Can anyone kick the damm ball????

[kicker20]

Good in practice or not, why not give Burkhart a try?

IMHO, I think you have A simulated Kicking Competition between Walker and Burkhart. I terms of simulated, have each kicker run on and off the field and kick a horse shoe formation. Start at the 15 yard line on the left hash. Go back 5yds each kick up to the 35 yard line and work back down the right hash, until each kicker has 10 kicks. The best percentage wins for the remainder of the year. I would also put the Kickoff job on the line. Burkhart had yet to have a touch back this year. Give each person 55 kickoffs and the kicker with the best distance and hang time wins the job. Who ever kicks the remainder of the year needs our support, not our criticism.

 

[NeuteredDoomer]

kicker20, I don't know if you are who you say you are (but I am sure the moderaters know who I am, to include my name and address), but you always post good information and advice.

Thank you for that.

I especially follow your call to support and not criticize the kicker. Especially this guy. I am about ready to fly to ND and give the guy a hug.

Call me a softie.

(Anyone considering me a "softie" might be wrong. ugly ex-convicts aproaching me on the street walk away with a look of "please leave me alone Sir" on their faces. Happens daily.)

I am left with "One day, in band camp, I was a flute. Or was it a clarinet?)

 

[phork]

But the problem is game time situations. When I played balled we had a guy that was lights out on the practice field from anywhere, but come game time... OI. We ended up losing the championship 6-4.

 

[NeuteredDoomer]

But the problem is game time situations. When I played balled we had a guy that was lights out on the practice field from anywhere, but come game time... OI. We ended up losing the championship 6-4.

That tells me that you had a great kicker, and something in the entire process got messed up during the games.

I am not lying when I say I was a holder for PAT and FG at one point in my football days. Our kicker had a great leg, but we were below average on all attempts. Finally, one coach took a hard serious look at the entire process, and discovered that I was the problem because the snaps were always perfect, but I was too slow from catch to placement. Also, because I was a bit physically stronger than most, I was probably pushing down on the ball too much once I placed it. Our kicker had no confidence that the ball would ever be placed where he wanted it, when he wanted it. We had no micro-second routine going, so the kicker would hold back until he was sure I would get the ball down.

After I was replaced by a better holder, he never missed again.

Something to think about anyway. True story.

The one year I coached the kicking game, I had the holder place his hands about 6 -12 inches (as a target for the holder) above the spot where the kicker wanted to find the ball placed. It was the snapper's job to hit the target. Our holder always caught the ball within inches of the spot and simply rotated the ball onto the spot. Bingo. We were perfect all season.

I only studied one snap this past game, and the holder caught the ball maybe 24 inches off the ground to his left. He then had to twist his body and find the placement spot, then put it there. The missed 40+ attempt was not entirely the kicker's fault. It was the fault of the entire process.

 

[NDinL.A.]

This was in the Chicago Times this morning:

"Notre Dame's kicking dilemma is resolved, and coach Charlie Weis will address the hows and whys after practice Thursday. All that's known now is the who: Sophomore Brandon Walker will continue his field-goal kicking duties Saturday at No. 22 North Carolina despite his wayward performance thus far. A team spokesman said junior Ryan Burkhart took all the kicks in practice Tuesday and Walker all the kicks Wednesday, adding that Weis said it "wasn't close" in Walker's favor. It was the second time in the last month that Walker had won a kick-off against Burkhart, who still will handle kickoff duties. But for field goals, the Irish will continue to rely on a leg that is 1 of 7 to start 2008, with Walker's two missed kicks against Stanford on Saturday making him 7 of 19 in his Notre Dame career."

Brandon Walker to continue kicking duties for Notre Dame -- chicagotribune.com

Bottom Line, Burkhart has proven time and time again that he's just not good enough yet. Walker smokes him every time. We've all rehashed what the problems are, now it's time for Walker and the rest of the kicking team to step up...

 

[GO IRISH!!!]

I don't know if this kid needs meditation, a good massage, a little more sumthin'-sumthin' from his gf, or what, but I am really pulling for him. I hope he can get his confidences in line and focus. He just looks like a kicked puppy whenever he comes off the field. He is automatic on extra points, so he can do the mechanics for those, but something happens when he kick field goals. I don't know what can help, but I hope he finds his zen somewhere before his leg is really needed to decide a game.

 

[NeuteredDoomer]

When I played balled we had a guy ...

You played balled? Who balled you?

 

[GO IRISH!!!]

You played balled? Who balled you?

Maybe he shaved his head when he played. Oh, wait...that's spelled "bald". Crap. Nevermind.

 

[sportallyr]

I, for one, can not believe that Charlie is still giving this kid a chance. I don't care what he does in a practice, he is a "choker" during game situations. Why not give Burkhart a chance? Burkhart may be somebody who does better under pressure in game situations than he shows at practice. If Charlie never gives him a chance, we'll never know. Right now, we don't need a great kicker...we just need an average one who makes the easy ones and hits 50% of the difficult ones. I would have to think that Burkhart is capable of that or he never would have been given a scholarship. I can't keep watching Walker miss field goal after field goal. He has been given more than enough chances...we NEED to make a change before it costs us a game.

 

[NDMontana]

Maybe we could hold a campus wide kicker tryout ala WSU's open tryout for a scout team QB. Hell, maybe we could get someone hot like Kathy Ireland from Necessary Roughness.

 

[NeuteredDoomer]

Maybe we could hold a campus wide kicker tryout ala WSU's open tryout for a scout team QB. Hell, maybe we could get someone hot like Kathy Ireland from Necessary Roughness.

Hold (pun intended) a holder tryout. Hold a snapper tryout. Fire the coaches that aren't willing to impose their will on an important aspect of the game.

 

[NDMontana]

Hold (pun intended) a holder tryout. Hold a snapper tryout. Fire the coaches that aren't willing to impose their will on an important aspect of the game.

I have seen one bad snap this year. The holds have been fine and so have the snaps. He takes 2 seconds to approach the ball and his kicking motion is not fluid. It's been snap..hold...wait....wait.....wait....kick. I don't know what you're seeing or think you're seeing but there is not a problem there.

 

[NeuteredDoomer]

I have seen one bad snap this year. The holds have been fine and so have the snaps. He takes 2 seconds to approach the ball and his kicking motion is not fluid. It's been snap..hold...wait....wait.....wait....kick. I don't know what you're seeing or think you're seeing but there is not a problem there.

He has a history of seeing bad snaps and not-so-precise placement of the ball. He knows he is kicking before a worldwide audience. He knows his mother is watching.

Last year, it appeared that ND assumed any "special team" could take care of itself.

This is a coaching problem.

Weis is still not the Holtz equivalent, but he might surpass him and Rock.

 

[SoCalDomer]

I appreciate this former kicker's perspective:

Former Irish kicker Nicholas Setta, currently one of the best field goal kickers and punters in the Canadian Football League, suggested that perhaps working with one of ND’s former standout kickers might help the current ones.

“There’s only so much a coach can help you with,” Setta said.

Setta worked with former ND standout and longtime NFL kicker John Carney to work his way out of slumps.

“He was always so positive,” Setta said. “Whether I missed the kick or hit it, he’d say, ‘You’re killing the ball.’ After a while, you start to believe it. So much of the kicking game is confidence and mental stuff.

“I remember when my dad was coaching me growing up, and I’d miss a kick and I’d try to explain all the intricacies of what I was trying to do with the kick. And the best advice he gave me was, ‘Son, just be aggressive. Go kick the crap out of the ball.’ And that’s true. I think it’s good advice for golfers as well: Don’t think too much.

“You’re only as good or bad as your last kick. So if you make a 50-yarder, act like you’ve been there before. And if you miss a 30-yarder, act like you’ve been there before too.”

more: Hansen: Irish feel sting of not recruiting placekickers - Notre Dame Central - NBCSports.com

 

[NDinL.A.]

Wait, so you're NOT supposed to celebrate like a maniac and tear your ACL when you make a 28 yarder like Martin Gramatica? Are you sure about that?

 

[NDMontana]

He has a history of seeing bad snaps and not-so-precise placement of the ball. He knows he is kicking before a worldwide audience. He knows his mother is watching.

Last year, it appeared that ND assumed any "special team" could take care of itself.

This is a coaching problem.

Weis is still not the Holtz equivalent, but he might surpass him and Rock.

Maybe you should go coach him up. You could definitely help him form an astute self-serving bias. You're displaying fundamental attribution error in reverse: blaming way too much on the environment and not putting any of this on the individual.

Is BW related to you or something?

 

[JeremyND07]

Just read there will be no kicking change because the competition in practice was not close...I have a crazy idea...how about an in game competition because that seems to be were we have a problem!

 

[NDMontana]

Just read there will be no kicking change because the competition in practice was not close...I have a crazy idea...how about an in game competition because that seems to be were we have a problem!

Everybody has played a sport with somebody that is a Practice Stud & Game Dud. Usually, in my experience, it was more of a basketball thing but it could happen in football.

 

[SoCalDomer]

Wait, so you're NOT supposed to celebrate like a maniac and tear your ACL when you make a 28 yarder like Martin Gramatica? Are you sure about that?

for the Gramaticas that's okay, because they're ubiquitous and if one goes down they can be easily replaced with another Gramatica. kind of like the oompa loompas

 

[Steve]

is an in game competition really fair?

you could have one guy kicking a 45 yarder and the other one attempting a 25 yarder. different in game situations and all that. i just think a competition in practice is the only way you can really do it. and i don't think kicking is one of those positions where you can just turn it on for a game. if burkhart can't win a competition in practice, i doubt he's gonna suddenly be able to bang home kicks during games.

i've learned to live with the misses. the last thing i wanna see, though, is burkart go in there and get one blocked and taken to the house.

 

[NDMontana]

is an in game competition really fair?

you could have one guy kicking a 45 yarder and the other one attempting a 25 yarder. different in game situations and all that. i just think a competition in practice is the only way you can really do it. and i don't think kicking is one of those positions where you can just turn it on for a game. if burkhart can't win a competition in practice, i doubt he's gonna suddenly be able to bang home kicks during games.

i've learned to live with the misses. the last thing i wanna see, though, is burkart go in there and get one blocked and taken to the house.

Funny, the last thing I want to see is Brandon Walker walking on the field w/ less than one minute left in a tied, one or two point game to attempt a game winning field goal.

 

[Steve]

you're not gonna see that because if he keeps missing, we're just throwing up a hail mary lol.

 

[NDMontana]

you're not gonna see that because if he keeps missing, we're just throwing up a hail mary lol.

Touche.

 

[IrishFan4Life]

We def need some help with kicking thats for sure.

 

[kicker20]

He has a history of seeing bad snaps and not-so-precise placement of the ball. He knows he is kicking before a worldwide audience. He knows his mother is watching.

Last year, it appeared that ND assumed any "special team" could take care of itself.

This is a coaching problem.

Weis is still not the Holtz equivalent, but he might surpass him and Rock.

While you are making a valid point on the snap placement, and the effect that has on the kicker, I don.t agree with. The kicker starts his motion when the holder is raising his hands to catch the snap. They have 1.3 seconds to get the kick off. If the holder is late getting the ball down, they call fire, and abort the kick.

 

[Steve]

did i hear it right during the game that burkhart didn't make ANY kicks during the kick competition?

 

[NeuteredDoomer]

Maybe you should go coach him up. You could definitely help him form an astute self-serving bias. You're displaying fundamental attribution error in reverse: blaming way too much on the environment and not putting any of this on the individual.

Is BW related to you or something?

I was intimately involved with the entire FG process for years, both as an athlete and coach. I have stated my opinions on the matter and made recommendations.

I was so damn happy for Walker when he made it today.

 

[kicker20]

kicker20, I don't know if you are who you say you are (but I am sure the moderaters know who I am, to include my name and address), but you always post good information and advice.

Thank you for that.

I especially follow your call to support and not criticize the kicker. Especially this guy. I am about ready to fly to ND and give the guy a hug.

Call me a softie.

(Anyone considering me a "softie" might be wrong. ugly ex-convicts aproaching me on the street walk away with a look of "please leave me alone Sir" on their faces. Happens daily.)

I am left with "One day, in band camp, I was a flute. Or was it a clarinet?)

I am at the point that if you think I am Kevin Kopka, great. If not, I won't lose any sleep. At least read my posts and see I have a vast knowledge about the Kicking Game. Yes I am a former player, but I hope you judge me be my content, not by my name.

 

[GO IRISH!!!]

for the Gramaticas that's okay, because they're ubiquitous and if one goes down they can be easily replaced with another Gramatica. kind of like the oompa loompas

This is one of the funniest things I have read in a while. Made me laugh and gave me nightmares all at the same time!

 

[faildozer]

I have been impressed with how the team is starting to play but there is one thing I just don't understand. How can a well-known major university have so much trouble finding a kicker who can consistantly make a field goal? Hell, the woman's soccer team in ranked #1, so recuit one of them to kick! This kicking game is going to cost us a win sometime!

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