LOS ANGELES - Competition winners, top prospects and rankings from the Ray Guy Prokicker.com Winter camp last weekend,

Long Distance Field Goal Winner:  Mitchell Wheelon, 50 yards
Long Distance Kickoff Winner:  Eric Sanchez, 69 yds, 3.67 sec
Hang Time Punt Winner:  Cody Fisher, 52yds, 4.12 sec
Out of bounds punt right winner:  Matt Barr, 6 yd line
Out of bounds punt left winner:  Jose Munguia, 3 yd line
Fastest single snap:  Shawn Murphy, .81 sec
Most Accurate Snapper:  Joe Marx, 19/30

Top Prospects:
Matthew Barr, K/P, 2013
Eric Sanchez, K/P, 2012

Rankings
#1 kicker:  Eric Sanchez, 2012
#1 punter:  Cody Fisher, 2012
#1 long snapper:  Joseph Marx, 2013
#1 kicker/punter Combo:  Matthew Barr, 2013
#1 punter/kickoff, Kickoff Specialist:  Eric Sanchez, 2012

By Mark Maynard / Prokickernews.com

BRADENTON, Fla. - Nick Tankersley, a second-team Ray Guy Prokicker.com All-American kicker, has signed to play for Carson-Newman in Jefferson City, Tenn.

Tankersley was selected second-team field goal kicker and third-team kickoff specialist on the inaugural Prokicker.com All-American list. He is a senior at Manatee High School, which captured the Flroida 7A championship last fall with a 13-2 record.

Tankersley was instrumental toward that success with one of the strongest legs in the country. He maded 18 of 26 field goals, with a long of 53 yards, a school record. Four of his misses were from 50-plus yards out.

He also had 68 touchbacks on 100 kickoffs and punted 39 times for net average of 37.18. Tankersley's sky-high punts allowed only 28 return yards all season.

Tankersley will be punting at first for the Eagles, whose punter from last season tore his ACL in a pickup basketball game. That opened the door for Tankersley, who hopes to compete for the other coaching job as well.

“Knowing I'm going to a program that has been successful with a winning tradition was important,” he said. “Right now they're definitely in need of a punter.”

It all came togther starting last Friday when Tankersley made a visit. “They interviewed me to see if I was the right man for the job. I'll probably be the punter right away.”

Tankersley was put in touch with Carson-Newman through Manatee's head of recruiting. He said his exprerience with Prokicker.com was instrumental in development.

“(Prokicker.com camp director) Rick Sang played a huge role in helping me get recruited,” Tankersley said. “Bringing people in like (Dolphin punter) Brandon Fields and (Redskins kicker) Graham Gano was amazing. It helps you pick up on the small stuff.”

Tankersley will be on full scholarship with athletic and financial aid, he said. The All-American also had an offer from Elizabethtown City State in Florida but Carson-Newman “was a much better fit,” he said.

Tankersley joins a big recruiting class of 56 other freshman student-athletes that were signed on National Signing Day. He is the only kicker of the group.

“He can do all of it (in the kicking game),” said Manatee assistant coach Dennis Stallard. “He’s probably more natural kicker/kickoff guy. He taught himself through what he learned at Prokicker.com camps. It’s not a natural motion for a kid with a soccer background.”

Carson-Newman has won 21 South Atlantic Conference championships since 1983, claimed five NAIA national championships in the 1980's and has reached the NCAA Division II championship game three times (1996, 1998, 1999).

Coach Ken Sparks is the 12^th all-time winningest coach in the history of college football.  He will begin the 2012 season one win away from reaching 300 for his career.

By Mark Maynard / Prokickernews.com

RICHMOND – Ray Guy Prokicker.com All-American kicker Zach Burgy-VanHoose is glad to have the college decision behind him.

The Pikeville (Ky.) High School senior decided on Eastern Kentucky University on Wednesday where he hopes to become the kickoff specialist.

“I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders is the best way to describe it,” Burgy-VanHoose said. “I’ve been stressed out the past couple of weeks.”

Burgy-Vanhoose’s strong kicking leg helped him to first-team All-American status on the inaugural Ray Guy Prokicker.com All-American team. He boomed 85 percent of his kickoffs for touchbacks and was also selected to kick for Kentucky in the Border Bowl against Tennessee.

A veteran of several Prokicker.com camps, Burgy-VanHoose was courted by several colleges including Jackson State, Kentucky Wesleyan and Fairmont State. He could have been a preferred walk-on at the University of Kentucky and Marshall, he said.

He chose EKU because of its closeness to home (about a two-hour drive) and his familiarity with the campus. His brother, Alex, has attended EKU for the past two years.

“I loved Richmond, loved the campus and the coaches were great,” he said. “My (high school) coach (Chris McNamee) played there four years. They’re always winning conference championships. I think it’s a good fit. I even get to wear my maroon, too.”

The maroon-and-white Colonels are the same as Pikeville.

Burgy-VanHoose credited Prokicker.com director Rick Sang and his staff for turning him into a solid kicker that colleges would want. He’s been attending Prokicker.com camps since before his sophomore year in high school. Ironically, the first camp he attended was at EKU, where Ray Guy was one of the instructors.

“I don’t know where I’d be without Prokicker,” he said. “It definitely helped me. I could go on for days about them. They noticed things I was doing that I wasn’t even aware of. I left those camps with the knowledge they gave me and worked to become better.”

Burgy-VanHoose, who has a cannon-like leg, will be a preferred walk-on at EKU but could earn a partial scholarship if he becomes the kickoff specialist.

“I want to average 75 (yards),” he said. “I have a big kick of 80. I’m hitting about 71 right now. I plan on winning that field goal job, too.

“Rick (Sang) told (EKU) Coach (Dean) Hood he expects me to come down and win the job,” Burgy-VanHoose said. “That makes you feel good when somebody believes that much in you. I won’t let him down.”

Burgy-VanHoose was the kickoff specialist and field goal kicker this fall for Pikeville, a Class A school that reached the state semifinals. Pikeville to the state semifinals

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Kickers and punters with Prokicker.com connections will be part of the more than 300 top prospects for the 2012 NFL Draft to participate at the combine in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. This event is a vital step in athletes achieving their NFL dreams.

Those attended with Ray Guy Prokicker.com instruction as a background include Drew Butler and Blair Walsh (Georgia), Carson Wiggs (Purdue), Shawn Powell (Florida State), Randy Bullock (Texas A&M) and Dave Teggart (Connecticut).

The combine will be Feb. 22-28.

Prokicker.com alum already dominate NFL punting and kicking rosters. There are 13 NFL punters on active rosters, including Raider punter Shane Lechler and 49er punter Andy Lee, with a connection to the top kicking camp in America.

By Jeff Howe / NESN.com

It looks like the Patriots have compiled their young battery of specialists. kicker Stephen Gostkowski has been a staple since 2006, and he's signed through 2014. punter Zoltan Mesko, who's locked up through 2013, has emerged as one of the league's better players at the position, which has been a welcomed change for New England after struggling to find consistency out of its punters for several seasons. Ditto for long snapper Danny Aiken, who ended a similarly rough stretch for the Patriots at that position and is also in town through 2013.

Specialists on Final Roster: Stephen Gostkowski, Zoltan Mesko, Danny Aiken

Key Statistic: Gostkowski's 143 points this season were the third most in the NFL. He's got 712 points in his career, trailing Adam Vinatieri (1,158) and Gino Cappelletti (1,130) for the most in franchise history.

Hot Topic: Gostkowski has been one of the league's most prolific kickers since his rookie season in 2006, even if his numbers have been hurt by the Patriots' offensive success. In the last six years, his 712 points are the third most in the NFL, and he is tied for eighth with 141 field goals. His 84.4 percent conversion rate is also ninth among all kickers with at least 150 attempts in that span.

Gostkowski's value isn't limited to field goals, though. Bill Belichick often discusses the importance of angling kickoffs from a strategic point of view. It's one thing to just line up and smoke the ball through the end zone for a touchback, but when Belichick is confident in his kicker and the coverage unit, they can put on a play to force a return with the intention of pinning the other team inside the 20-yard line. That could explain why the Patriots ranked 20th in touchback percentage (39.4) despite having one of the league's most powerful kickers. They ranked sixth in the NFL by limiting opponents to 21.6 yards per return.

Offseason Question: How good is Mesko?

OK, so that's not much of a burning question, but there isn't much to go on with these three, who basically fly under the radar because of their consistency. Mesko has one of the strongest legs in the NFL, and he was tied for 10th in the league with an average of 46.5 yards per punt. He was third with a net average of 41.5 yards. Of Mesko's 57 punts, 24 were downed inside the 20 (42.1 percent), 18 were fair caught (31.6 percent), three were touchbacks (5.3 percent) and 26 were returned for an average of 8.5 yards.

The Patriots don't typically need to rely on Mesko to take over a game, but he is progressing into someone who could if called upon.

New Iberia Senior High School placekicker Colby Delahoussaye made it official last week, signing a national letter of intent with LSU after touring the school with his family and meeting with coach Les Miles last weekend, according to The Daily Iberian.

Delahoussaye, who had a number of scholarship offers, will be a preferred walk-on at LSU and will likely redshirt his freshman season, said his father, Dwayne Delahoussaye. That means his son, who is currently preparing for a Division I soccer quarterfinal game with his NISH teammates, will pay his own way as a freshman and earn a scholarship after that. The Tigers’ starting kicker, Drew Alleman, will be a senior next season.

He had committed to LSU but  waited until near the end of soccer season before signing his national letter of intent.

Colby Delahoussaye told the newspaper that playing for LSU has been one of his dreams since he was a youngster attending games at Tiger Stadium.

“I’ve been thinking about going through that tunnel” and running onto the field in an LSU uniform since then, said Delahoussaye. “It really hasn’t hit me that I’m going to LSU yet. I think the first day of practice is when it will really hit me.

“I’m excited.”

Dwayne Delahoussaye said that in excess of 90 schools showed interest in his son, ranging from text messages and phone calls to letters and scholarship offers. Purdue, Baylor and Mississippi State were among the other major programs showing strongest interest. A number of Division III teams said he’d be a four-year starter as a kicker and punter for them, though they offer only academic scholarships and not athletic scholarships.

“It’s amazing the number of schools there are in this country,” said Dwayne Delahoussaye.

A tour of college football camps last summer, including Mississippi State, Southern Mississippi, Auburn, LSU and Louisiana-Monroe, were instrumental in getting his name known. Dwayne Delahoussaye said the NCSA Recruiting Service also put together a profile of his son that was seen by quite a few schools.

“It was really fun,” said Colby Delahoussaye of the summer camps. “I got to see all the traditions in the SEC, the rolling of the trees at Auburn, the Dog Walk at Mississippi State.”

Delahoussaye was a first-team All-District pick and first team on The Daily Iberian’s Best of the Teche team after hitting six field goals and 33 point-after kicks as a senior, as well as placing the vast majority of his kickoffs into the end zone.

NISH head football coach Rick Hutson says Delahoussaye is the best kicker he’s been around in his 20-plus years of coaching.

“Colby’s been very fortunate to be blessed with coaches like Coach Hutson and Coach (Kevin) Hardy on the soccer side, and now Coach Miles,” said Dwayne Delahoussaye.

Colby Delahoussaye said he plans to work hard as soon as he hits campus.

“I actually told Coach Miles I want to compete as soon as I get there,” said Delahoussaye.

LEXINGTON -- Kentucky's kicking game got a boost on signing day with the signing of kicker Landon Foster out of Thompson Station, Tenn. Foster is listed as both a kicker and a punter.

Kentucky will be looking at all options next season with the graduation of long-time punter Ryan Tydlacka, who made the Cats one of the best punting units in the SEC.

Coach Joker Phillips told the Lexington Herald-Leader that the Kentucky coaches knew Foster was a good kicker, not from the moment they saw his 6-foot-1, 198-pound frame, but from the moment they heard him meet the ball.

"You know an SEC punter when you hear him," Phillips said of Foster, who averaged 41.3 yards per punt last season for Independence. "You know an SEC kicker when you — you don't have to see it, you can close your eyes and walk past and it's going to sound different than a pee– wee punter. This guy is an SEC punter, high character kid, intelligent, right look in his eyes."

Foster also had 50 of his 56 kickoffs last season go for touchbacks. Four of the others were on-side kicks.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The NCAA football rules committee has proposed moving kickoffs from the 30-yard line to the 35 and to limit the running start by players on the kicking team to 5 yards as a way of keeping players safer.

NCAA says its injury data indicates injuries during kickoffs occur more often than in other phases of the game.

The NFL moved up kickoffs 5 yards this past season and touchbacks increased dramatically.

The committee also proposed a rule that would require a player who loses his helmet during a play to stop participating and leave the game for one play, and proposed changes to rules regarding blocking below the waist and blocking on punt returns.

All rules change recommendations must be approved by the playing rules oversight panel, which meets Feb. 21.

Casper Star Tribune

Wyoming may have found its next kicker -- in the Cowboys' backyard.

Natrona County senior Taylor King announced on Friday that he has accepted a preferred walk-on offer from the University of Wyoming.

"I just sat down with my parents and felt comfortable with everything at Wyoming." King said in a release. "I've always dreamed of playing in Laramie, but I kept my options open during recruiting. After going through the process, Wyoming came out on top.

"Wyoming did a good job of staying in contact and emphasizing game performance is what matters most to them in a kicker."

King said he chose the Cowboys' offer about a month ago and over similar offers from Montana, Idaho State and South Dakota State.

King was a unanimous first-team Class 4A All-state selection this past fall for the Mustangs. His long of 49 yards was second-best in the state and he made five more field goals of 40-plus yards on the season. King's 11 made field goals set a new NC school record, and he also had 31 touchbacks to lead 4A in kickoff average.

In July, the Ray Guy ProKicker.com kicking Academy ranked King as the 14th overall kicker for the class of 2012.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - West Virginia University has added another kicker to the roster.

The Mountaineers announced Thursday the signing of Josh Lambert, a high school kicker and punter from Garland, Tex. He made 9 of 16 field goals last season, including a 51-yarder.

WVU now has added 28 new players to the roster, including 22 signed last week and five mid-year enrollees.