RALEIGH, N.C. -- Monday was Jeremy Shelley Day in Raleigh, and the University of Alabama kicker had a surprise in store for the Raleigh City Council -- his championship rings. Mayor Nancy McFarlane read a proclamation honoring him, recalling his years at Broughton High playing both soccer and football for the Caps. Shelley decided to walk on at the University of Alabama and earned the starting job as a kicker as a junior in 2011. He made five field goals in the Tides' 21-0 victory over LSU in the BCS Championship Game in January. It was Alabama's second national title…

By Mark Maynard / Prokickernews.com MISSION VIEJO, Calif. - Throughout Brendan Rowland’s four years of high school, there was only one punting camp he wanted to attend. Rowland, who graduated from Mater Dei High School in Mission Viejo, Calif., in 2009, said he still “lives and dies” with what he learned at the Ray Guy Prokicker.com camps throughout his high school years. Being around some of the best in the business helped him hone his punting game. After two years as the punter at Saddleback Community College, where he was one of the league’s best, Rowland visited Conference USA member…

By Pat Miller / Bemidji Pioneer BEMIDJI – Kyle Fodness grew up kicking a soccer ball but he always dreamed of booting a football for the University of Minnesota. “My grandfather and my dad are both Gopher fans and kicking for the Gophers was a life-long dream,” Fodness said. “But that dream died a little when I went with soccer instead of football.” Last fall, however, the prospects of kicking for the Maroon and Gold resurfaced when fate enabled Fodness to play both soccer and football. Lumberjacks kicker Jon Henry injured his knee prior to the season and the football…

The Cal Poly football team held its final spring practice on Monday. At the conclusion of spring camp, head coach Tim Walsh named Stephen Pyle the team's starting kicker. Pyle came to Cal Poly last year to play soccer. He competed this spring with walk-on Marco Tavecchio and punter Paul Hundley for the team's field goal and extra point duties. Walsh says Pyle's performance this spring won the job. "I thought Stephen did a pretty good job on Saturday, but did an excellent job this morning and really kind of earned the spot. The competition part of it, the ability…

Houston got its fourth commitment of the 2013 recruiting class in the form of a kicker: Ty Cummings. Cummings, who plays at Southlake Carroll, verbally committed to the Cougars on Monday, according to the Houston Chronicle. The 5-foot-11, 180-pound Cummings attended Houston’s junior day on March 31. Cummings received interest from Auburn, Boston College, LSU, Oregon and Southern Illinois but Houston was the first and only team to offer him. The Cougars’ aggressiveness in the recruiting process won Cummings over. “Coach (Tony) Levine has been a great person to deal with throughout the recruiting process,” Cummings told the newspaper. “He…

Matt Micucci, who was quarterback, kicker and punter for Stevenson’s football team last fall, has been accepted for admission into the School of Engineering at Northwestern University in Evanston, according to the Lake Kelly News Sun. As a result, Matt be a walk-on (non-scholarship football player) and will try to win the kicking job for the Wildcats next fall. As a junior in 2010, he made 50 consecutive extra-point kicks for Stevenson and also booted six field goals. Last season, he kicked 25 extra points, made eight field goals, and 90 percent of his kickoffs from the 40 yard line…

By JOHN BARRY / Gazette You have to go back nine decades to find the last graduate of a Janesville (Wis.) high school to make an NFL roster. Thomas “Paddy” Cronin, who attended Janesville High School, played four games with the Green Bay Packers at halfback in 1922. Ben Armer has a good chance to end the drought. The 2007 Janesville Parker and 2012 Western Michigan graduate hopes his right foot can help him land a job with an NFL team. Armer is a punter. He was one of the 10 finalists for the coveted Ray Guy award in 2012,…

By MIKE CARMINI / Boilerstation If you're not going to be selected until the third day of the NFL Draft, you probably should adopt Carson Wiggs' attitude. "If I'm going to get drafted in the last round, I might as well be Mr. Irrelevant," the former Boilermaker kicker said of the title bestowed to the last pick in the draft. "I hear they have some pretty good perks for that." This year's last pick goes to the Indianapolis Colts, who have veteran kicker Adam Vinatieri on their roster. That may not work out for Wiggs, but getting drafted would. Although…

By Mark Weizer / Savannah Morning News ATHENS — The NFL draft gets under way today from Radio City Music Hall in New York, but for kickers and punters hoping to hear their names called, it really begins on Saturday. Georgia’s Drew Butler and Blair Walsh will be waiting with anticipation when rounds four through seven are held. Butler and Walsh are viewed as players that have “a good chance” to be drafted late, according to Nolan Nawrocki, draft analyst for Pro Football Weekly, which rates Butler the top punter and Walsh the top kicker. “Obviously it would be a…

By Dave Matter / Columbia Tribune The NFL draft begins today, and of the dozen or so former Missouri players hoping to play in the league, only one was a four-year starter for the Tigers. Only one had his hand in 414 points scored over those four years. Only one mastered his job to near perfection. Of all the MU prospects hoping to make a roster at the next level, one consistently did his job better than the rest. And if you can't think of his name, that comes with the job description. He is long snapper Beau Brinkley. Brinkley…