WASHINGTON, D.C. - Free agent kicker Neil Rackers told a Houston television station that he has signed a contract with the Redskins. The 12-year veteran, who has kicked for the Bengals, Cardinals, and, for the past two seasons, the Texans will compete with Graham Gano for the Redskins’ kicking job.

Last year in Houston he was good on 32 of 38 field goal attempts. Oddly, he was better from distances of 50 yards or more (four of five) than he was from 40 to 49 yards (four of eight). 

Rackers’ best season came in 2005 when he was with the Cardinals. He make 40 of 42 field goals and was named first-team All-Pro. The Bengals drafted him in the sixth round of the 2000 draft and he was with them for three years before moving on to Arizona. In his career, he has made 80 percent of his field goal attempts.

Gano made 31 of 41 last year but he did have several attempts blocked. He has been the Redskins’ kicker since late in the 2009 season and this will be the first time that the team has signed serious competition for his job.

By Sebastian Moraga / Snovalleystar.com

So the snowstorm had a plus side to it, after all.

At least it did for Cameron Vanwinkle.

The power outages kept the Mount Si High School (Wash.) junior and record-breaking kicker from watching one of his heroes stumble on national television.

As part of his education as a kicker, Vanwinkle has attended kicking camps directed by Billy Cundiff.

Cundiff, the Baltimore Ravens kicker, missed a 32-yard kick Jan. 22 that kept his team from advancing to the Super Bowl.

“I was a little surprised,” he said of hearing about Cundiff’s mishap. “The pressure must have gotten to him.”

The student of the game, and of kicking in particular, has other hypotheses as to what might have happened.

“If it’s a bad hold and you hit the laces,” he said, “it is a guaranteed miss. My dad and I watch kicks and if the kicker misses, we look to see if it’s a good hold.”

Such attention to detail — that and a powerful foot that belies his 165-pound frame — have several Division I universities eyeing Vanwinkle as a possible recruit.

Oregon, Missouri, Washington, and this week Tennessee, have approached Vanwinkle, who broke a handful of school records last year.

Much like his hero from Crab Town, Md., Vanwinkle feels the pressure.

“I’m a little nervous,” he said, “I’m trying to help my parents out.”

He said he hopes to get a full ride to a Division I university and save his folks some money. Then, he said he hopes to make it to the National Football League, something that stood just above impossible the first time he played high school football his freshman year.

“I just wanted to try a new sport out,” he said, “make new friends. Soccer was my sport before.”

Vanwinkle’s football coach Charlie Kinnune said he had already turned some heads as a middle schooler.

“I was told, when he was a seventh- or eighth-grader,” Kinnune said, “that we had this kid coming up.”

The “kid” took over kicking duties his freshman year and had to earn the trust of his teammates slowly.

Those same teammates nowadays call him or his kicks “Money” for Vanwinkle’s almost-guaranteed accuracy.

Kinnune said he has never had a kicker recruited at this high level.

“I’m just sitting back, going, ‘Someone’s going to get themselves a really good kicker,’” Kinnune said.

Although conscious that college is still a year away, Vanwinkle works toward preparing himself for the college game.

In college, kickoffs happen at the 30-yard line, which will require a 70-yard kick to get to the goal line.

“Right now, I’m guessing, I’m averaging 63 or 64 yards on kickoffs,” Vanwinkle said.

Kinnune said college kickers tend to be about 30 pounds heavier than Vanwinkle.

“He’s got to get heavier, stronger,” he said. “He’s got to gain weight.”

Other things, he can’t prepare for in a weight room.

“In high school, you look to the side and see fans,” Vanwinkle said. “In college, there’s going to be fans everywhere you look.”

Vanwinkle has not decided yet which college those fans will root for or what he will major in, but he said he is done with year-round rain.

“I’d like to go somewhere warm,” he said.

Ultimately, the decision will come down to whoever helps his parents pay for college the most. If it’s warm there, all the better.

If after four years, the NFL comes calling, better still.

“He’s got a bright future,” Kinnune said. “He’s a great decision-maker on and off the field.”

A couple of years in the league might help set him up financially for a long time, Vanwinkle said.

Nevertheless, he said, it’s not about the money for him. It’s about rubber on leather and leather taking flight, be it round or oval-shaped.

“Even before I kicked the football, I just loved kickball,” he said. “I have always loved kicking a ball.”

Washington hopes to have its punting void filled with a verbal commitment from one of the naton's top prospects.

Gig Harbor's Korey Durkee has accepted a scholarship offer, according to the Seattle Times. Durkee is committed to UW's 2012 recruiting class. Commitments are nonbinding until letter-of-intent day on Feb. 1.

Durkee, a strongly built 6-foot-3 and 202-pounder, is also a standout goalie for his high school and he had offers for both sports. However, he decided college football was the best fit.

Huskie coach Steve Sarkisian saw all he needed when Durkee hit the ceiling of the Dempsey Indoor facility with several punts during a Rising Stars camp on Saturday. That's when the scholarship offer was tendered to Durkee, according to the newspaper.

"A lot of weight has been lifted off my shoulders," Durkee told the newspaper.

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Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times wrote this about Washington's special teams following the completion of spring practice:

The kicking spots should be fine, with returning starters at kicker (Erik Folk) and punter (Will Mahan, Kiel Rasp), as well as returners at snapper (Brendan Lopez) and holder (Cody Bruns). The return spots also have lots of experience, though newcomers could get in the mix in the fall. Washington spent lots of time in the spring trying to improve the coverage units, though newcomers (21 scholarship freshman will arrive for next season) could make an impact there.

The University of Washington put some extra time in on special teams during spring drills on Wednesday.

The Huskies are particularly interested in improving on kick return defense where they ranked 102 (24.9 yards per return) in 2010 among FBS teams and kick return where they ranked 83rd (20.87 yards per return).

Walk-on quarterback Thomas Vincent took some reps as a kick returner in practice.

The Huskies also worked some on field goals with Erik Folk going 3-for-5 with a long kick of 48 yards.

By Bob Condotta

Seattle Times staff reporter 

The Washington Huskies appeared to find the answer to their kickoff and punt coverage woes late in the 2010 season — one that was right in front of them all along.

By Josh Liesbeskind / The Daily of the University of Washington

Chances are you don’t know who Brendan Lopez is, yet, on game days, he’s one bad snap away from being the biggest scapegoat in Husky Stadium.

But don’t expect the University of Washington long snapper to crumble under the pressure. After all, Lopez has a few things going for him: He practices hard, has excellent chemistry with the special teams unit and is arguably the most intelligent player on the team.

“We practice so much out here, we get the worst out,” Lopez said after a recent practice. “They put a lot of pressure on us in practice, we get used to it.”

Not that Lopez doesn’t feel pressure during the game to deliver a perfect snap to the punter or placeholder, but the enormous volume of reps that he takes during practice helps make game-time situations a little more familiar.

While the team is running plays or going through individual workouts, Lopez is on the sideline with the special teams unit snapping ball after ball.

And the hard work has paid off, even though it’s been a long, and slightly odd route to where Lopez is now.

Highly decorated out of Bellevue High School — Lopez earned KingCo 3A Defensive Player of the Year at linebacker, as well as all-league honors at linebacker and offensive lineman — Lopez didn’t have any real offers to play Division 1 football because he is undersized at 6-foot.

Lopez decided to take Michigan’s offer to walk-on as a long snapper, but after one season — and just one semester — he transferred to the UW. Part of the reason he transferred was because legendary Michigan coach Lloyd Carr retired, but it also wasn’t the right fit.

So Lopez transferred to the UW and joined the team as a walk-on. After redshirting in 2008 and not seeing any playing time in 2009, Lopez was awarded the starting job and a scholarship prior to last season.

“I was very surprised when they announced [I got a scholarship] last summer,” he said. “It was really great to have all the hard work pay off. It was a good feeling.”

For special teams coordinator Johnny Nansen, giving a scholarship to Lopez was a no-brainer.

“He’s developed into a solid guy — understands our system, understands our protection,” Nansen said. “He did a great job last year, and he’s getting better every day we get out here.”

But after the work is done each day — and there’s a lot of it — Lopez can be seen sharing a joke with the likes of kicker Erik Folk and punter Will Mahan.

“Special teams got to stick together,” Lopez half-joked. “We’re a close-knit group of guys. We’ve got to look out for each other because no one else on the team does.”

The group calls itself “Special Ops” and has a bond that extends beyond the football field. And just like a special operations unit in the military, this group of special ops does things that most football players don’t do on a regular basis.

“We like to have potlucks at Will Mahan’s house,” Lopez said with a laugh, noting his lack of cooking skills usually means he brings a dessert from Safeway. “It’s pretty fun, everybody brings food, and we watch Comedy Central or we watch football.”

The fact that Lopez even has the time to do anything outside of football is miraculous. The neurobiology major is applying to dental school this summer, making this spring quarter quite busy.

“It’s really just about good time management,” he said.

Lopez’s time management has to be perfect. It’s the only way he can handle practice, graduation, dental school applications and work in a dental lab.

In a testimony to how good he’s gotten at time management, the lab work is almost an afterthought for Lopez, yet he spends almost every morning working in it.

It’s the same intelligence that makes his life so busy that also makes Lopez so valuable on the football field.

“You don’t have to repeat yourself with Brendan,” Nansen said. “Sometimes I get pissed at him because he wants to [call the protection]. But that helps, not just snapping the ball and work right or left, he understands the protection and where guys need to be.”

Between classes, working hard in the film room, on the field and in the lab, it’s amazing that Lopez can remember everything football-wise.

“It’s a good thing I’m long snapping,” he joked about memorizing plays. “It’s pretty much one true course: snap the ball back, block right, block left. That’s about it.”

With his busy schedule, there’s bad news for the special teams guys: It doesn’t look like Lopez will be finding time in the near future to bring anything more than a dessert from Safeway for the next potluck.

Reach Sports Editor Josh Liebeskind at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .