By Mark Maynard / Prokicker.com

Calling all college punters and kickers: You’re never too good to learn more which is why Ray Guy Prokicker.com is providing a camp with your skill set in mind.

The inaugural Prokicker.com College kicking and College punting camps will be July 21-22 in Atlanta. The nation’s No. 1 punting, kicking and long-snapping camp staff will focus attention on college punters and kickers before they return to campus to compete for jobs.

It serves as the perfect tuneup to what Prokicker.com hopes will be the best season ever on the college level.

Jonathan Ruffin, the 2000 Lou Groza Award winner while at the University of Cincinnati, will be the lead instructor for the College kicker camp. Ruffin’s impeccable credentials make him the perfect choice to hone the skills of a young or veteran college kicker. Participants will come away from the camp with renewed confidence and tips that will turn them into kicking stars.

Ray Guy, the top punter in NFL history and a member of the 75^th Anniversary All-Time NFL Team, will join with camp director Rick Sang to lead the College punter camp.

Nobody does punting better than Prokicker.com with 13 camper/staff alumni serving as kickers in the NFL today. That includes Pro Bowl punters Shane Lechler (Raiders) and Andy Lee (49ers), both who have endorsed the Prokicker.com strategies.

Go to Prokicker.com to register for a spot at one of these camps.

By Mark Maynard / Prokicker.com

At Ray Guy Prokicker.com, football is always in the air.

The dependable and professional staff at Prokicker.com will have 33 kicking academies this summer, including one at a new location in Salt Lake City, Utah, on June 29-30.

The stopover at Draper, Utah (near Salt Lake) will be the first time the nation’s top punting, kicking and long-snapping camp has been to that state. It will come during a West Coast swing this summer that also includes Los Angeles (June 28-29), Seattle (July 2-3) and Denver (July 3-4).

“We’re excited about adding Salt Lake City to our schedule,” said camp director Rick Sang. “We want to reach as many talented players as possible to help them reach their goals.”

The Prokicker.com staff is committed to providing opportunities for punters, kickers and long-snappers from coast to coast. The results speak for themselves with 707 players on college rosters who have been Prokicker.com participants. Eighteen alumni and staff are currently playing in the NFL. Those eye-popping numbers are why top NFL punters like Shane Lechler of the Raiders and Andy Lee of the 49ers strongly endorse the Prokicker.com camps.

Lechler and Lee are both former camp participants.

Cost for a two-day academy is $425 or a one-day camp is $300. Players can do skill charting for the Prokicker.com National Rankings for $175.

The first camp of the season comes April 13-14 in Woodlands, Tex.

ARLINGTON, Tex. - Here are the competition winners from the Ray Guy Prokicker.com Winter camp in the Dallas area this week.

-Long distance field goal winner:  Matt Barke, 53 yds
-Long distance kickoff winner:  Caleb Garza, 66 yds, 3.9 sec
-Hang time punt winner:  Caleb Garza, 50 yd, 4.71 sec
-Out of bounds punt right winner: Caleb Garza, 3 yd line
-Out of bounds punt left winner:  Jake O'Dell, 5 yd line
-Fastest Single Snap: Zack Barker, 0.78 sec
-Most Accurate Snapper:  Chad Lamar, 17/30 pts

ARLINGTON, Tex. Here are the rankings after the Ray Guy Prokicker.com winter camp in Dallas.

No. 1 kicker: Houston Ray, Ark., class of 2013

No. 1 punter: Caleb Garza, Tex., class of 2013

No. 1 long-snapper: Zeth Higginbottom, Okla., class of 2013

No. 1 kicker-punter combo: Caleb Garza, Tex., class of 2013

No. 1 kickoff: Houston Ray, Ark., class of 2013

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Here are the competition winners for the Ray Guy Prokicker.com winter camp competition in Nashville.

kicker and kickoff winner: Jonathan Hutchens, John Carroll High School, AL, 2013

punter: Brett Ferrari, Peabody High School, TN, 2012

Long-snapper: Dylan Byard, Clarksville HS, TN, 2012

kicker-punter combo: Isaac Wilkerson, Owensboro Catholic, KY, 2013

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Tyler Hull sits atop the Scholarship Division punting leaderboard after the weekend competition in the Ray Guy Prokicker.com National Championship regional at Wingate College.

Hull, who is from Mount Airy, N.C., graduated from high school in 2010 and is punting at a small college.

“He’s at a small college looking to go (to Division I),” said Prokicker.com staffer Matt Reagan. “He’s got a big leg. He could step in tomorrow at a Division I school and start.”

Hull averaged 44.6 in distance and 4.17 in hang time to easily outdistance the competition in the Scholarship Divsion.

Jordan Roach (39.6, 3.71), Michael Styles (37.9, 3.31), Eric Fogle (31.5, 3.45) and Dalton Hall (32.3, 3.29) are currently in the top five. Roach had the day’s best punt at 60 yards and best hang time at 4.88.

In the High School Division, the winner was Ben Kepley, who averaged 39.2 and 3.61. The rest of the top five was Cody Lee (30.7, 3.8), Hunter Sumner (31.3, 3.62) and Rodrigo Blankenship (31.4, 3.58).

Kepley launched one 50-yard punt while Lee had the day’s best hang time at 4.36.

The next kicking competition will be Nov. 26-27 in Arlington, Tex. There will be 26 in the kicking competition and 27 in the punting and long-snapping competition.

Regional competitions will also be held in Tempe, Ariz. (Dec. 3-4) and Bradenton, Fla. (Dec. 17-18).

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Michael Sulka captured the Scholarship Division of the long-snapping competition in the Ray Guy Prokicker.com regional championships on Sunday at Wingate College.

Sulka, a senior at Bluffton (S.C.) High School, was 21 of 30 in the accuracy and had an average snap of .79.

Sulka, who is 6-foot-4 and 240 pounds, won the Scholarship Division over two other competitors.

Prokicker.com staff member Jacob Claycomb, who worked with Sulka this summer, was impressed with the improvement he has made.

“He was throwing a really good ball,” Claycomb said. “You could definitely tell he’s worked at it. I was really impressed with how he is and the potential he has.”

Sulka is a true scholar athlete who has already scored 23 on the ACT, 1040 on the SAT and carries a 3.62 GPA.

Prokicker.com ranks him No. 4 nationally, No. 3 in the South Region and No. 1 in South Carolina.

The next Prokicker.com regional competition will be Nov. 26-27 in Arlington, Tex. Regional competitions will also be played out in Tempe, Ariz. (Dec. 3-4) and Bradenton, Fla. (Dec. 17-18).

By Mark Maynard / Prokicker.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Brett Lucas put on a strong kicking display to capture the Scholarship Division of the Charlotte regional in the Ray Guy Prokicker.com National Championship competition at Wingate College on Saturday.

Lucas, who is a senior at Andrew Jackson High School in Kershaw, S.C., made 70 percent of his field goals, had a 56.25 kicking average with a 3.37 average hangtime to outdistance the competition among 2012 graduates.

“I was happy with how I kicked,” Lucas said. “This is my first time at a Prokicker.com camp. It was real organized.”

Lucas recently completed his high school season at Andrew Jackson. He made 6 of 8 field goals, including three from 42 yards out, and connected on 19-of-19 PATs. Lucas has made a couple of unofficial visits to Newberry College.

“I’ve gotten a few letters from some schools up north,” he said. “We’ll see where it takes me.”

The top eight included Lucas, Tyler Creteau, Andrew Fulan, William Estes, Taylor Brodowsky, Alex McGee, Mitch Mathias and Dalton Hall.

Createau, Fulan and Brodowsky made 70 percent of their field goals.

The next Prokicker.com kicking competition will be Nov. 26-27 in Arlington, Tex. There will be 26 in the kicking competition and 27 in the punting and long-snapping competition.

Regional competitions will also be handed out in Tempe, Ariz. (Dec. 3-4) and Bradenton, Fla. (Dec. 17-18).

By Mark Maynard / Prokicker.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Rodrigo Blankenship captured the high school division of the kicking competition in the first of four Ray Guy Prokicker.com National Championship regionals.

Blankenship, a freshman from Cobb County, Ga., made 80 percent of his field goals and had a 69.25 average kickoff distance with a 3.57 hang time. He connected on a 58-yard field goal in the long distance competition, good enough for second place individually there.

But Blankenship’s overall score gave him the first Ray Guy Prokicker.com National Championship regional title of the 2011 season. He competed against 11 other kickers, most of them freshman, sophomores or juniors in high school.

Blankenship attends Walton High School but plans to transfer to Sprayberry High School before his sophomore season.

He has been attending Prokicker.com camps since he was a seventh-grader.

“It’s definitely helped me with the recruiting process, knowing what schools are looking for,” he said. “I also enjoy Coach (Rick) Sang’s self-reliance speech at the start of each camp. It’s very inspiring.”

Sang is the Prokicker.com camp director and a former punter for Eastern Kentucky University.

“I plan on going to more camps next summer and try to become more consistent in all my categories,” Blankenship said.

The top five kickers were Blankenship, Matt McManis, Zachary Daughtery, Cody Lee and Caleb Baird.

The next kicking competition will be Nov. 26-27 in Arlington, Tex. There will be 26 in the kicking competition and 27 in the punting and long-snapping competition.

Regional competitions will also be handed out in Tempe, Ariz. (Dec. 3-4) and Bradenton, Fla. (Dec. 17-18).

BRYAN CHAMBERS / The Herald-Dispatch

HUNTINGTON - Dozens of kids got a taste of living their dreams as a professional football player on Sunday at the Marshall Recreation Center.

The center for the first time hosted a free NFL Punt, Pass & Kick competition for boys and girls ages 6-15. The contest allows youngsters to showcase their talents in punting, passing and kicking with scores based on distance and accuracy.

The center brought the competition to Huntington because it promotes healthful lifestyles among youths, said Matt Weber, a recreation center employee who helped organize the event. The NFL also doesn't charge facilities to host the competitions and provides all of the supplies for free, he said. Seventy-one kids signed up for Sunday's event.

The top finishers from each of 10 age groups during Sunday's competition advance to a sectional competition at a location that has yet to be chosen, Weber said. The winners at the sectional competition will have their scores compared with other sectional champions. The top four scorers from the pool of sectional champions advance for a chance to compete for a team championship at a future Cincinnati Bengals game.

The top four finishers in the boys' and girls' divisions within each age bracket from the pool of all team champions qualify for the national finals at an NFL playoff game in January.

Gaylen Cisco of Kenova stood along the sidelines on the recreation center's practice field as his 9-year-old son, Gaylen Jr., prepared to punt.

"He's pretty excited. Before we went to church, he was asking about it," Cisco said. "He actually thinks that he'll be an NFL player if he wins."

Marc Williams of Huntington brought his 8-year-old son, Wyatt, to the competition so he could see how he stacked up against other kids his age.

"And since it's sponsored by the NFL, it adds a little bit more of a cool factor to it," Williams said.