WOODLANDS, Tex. – Here are the competition winners from the Ray Guy Prokicker.com camp at the Woodlands near Houston.

No.1 kicker:Brett Rattan, class of 2013, Texas
No.1 punter: Trevor Vincent, class of 2013, Louisiana
No.1 long-snapper: Carl Stephens, class of 2012, Texas
No.1 kicker/punter: Caleb Garza, class of 2013, Texas
No.1 punter/ kickoff specialist and kickoff specialist: Trevor Vincent, class of 2013, Louisiana

Long distance field goal winner:  Trevor Vincent, 50 yards
Long distance kickoff winner:  Caleb Garza, 70 yards
Hang time punt winner:  Caleb Garza, 55 yards, 4.15 hang time
Out of bounds punt right winner:  Dustin Welch, 4 yard line
Out of bounds punt left winner:  Trevor Vincent, 5 yard line
Fastest single snap time:  Carl Stephens, .81
Most accurate snapper:  Carl Stephens, 16/30

Talent Search:
Brent Rattan, K, class of 2013, Texas
Caleb Garza, K/P, class of 2013, Texas

By Mark Maynard / Prokickernews.com

HERSCHEY, Pa. - Nobody has to convince the Haines family about the value of Ray Guy Prokicker.com kicking camps.

Dan Haines has enrolled his two sons – Andrew and Ben – into Prokicker.com camps to convert the strong soccer players into potential football kickers.

Call it mission accomplished.

Andrew Haines, who had never kicked a football before last summer, came out of nowhere to a spot on the Wheaton College roster this fall.

“It was the first week of August in Dover, Del., a couple of weeks before (high school) football camp started his senior year,” Dan Haines remembered. “That got him going. He charted well, had a great senior year, was ranked sixth in the nation (in the Prokicker.com national kicking championships in 2010) and now he’s on the way to Wheaton College in Chicago to kick for them.”

Andrew Haines played soccer his senior year but opted to stick with football in college.

He’s quick to credit the Prokicker.com staff with developing him from a soccer player into a football player.

“They were able to show me with the video footage exact things I needed to tweak in order to be a good kicker,” Andrew Haines said.

What Haines turned into was a force as a kicker. He frequently sent kickoffs into the end zone and went 7 of 9 on field goals, including three of more than 40 yards.

“The touchbacks drew a lot of (college) coaches to the games,” he said. “We first entertained the idea of playing both sports but the colleges were very against that. I had to give up one. kicking was a whole new thing for me. It was exciting and fun.”

Haines was a standout soccer player and the captain of his high school team. He would play soccer games on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday but Friday night was reserved for football.

Andrew Haines came to the Prokicker.com camp with a little apprehension. But it didn’t take long for him to understand the staff wasn’t judging him but helping.

“I felt really comfortable,” he said. “I knew that I could kick the ball far but I was a little bit nervous about my accuracy. The video helped me refine a few little changes I needed to make.”

Haines said staffer Jon Ruffin “was very patient with me and helped me refine my skills.”

He hasn’t tried other camps but can’t imagine the instruction is better anywhere else.

“I haven’t been to a Kohl’s camp yet but, from what I hear, they’re very much about the charting and ranking as opposed to teaching,” Haines said. “Most of the kids who come to the Prokicker camps are not perfectly refined. This is what they need to hear.”

Wheaton College is a Division III school so it doesn’t offer athletic scholarships. However, he did have three offers after playing only one year in high school.

Andrew’s brother, Ben, will be a sophomore in high school this fall. He’s also a standout soccer player with a strong leg.

“The high school coach came to him in the spring and said ‘Since your brother is graduating, I’d like for you to take over kicker,’’’ said Dan Haines. “He went to his first Prokicker.com camp in (Washington) D.C. last weekend. He had a tremendous experience there. Graham Gano from the (Washington) Redskins was there.”

Like with his brother Andrew, the staff broke Ben down on film and showed him how to convert the strong soccer leg into a strong football leg.

“I didn’t kick any football until last weekend at the D.C. camp,” he said. “One of the first things they did was film me. I can critique myself.”

Prokicker.com staff members preach self-reliance to the kickers, punters and long-snappers because most high school staffs don’t have the knowledge or experience to coach those positions like they need to be coached.

“I know one coach who works with the kicker and the most advice he’s ever gives is keep your head down,” Ben Haines said.

Ben Haines isn’t giving up soccer but he’s willing to follow in his brother’s strong footsteps as the team’s high school kicker.

“I’ve never played a game of football before,” Ben Haines said. “I’m really looking forward to it since I went to the Prokicker.com camp. Once I got there I learned the basics and it really helped me.”

The staff was impressed enough with Ben Haines to consider him a top prospect for the 2014 class.

“We’ve been to three of the (Prokicker.com) events and I think they’re fantastic,” Dan Haines said. “Andrew went from never having kicked a football before to giving up soccer and pursue a (football) career in college. Credit to Prokicker.com.”

Dan Haines said camp founder Rick Sang’s old-school message to the players at the start of each camp is something they all need to hear.

“I think we all know he does these camps because he cares,” Haines said.

Haines learned about the camps from a lawyer he knew who serves as agents for several NFL long-snappers.

“When my older son was considering it last summer, he said ‘You’ve got to go to a Prokicker.com camp.’ That’s how we found out about it.

“I’d recommend them to anybody.”

Go to Prokicker.com for a complete listing of the camp schedule. Prokicker.com is currently having camps in Huntington, W.Va., at Marshall University and in San Francisco.

INDIANAPOLIS - Results from the Prokicker.com camp in Indianapolis.

Long Distance Field Goal High School: Max Strong, 53 yards

Long Distance Kickoff: Ryan Thompson, 63 yards

Hang Time Punt: Jason Van Buren, 4.57

Out of Bounds Punt Right: Ben Rice

Out of Bounds Punt Left: Max Strong

Fastest Single Snap: Anthony Stella, 0.78

Most Accurate Snapper: Kevin Harrington, 21 of 30

TOP PROSPECTS

Anthony Stella, long-snapper, 2012

By Mark Maynard / Prokickernews.com Editor

BRADENTON, Fla. – Some powerful kickoff legs were on display Saturday during the second summer camp for the Prokicker.com Ray Guy kicking Academy at Manatee High School.

Top prospects Sean Covington and Nick Tankersley unleashed kickoffs of 76 and 75 yards and Mark Grant nailed a 70-yard kickoff during competition.

Covington, 16, is a junior-to-be at St. Petersburg (Fla.) High School, who has spent most of his life on a soccer field. He started playing football in seventh grade and has been a combo kicker for his high school since ninth grade.

“I’ve been going to camps since I was a freshman,” he said. “I’ve been to the Ray Guy Pro kicker camp three times.”

Covington (6-2, 188) is one of the top-ranked kickers in the class of 2013 and he’s also a highly ranked goalie in soccer.

“I like football but have been playing soccer my whole life,” he said. “I’m starting to like football a little more than soccer.”

Top instruction

Tankersley, 17, is a senior-to-be at Manatee High School, where last weekend’s Prokicker.com camp took place. He blasted a 75-yard kickoff but said that was far from his best all-time effort. Tankersley said he boomed a kickoff for 82 yards earlier last week.

“You can’t turn down a camp of this caliber,” he said. “I’ll come out anytime they’re in this area. Being out here with the caliber of guys (instructors) they have can only make you better.”

Among the instructors at the camp were NFL players Graham Gano, the kicker for the Washington Redskins and Brandon Fields, the punter and placeholder for the Miami Dolphins.

Tankersley (6-1, 155) said he has been blessed with good leg speed, which has aided his long kickoffs. He’s also a combo player who punts for Manatee.

“I played soccer as far as it could take me and my soccer background is starting to pay off,” he said.

Tankersley said he played safety as a freshman but broke his arm on his first tackle. Then it was back to punting and kicking. He said the pressure of competition is where he thrives.

“I feed off that,” he said.

The Prokicker.com camp has been a confidence booster for Tankersley as well. “I wish we could have this every weekend,” he said. “The week after this I’m always at my best. I’m like ‘I want them back.’’’

'Strong leg for kickoffs'

Grant, 17 and a senior-to-be, had a 70-yard kickoff with a 4.19 hang time. He is from Panama City, Fla., where he plays for Mosely High School.

He wants to play college football. “I sent out 55 to 60 recruiting packets throughout the southeast,” he said. “I’ve had a couple of responses.”

Grant has been playing behind a Division I kicker who is now at LSU. He will be Mosley’s kicker this fall.

“I’ve been on the varsity since I was a sophomore,” he said. “I feel like my strength is either punting or kickoff. I can be fairly accurate (on field goals). I’ve got a strong leg for kickoffs.”

Grant said the Prokicker.com camps have made him a better player. This is his fourth camp with Prokicker.com.

“I think my favorite thing about the camp is the personal attention that I get,” he said. “If I do something wrong, a coach is right there telling me what I’m doing. If I miss a field goal, I need to be able to correct it myself.”

Grant said he has learned from experience the value of a good punter. In one game last season, he unleashed punts of 52 and 65 yards to turn around field position.