, but if our kickers are hitting above 80%, that's decent for a D1 guy....I think people are looking at the guys like Justin Tucker and Cade York and thinking everyone should be 92%+ when in reality that is the MASSIVE exception to the rule. The thing with kicker recruiting that is different is that very few scholarships get offered, and the ones who get those are the top 5 or so in each class who are CLEARLY far and above the others in distance and/or consistency.

When you get into the 10-40 range for kickers, there is so little separating them in general mechanics and outcomes that it ends up being all about handling pressure in games, and there is no real way to assess that in a camp or even from high school results (given most are playing in front of <2000 people). Hell, I think you could go down to about 80th in the kicker pools and find people who are just about the same as the 15th-20th ranked guys in outcomes, which is why no one wastes a scholly on them. Also, kickers tend to be more academic aligned or very regionally focused in their choice on schools if they aren't getting an athletic scholarship early, and UC doesn't really compare to a lot of other schools asking them when it comes to academics, and there normally are only 4-6 high end kickers in OH/IN/KY every year to choose from.

Coe is a very good kicker...I don't get where people are saying he is bad. If you're basing it off of hitting the top of the upright from 49 yards and missing a 20 yard kick from the right hash where we didn't have our holder angled correctly against Arkansas, then I don't know what to tell you. That 49 yarder was one of the more impressive kicks I've seen. That was likely tracking as having good distance from 65 yards or so based on trajectory and the height of it when it crossed the goalpost. We just don't kick a ton of FGs in general (which I like), so the misses are far more evident. If he was 8/11 instead of 5/8, most people wouldn't bat an eyelash, his KOs have been incredibly consistent, though, which is a big plus.

Reminded me of Jonathan Ruffin who won the Lou Groza award. He didn't get much time in the NFL unfortunately.