LAUREL, Miss. — Ray Guy chose a college football career at the University of Southern Mississippi over the University of Alabama and, if faced with the same choice today, would still make the same decision.
From the small town of Thompson, Ga., about halfway between Macon and Savannah, Guy visited the Alabama campus as a recently graduated high school kicker with an average of 52 yards per punt and a long punt of 88 yards.
“Bear Bryant told me I would never get my uniform dirty if I played for Alabama,” Guy told members of the Laurel Kiwanis Club, meeting Wednesday at Dixie Golf Course. Bryant told Guy he would only kick at Alabama, not wanting him to risk injury.
But Southern Miss recruited Guy heavily, telling him he would also play quarterback and/or safety. He kicked a 77-yarder during his first game for the Golden Eagles. He also had 18 interceptions during his college career as a free safety.
“If I had it to do all over again, I’d choose Southern Miss,” Guy said. “I fell in love with Hattiesburg and USM.” He added that the 5-1 ratio of female students to male students might also have been a consideration in his choice.
He kicked a 61-yard field for Southern Miss against Utah in a snowstorm. “It was snowing so hard I couldn’t really see if it went through or not,” he said. “I wasn’t thinking anything different going out on to the field to kick it. It was really just another field goal, and it’s one of those things that was just perfect.”
He recorded a 93-yard punt during his senior season, the sixth longest in the NCAA. He also pitched one of USM’s only four shutouts in baseball up until that point, and was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds for the second time, and also by the Atlanta Braves and the Kansas City Royals.
But the NFL’s Oakland Raiders drafted Guy in the first round of the 1973 draft, something unheard of for a punter. “Punters usually go in the fifth or sixth round,” Guy said. “But Coach (John) Madden, Al Davis (Raiders owner) and the assistants were unanimous in their choice to draft me in the first round.”
Guy was worried going into the draft. During his last college game with Southern Miss, he was hit from behind against Memphis State in a game in Jackson and broke a leg bone in two places. But two weeks after the cast came off, Oakland drafted him. “I went through a 7-8 hour surgery, and fortunately I was always able to heal fast,” he said.
Guy laughs when he remembers his first NFL punt — a whopping five yards. He got much better.
During his 14 seasons in the NFL, Guy punted 1049 times for 44,541 yards with a career average of 42.4 yards per punt. He never missed a game during his career, playing in 207 consecutive games — the longest streak of games played at the time of his retirement. He played in 22 post-season games, which included Super Bowl wins. And the thing about playing quarterback? He was third-string quarterback for the Raiders for several seasons. When Kenny Stabler quarterbacked the Raiders, not many backups got to play. kicker George Blanda was the backup quarterback.
But first and foremost, Guy was a punter — considered by many the best to ever play the position. During the Pro Bowl in 1977 one of his punts went about 90-100 feet into the air at the New Orleans Superdome and hit the video screen that hung over the playing surface.
He had already hit it during practice. “Before the punt, I was standing there, looking up,” Guy said. “The head ref looked at me and said, ‘You’re going to try it, aren’t you?’” Guy nodded. The ball hit the top of the screen, and bounced back onto the field. “If I had punted from about one yard back, it would have sailed over the top.”
Madden has been a staunch ally of Guy being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He would be the first.
“Coach Madden was great to play for,” Guy said. “He had two rules -- show up on time and play hard. I was fortunate to have been with such a great organization.”
Among some of the things Madden had to say about Guy:
- “I was never much for hang time until we got Ray. But then we started clocking how long his punt hung in the air. Sometimes he kept it up there as long as six seconds.” (The term “hang time” came into being early in Guy’s career, giving the NFL a new statistic. None of his punts were ever returned for a touchdown.)
- “Ray Guy was the only draft choice our coaches and scouts agreed on unanimously.”
- “He’s the greatest kicker who ever lived.”
Today, Guy continues his association with USM, working closely with the alumni association and the school’s athletes.
Ray Guy winner eyes even better 2012
By Jarit Roser / newsstar.com
RUSTON, La. — Few questions during Louisiana Tech's first six spring football practices had addressed special teams.
Those circumstances likely stem heavily from the fact that phase of the game has few questions in need of answers.
Ray Guy Award-winning punter Ryan Allen leads the returning cast, which also includes deep snapper Josh Cuthbert and placekicker Matt Nelson, who enters 2012 within reach of multiple school kicking records.
Allen expects that experience to show as the Bulldogs prepare for next season.
"I feel like we're gonna be actually a few steps better than we were last year," Allen said. "Our senior class next year is gonna be a big class, and that plays a lot into football: just maturity and knowing the game and knowing situations. That can determine an entire ball game."
Nelson set Tech's single-season records for extra-points attempted and made in 2011 with his 46-for-48 performance on PATs.
The Cibolo, Texas, native enters 2012 just 21 attempts and 19 makes shy of the career records in those categories.
The kicker's 91 points in 2011 also marked the fourth-most by any Bulldog in a single season and moved him to No. 6 for his career with 248, exactly 91 points behind Josh Scobee's 339 from 2000-03.
Allen accounted for four of the top-10 longest punts in Tech history last season after also claiming one in 2010.
No other Bulldogs punter has more than one such punt, making the Salem, Ore., native unsurprisingly the school's leading punter by average entering 2012 with a 43.9 mark — compared to Jerry Pope's 40.3 from 1973-76.
"I've always seen myself progress a little bit, step by step," Allen said. "Last year, I was satisified with how last season went and stuff, but I'm not complacent and I'm not satisfied with where I'm at right now, and I hope to be better than I was last year, and I'm going to make sure it happens."
Bold words for a young man who claimed recognition as the nation's top punter in 2011.
Allen's ability to pin the ball inside opponents' 10- and 20-yard lines as well as limit any potential returns was often as much a highlight as the distance behind his kicks.
Still, he sees at least some room for improvement in every facet of his game.
"My main goal is to do anything I can in my power to help our team out in any given situation where we need to punt," he said. "That's my No. 1 main goal that I'm going to take care of.
"It's being more consistent going to the sideline and making sure the ball's in the right place. The hang time can be a little better. Distance, hang time and average play a big part of (helping the team). I want my net average to get higher, and all of those are individual goals, but in a sense that's team goals too. The better I do, the better it helps the team."
Guy spins tales of NFL in talk
Bogalusa Daily News
Speaking before a large and enthusiastic Bogalusa Rotary Club membership on Tuesday, Ray Guy spun a number of entertaining tales about his life as an outstanding punter in the NFL.
Although a Georgia native, Guy grew up near Hattiesburg, Miss., the youngest of three. His dad was a contractor building houses and was influential in his son’s life. One of the things he taught his son, said Guy, was the importance of building a strong foundation so that the building would be stronger.
As a football player in high school, he played quarterback and defensive back. The reason he became a kicker, he said, was because of his brother.
“My brother was a better punter than I was,” he said, but he got tired of fetching the ball back while his brother practiced and decided to become a better punter himself.
In 1969, Guy signed a letter of intent to play football at the University of Southern Mississippi. He also wanted to play baseball and head football coach P.W. Underwood agreed.
Guy played football from 1970 to 1972 and still holds school records for longest punt, and single-game, single-season and career averages. Also an outstanding defensive back, his eight interceptions in one season is still the USM record. Selected as an All-American defensive back, he was honored to have his number retired at USM.
Now retired from the Oakland Raiders, where he played his entire career (1973-1986), Guy was the first, and only, punter ever to be selected in the first round of the NFL Draft. Coming from the University of Southern Mississippi, he was chosen as the 23rd overall pick of the 1973 draft.
Guy’s long and storied career included many awards and some key performances in the Super Bowls in which he participated. He was a key member of three Super Bowl-winning Raiders teams: Super Bowls XI, XV and XVIII. But some say his best performance, in the 1984 Super Bowl held in Tampa, Fla., against the Washington Redskins, came when the Raiders' offense was stopped just outside field goal range of placekicker Chris Bahr. Guy was brought in to punt, booting a 27-yard punt that pinned the Redskins on their own 12-yard line late in the first half. On the next play, Washington quarterback Joe Theismann was intercepted and returned for a touchdown, giving the Raiders a 21-3 halftime lead.
But the story Guy told about that game involved a high snap from center, which he was able to leap up and catch, and still get off a 42-yard punt.
The talented kicker retired in 1986, with many accomplishments and stats.
He played in 207 consecutive games and punted 1,049 times for 44,493 yards, averaging 42.4 yards per punt, with a 33.8 net yards average.
He led the NFL in punting three times during his career and had a streak of 619 consecutive punts before having one blocked. One of his greatest stats might be that he never had a punt returned for a touchdown. He was selected to seven AFC Pro Bowl teams, and in 1994, he was named the punter on the National Football League's 75th Anniversary Team.
Currently a resident of Hattiesburg, Guy now works with The University of Southern Mississippi’s Athletic Department and recently worked with the Centennial Exhibit Committee to secure exhibit items telling the story of the university’s first 100 years. But his real love is working with recruiting kickers. Since he started, he’s talked with more than 1,500, and out of that number, he says, they have found about six or seven top kickers.
An unabashed USM fan, Guy is happy to be back where everything started.
“They gave me my start,” he said. “I was given the opportunity to, first, get an education, and two, play a sport I enjoy.
“I want to see Southern Miss grow bigger, and we’re going to get there,” he said confidently.
But always it’s his work with young players that drives him the most. He tries to get across to them that, just like his father always told him, you have to build yourself better, with a good foundation: education. Sports, he says, is something you love next.
“Education is one of the main factors,” he said. “This (sports) is nothing but a dream. A good dream, but very few get to live that dream. You better take advantage (of education) while you are there.”
While he was a Raider, Guy “could not have asked for a better situation than to play with a group I played with for 14 years, and I ended up with the same guys I started with,” he said.
Playing sports has been good to Guy, but there is one thing that disappoints him.
“There is only one position not represented in the Hall of Fame — punters. Hopefully, they will fill it with somebody. I would love to be there. If it happens, it happens, and if not, it wasn’t meant to be.”
Early look at Groza, Guy candidates
By Richard Crminiello / Collegefootballnews.com
It’s way too early to start bandying about the names of the most prominent candidates for 2012’s individual awards in college football, right? Whatever. It's March and wild speculation is one of the joys of the offseason. It’s a chance to debate, mull over and contemplate next year’s stars with complete impunity.
Will lists of contenders in January be spot on in December? Of course not. Will they make you think and pine for September? Probably. And that’s really the objective here, whetting appetites, generating some interesting discussions and taking a sneak peek into what might be lurking ahead for the upcoming season.
Top Placekicker (Groza Award)
8. Chris Boswell, Rice
Boswell matched a school record with 17 field goals a year ago, earning recognition as a semifinalist for the Groza Award.
7. Andre Heidari, USC
An immediate starter out of high school, Heidari made the most of his chances, nailing 15-of-17 field goal attempts to earn All-Pac-12 First Team.
6. Chandler Catanzaro, Clemson
Catanzaro enjoyed a bounceback sophomore season, earning a spot on the Second Team All-ACC. He was clutch and consistent, hitting 9-of-12 attempts beyond 40 yards.
5. Drew Alleman, LSU
Though his chances were limited, Alleman proved to be one of the country’s most accurate placekickers, hitting all but two of his 18 field goal tries a year ago.
4. Brett Maher, Nebraska
Also the Huskers punter, Maher was a smashing success in his first season as a regular, earning First Team All-Big Ten, and missing just three field goals … all from outside 50 yards.
3. Quinn Sharp, Oklahoma State
Sharp added placekicking to an already thick resume last fall, excelling as a dual-threat special teamer with 22 field goals on 25 attempts.
2. Dustin Hopkins, Florida State
More than just the team-leader in scoring, the strong-legged Hopkins was also a key weapon on kickoffs. He’s connected on 22 field goals in each of the last two seasons.
1. Caleb Sturgis, Florida
One of the country’s top kickers, Sturgis was a Groza Award finalist in 2011. He nailed 22-of-26 field goal attempts, including a season-long 55-yarder.
Top punter (Ray Guy Award)
8. Bobby Cowan, Idaho
The linebacker-sized Vandal ranked second in the country in punting a year ago, becoming the rare player from Moscow to capture some All-America attention.
7. Ian Campbell, UTEP
A great pick-up out of junior college two years ago, Campbell has averaged more than 45 yards an attempt in each of his two years of action in El Paso.
6. Brett Maher, Nebraska
A revelation in Lincoln, Maher was named the Big Ten’s top punter and placekicker … in his first full season of serious action.
5. Dylan Breeding, Arkansas
Breeding enjoyed a professional growth spurt as a junior, raising his average to 45.3 yards to earn the nod as the First Team All-SEC punter.
4. Jackson Rice, Oregon
Last year, Rice was a Ray Guy Award finalist. This year, he’d like to win it. He uncorks booming punts, and would have been among the nation’s leaders in average had he had enough attempts to qualify.
3. Ryan Allen, Louisiana Tech
Allen returns for his senior season looking to become just the second punter to win the Ray Guy Award twice. While he averaged only 40.5 yards in 2011, he ranked second nationally in punts downed inside the 20-yard line.
2. Steven Clark, Auburn
Clark’s skill set extends well beyond the obvious numbers, such as punting average. No, the Ray Guy Award finalist is more of a tactician, using hang time and great angles to ensure that opponents don’t even get a chance to return his offerings.
1. Brad Wing, LSU
The unorthodox, left-footed Aussie was an underrated weapon in LSU’s perfect regular season, ranking 11th nationally in punting, and consistently dictating field position with his booming punts.
Prokicker.com Purdue Competition Winners
The Ray Guy Prokicker.com Academy at Purdue University Competition Winners:
Long Distance Field Goal Winner:
Evan Giebel, 53 yds
Long Distance Kickoff Winner:
Andrew Fantini, 63 yds, 3.47 sec
Hang Time Punt Winner:
Andrew Horning, 46 yds, 4.6 sec
Fastest Single Snap:
Sean Corcoran, .82
Most Accurate Snapper:
Sean Corcoran, 20 out of 30
Top Prospects/Talent Search:
Jonathan Hutchens, K, 2013
Evan Giebel, K, 2014
Jimmy Crumley, P, 2012
GA. KICKER RAY GUY PROKICKER.COM PLAYER OF YEAR
By Mark Maynard / Prokickernews.com
ATLANTA, Ga. – Harrison Butker is a special teams dream player.
The junior kicker from Atlanta, who had a season to remember for Westminster, Ga., has been selected as the National High School Player of the Year by Ray Guy Prokicker.com. Butker was the first-team kicker and third-team punter on the inaugural list of Ray Guy Prokicker.com All-Americans that was released earlier this week.
Butker, who is 6-foot-4 and 175 pounds, was first-team All-State in Class AA after making 16 of 17 field goals, a success rate of 94.1 percent. He also made his last dozen field goals to help Westminster to the second round of the playoffs. Butker also excelled in kickoffs and punting to round out a spectacular junior season.
Nine of his 16 field goals were from 41 yards or more and he made 20 of 22 extra points (one miss was the result of a bad hold). He drilled 47 touchbacks on 59 kickoffs and averaged 39.5 yards on 33 punts. Four of Butker’s punts were more than 50 yards with six downed inside the opponent’s 20. He averaged 67.3 yards per kickoff with a 3.87 hang time.
Former Arizona Cardinal kicker Cedric Oglesby of Prokicker.com’s staff watched Butker kick and punt at a Prokicker.com camp in Atlanta and came away impressed.
“I think he ended up with the best kickoffs of all the summertime (camps),” he said. “His hangtime and distance were great. He just seems like he’s a pretty athletic kid.”
Butker is also a humble kid. He praises teammates and coaches for his outstanding performance.
“A lot of credit to the long-snappers and holders and my kicking coach (Joe Sturniolo),” Butker said. “In a game if you have a bad snap or a bad hold, you’re probably going to miss the kick. We practiced field goals a lot because, luckily, I played for a head coach (Gerry Romberg) who liked to kick field goals.”
Butker didn’t kick field goals as a sophomore but went to a Prokicker.com camp in Atlanta and found he could do it.
“That camp jump-started me and got my eyes open toward kicking,” he said.
Butker’s only miss came from 59 yards out in a game at the Georgia Dome. “It would have probably been good from 54 or 55 (yards),” he said. “It was the fourth kick of the year and made me three for four.”
Butker wouldn’t miss again. He was eight-for-eight from 40 to 49 yards and also hit a 51-yard attempt.
Butker isn’t just a kicker or football player. He’s an athlete who stars in three sports at Westminster – soccer, football and basketball – and also excels in the classroom. He carries an A average while receiving honors in several Advanced Placement courses.
“Westminster is a great school where academics are a big thing,” he said. “It’s hard with three sports trying to keep up with schoolwork but I’ve been managing. Education is first.”
His parents, Harrison and Elizabeth, were both former soccer players so he naturally leaned in that direction when he was younger. Butker has been a defense starter in soccer since he was a freshman and he used to play club soccer but now focuses more time on football where he hopes to be a kicker in college after he graduates.
Oglesby said Butker is built more like a punter because of his length.
“With the length of his leg he could be a good punter as well,” he said. “punter is something you mature into a lot of times. He can be an outstanding punter if he puts some time in this summer.”
Butker’s season didn’t go unrecognized by the media. He was voted first-team kicker in Class AA over Alabama commit Adam Griffith, causing raised eyebrows throughout the state of Georgia.
“Adam Griffith (of Calhoun, Ga.) is No. 1 on Scout.com, I beat him out,” Butker said. “Adam said I had the better season. He wasn’t too angry about it.”
Butker played in the Georgia Junior Bowl where he punted well and had a kickoff that carried seven yards deep into the end zone – and they kicked off from the 35-yard line. However, because of commitments to basketball practice and games, he missed most of the practice sessions that week.
Butker is dedicated to whatever is in front of him. He’s also thankful for coaching help from Sturniolo and Romberg.
“He’s very passionate about kicking,” Butker said of Sturniolo. “He helped me all last summer and all through the year. A lot of schools don’t have anybody to lean on but I have him. The reason why I got to be where I am is because of him. Coach Romberg is a head coach who is very willing to kick field goals. I appreciate his faith in me.”
Guy turned down offer from Bear
RAY GUY PROKICKER.COM HIGH SCHOOL ALL-AMERICANS
By Mark Maynard / Prokickernews.com
ASHLAND, Ky. – The inaugural Ray Guy Prokicker.com High School All-Americans include some of the nation’s top punting, kicking, kickoff and long-snapping prospects.
Players were selected after much vetting from the Prokicker.com staff, who watched and coached the players during camps, and also by how the players performed on the field during the 2011 high school season.
“Our staff has personally watched these players and worked with these players during camps,” said Prokicker.com founder and camp director Rick Sang. “We’ve seen them and know what they can do.”
There were four All-America categories – punting, kicking, long-snapping and kickoff specialist. The last category is believed to be the first of its kind in receiving All-America postseason recognition.
“There are a lot of facets to special teams and we feel like this is an important one that sometimes gets overlooked when it comes to being recognized as the best,” Sang said.
Selecting the first All-America team with the Ray Guy Prokicker.com brand was something that Sang wanted to make sure was done as accurately and fairly as possible. Prokicker.com rankings and ratings weighed into the selection process but only because that meant staff members had either worked with or watched these honorees perform.
“We’re proud of what these young men have accomplished for their high school teams and look for each one of them to play at the college level,” Sang said.
Eight different states were represented: Georgia (two), Texas (two), Florida (two), Kentucky, Virginia (two), Arizona, South Carolina and Arkansas.
Among the first-, second- and third-team selections three players – kickers Harrison Butker, Nick Tankersley and Patrick Sohrt – were selected as Ray Guy Prokicker.com All-Americans in two different categories.
Butker, a combo kicker for The Westminster Schools near Atlanta, was the first-team All-America kicker and third-team punter.
Sohrt, the left-footed kicker from St. Joseph High School in Victoria, Tex., was a second-team All-America selection as both a punter and kickoff specialist.
Tankersley, who helped Manatee High School capture the Florida Class 7A championship, was the second-team kicker and the third-team kickoff specialist. He was 18 of 26 on field goals and 68 of his 100 kickoffs went for touchbacks.
Ray Guy, the former All-Pro punter for the Oakland Raiders who is considered the greatest punter in NFL history, was proud to lend his name to the inaugural Ray Guy Prokicker.com High School All-Americans.
“These young men have proven that they’re the best of the best,” Guy said. “I’ve seen many of them personally in camps and know the work ethic that goes with being a great kicker or punter. These guys have that something special, that ‘it’ factor, that separates them from the pack. This is just a steppingstone for many of them. We look for them to do great things at the next level.”
First-team selections were:
punter: Thomas Meadows (6-0, 170, senior), Goochland, Va., Goochland High School, Purdue commit.Averaged 41.2 yards per punt for Goochland High School, the Division II Class A state runner-up. He had 13 punts inside the 20 and allowed only 14 return yards. He was first-team district, first-team region, All-Metro and participated in the Chesapeake Bowl where he punted five times for a 46-yard average.
Meadows credits his early experience with Prokicker.com into making him a top-notch punter.
“They really teach the techniques,” Meadows said. “I took a different approach than most kids my age did. Most kids my age went out and kicked the ball. I wanted to learn how to do it the right way. I wanted to establish my form. In my opinion, and in Rick Sang’s opinion, I’ve got some of the best form of anybody my age.”
Meadows will compete for the punting, kickoff and placekicking jobs when he gets to Purdue this summer.
“It depends on how I do in the offseason but I could be doing all three (for Purdue in the fall).”
kicker: Harrison Butker (6-3, 170, junior), Atlanta, Ga., Westminster.All-State First Team in Class AA Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia Sports Writers Association; All Metro, all classification, in Atlanta/South Fulton area; participated in Georgia Junior Bowl.
Butker made 16 of 17 field goals with only miss coming from 59 yards. Butker connected on a 51-yard field goal. He also had touchbacks on 47 of 59 kickoffs (80 percent) and also punted for a 39.5 average on 33 punts. Four of them were more than 50 yards with six downed inside the opponent’s 20.
“It was an incredible season,” Butker said. “A lot of credit goes to the (long)-snappers and holders. I was lucky to have a kicking coach (Joe Sturniolo) and a head coach (Gerry Romberg) who liked to kick.”
KICKOFF SPECIALIST: Zach Burgy-VanHoose (6-1, 214, senior), Pikeville, Ky., Pikeville High School. Led high school team to Class A state semifinals by booming 85 percent of kickoffs for touchbacks. kicker for Kentucky in Border Bowl against Tennessee and was selected as kicker on the WMYT All-Mountain Team.
“It definitely is great to be able to end the high school season with that award. It makes you feel good; makes you feel like all the hard work is finally paying off.”
LONG-SNAPPER: Rey Higuera (5-11, 225, senior), Gilbert, Ariz., Perry High School. Arizona All-State 5A Division II first-team; All-Region, All-Section first team; snapped in Semper Fidelis Bowl; Prokicker.com national champion long-snapper for 2011.
“I’ve been long-snapping since I was a sophomore but I didn’t start getting competitive in it until the end of my junior year,” Higuera said. “Our team had a guy who was long-snapping and getting fairly good. We had heard about a coach (Ben Bernard) in Phoenix (Arizona Elite Long snapping in North Phoenix) who turned out a lot of Division I long-snappers. I really enjoyed playing football but was not the most athletically gifted person. I had to work to get where I am.”
Second-team selections were:
punter/KICKOFF SPECIALIST: Patrick Sohrt (6-2, 205, senior), Victoria, Tex., St. Joseph High School. Sohrt did a little bit of everything for his team in the kicking department but excelled on punt and kickoffs.
“I actually think my punting got better from last year. We had a 1-9 season, so we did punt a lot,” Sohrt said.
Despite St. Joseph’s record, Sohrt was named a first-team All-State punter. “I’d like to do punting and kickoffs (in college) but I’ll do whatever they ask me to do. I just want the chance.”
kicker: Nick Tankersley (6-1, 165, senior), Bradenton, Fla., Manatee High School. Tankersley had a huge season for Florida 7A state champion Manatee High School, which finished 13-2. “When you play that many games, it’s good experience and good exposure.” Tankersley made 18 of 26 field goals with a long of 53 yards, a school record. Four of his misses were from 50-plus yards. He also had 68 touchbacks on 100 kickoffs and punted 39 times for a net average of 37.18. He allowed only 28 punt return yards.
“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.”
LONG-SNAPPER: Ike Powell (6-3, 240, sophomore), Tifton, Ga., Tift County High School. Powell was the Ray Guy Prokicker.com National Championship runner-up for 2011 and was the national winner in the underclassman division.He was All-Area in a four-county area. Powell is also the youngest Prokicker.com All-American selection and the top-ranked player in his class at long-snapper.
Here’s what Jacob Claycomb, a Prokicker.com staff member, said about Powell:
“Ike has always been really gifted. You can tell he works hard at it. He has his own target in the back yard. Most kids don’t know their exact score before you tell him. Ike threw the last ball and said ‘Oh, man, 24 points.’ He had a running clock in his head. Ike’s pretty much the whole package. He’s probably one of the better long-snappers I’ve had come through the camps. He’s such a hard worker.
During the national championships his fastest snap was .77 and his average was .83.
Third-team selections were:
punter (tie): Mitchell Ludwig (6-0, 170, junior), Abingdon, Va., Abingdon High School. First-team district and regional punter, second-team kicker; Virginia preps.com AA First-Team All-State punter and Virginia Preps.com AA underclassmen First Team All-State punter; set five school kicking and punting records; one state of Virginia record submitted (single game six punts for 50.33 yard average).
Harrison Butker (6-3, 170, junior), Atlanta, Ga., Westminster (See information above).
kicker: Houston Ray (5-11, 170, junior), Van Buren, Ark., Van Buren High School.
KICKOFF SPECIALIST (tie): Sean Covington (6-1, 175, junior), St. Petersburg, Fla., St. Petersburg High School; Nick Tankersley(6-1, 165, senior), Bradenton, Fla., Manatee High School.
LONG-SNAPPER (tie): Mike Sulka (6-4, 240, senior), Bluffton, S.C., Bluffton High School; Fred McClimans (6-0, 205, senior), Flower Mound, Tex., Flower Mound High School.
HONORABLE MENTION
KICKERS
Nick Bartolotta, Fox High School (Mo.), class of 2012
Sean Covington, St. Petersburg High School (Fla.), class of 2013
Andy Ellington, Winfield High School (W.Va.), class of 2012
Pedro Ramello, Fishers High School (Ind.), class of 2012
Austin Jordan, Airport High School (S.C.), class of 2012
Trent Domingue, St. Paul’s School (La.), class of 2012
PUNTERS
Alex Barta, Clarkston High School (Mich.), class of 2012
Cliff Hurst, Centreville Academy (La.), class of 2012
Brian Bostrom, Kings Academy (Calif.), class of 2012
KICKOFF SPECIALISTS
Mark Grant, Mosley High School (Fla.), class of 2012
Ryan Frain, Scecina Memorial High School (Ind.), class of 2012
Harrison Butker, Westminster Schools (Ga.), class of 2013
Nick Bartolotta, Fox High School (Mo.), class of 2012
Carson Greifenkamp, Murray High School (Ky.), class of 2012
LONG-SNAPPERS
Chris Fitzpatrick, Anderson County High School (Ky.), class of 2012
Leonard Skubal, St. Thomas Aquinas (Fla.) High School, class of 2012
Chad Leonard, Queens Creek High School (Ariz.), class of 2012
Travis Taulbee, Montgomery County High School (Ky.), class of 2012
Zack Hirth, Eureka High School (Mo.), class of 2012
Nick Walter, Pickerington Central (Ohio) High School, class of 2013
Billy Oldach, The Rivers School (Ma.), class of 2012
Brent Becenti, Ganado High School (Ariz.), class of 2012
Groza winner, others have Ray Guy Prokicker.com ties
ORLANDO, Fla. - Randy Bullock, a Ray Guy Prokicker.com alum, became the first Texas A&M player to win the Lou Groza Award, given annually to the nation’s top collegiate kicker, at the College Football Awards Show at Disney World.
Bullock was 25 of 29 on feld goal attempts this season and scored 127 points, one shy of the school record set b Joel Hunt in 1927. Bullock was also named to the Walter camp All-American team.
He has scored a school-record 349 points and has made 77.3 percent of his field goals.
Florida State's Dustin Hopkins and Florida's Caleb Sturgis were the other finalists.
Bullock is the first Texas A&M player to win the Groza.
Alabama long-snapper Carson Tinker, who is also a Prokicker.com alum, captured the Spirit Award at the awards show.
Also, Shawn Powell of Florida State was named punter o the Walter camp All-American team. Powell also has ties with Prokicker.com.
Boom times for Raiders' Lechler
By Vittorio Tufar / San Francisco Chronicle
Funny thing, after Shane Lechler boomed that 80-yard punt 10 days ago against Chicago to set a franchise record. The Raiders' punter said he hit the ball "perfect" ... and that it was "probably one of his top 10 punts"
Wait. He hit others more perfect?
In fact, yes. There was the time at East Bernard High School in Texas when he punted one 85 yards. Then, in his freshman year at Texas A&M, with coaches immediately amazed at his ability to kick footballs above and beyond the lights, Lechler took the snap at his 20 one day in practice. He blasted the ball and it didn't touch the grass until it was 7 yards deep in the end zone - 87 yards away.
"Shane had a gift," said his father, Dale. "Never went to one kicking camp as a kid. And he was kicking 30- and 40-yard field goals by the time he was in the fourth grade."
Lechler credits genetics - his grandfathers and father played college football - and survival instincts as a 3-year old.
"My dad became a high school football coach and athletic director," said Lechler, who's 6-foot-2, 225 pounds, "so I've been going to two-a-days (practices) since I could walk. I remember punting when my hands were too small to throw a football."
Now 35 and in his 12th season with the Raiders, Lechler is averaging 50.8 yards a punt and threatening Sammy Baugh's 1940 NFL record of 51.4 yards. The six-time Pro Bowler already owns the NFL record for career average at 47.5.
He is routinely compared to former Raiders punter Ray Guy, a seven-time Pro Bowler and hang-time king who played from 1973 to 1986 and was named to the NFL's 75th-anniversary team in 1994. Except that ...
"There is no comparison," former Raiders head coach and current broadcaster Tom Flores said. "To be fair, we never let Ray kick away. The philosophy back then was to kick for the sidelines, out of bounds. Now it's bombs away."
Guy's career average was 42.4. He has known Lechler since the college punter attended his camps twice in the '90s and instantly knew that he was special.
"You can spot that right away," said Guy, who still holds (Ray Guy Prokicker.com) camps all over the country. "We just try to get them to understand it's smoothness rather than quickness. ... With (the 49ers') Andy (Lee) and Shane, it was their overall movement, just the way they did things. They were so smooth, nothing was jerky, nothing was hard. They stood out."
Guy is not surprised that Lechler is seemingly getting better with age - his two best statistical seasons have come in the past three years.
"You probably lose a little leg strength, but I'm sure (Lechler and Lee) both have their workout program," Guy said. "You may not feel like you have the strength you once had, but you really do - you just get smarter and know how to control it. I was 37 when I retired, but my productivity technically had not fallen off."
It helps that both Guy and Lechler were big-time athletes.
Guy (6-3, 190) played defensive back at Southern Miss, intercepting 18 passes in three years. He also kicked a 61-yard field goal for the Golden Eagles.
Lechler was not only a state-champion quarterback in high school, but he weighed 240 pounds and was recruited as a fullback by Texas. "That was the end of me considering them," he said. Texas A&M considered him a quarterback and punter, and Lechler didn't switch to kicking full-time until he tore a quadriceps muscle before his junior season.
Raiders fans who come to Napa to watch training camp are always surprised and impressed by the spirals Lechler throws in the defensive backs' drills. The rest of the world got to see it when he finally threw a pass in an NFL game: a 35-yard touchdown to Kevin Boss on a fake field-goal try against the Browns on Oct. 16.
It was a special moment for Lechler.
"I try to be accepted as a football player," Lechler said. "I try to hang out with the guys on and off the field as much as possible, although it's kind of getting harder to relate to these guys when you're my age. Hopefully, I'm not looked at as just a punter."
Not by a long shot. Raiders head coach Hue Jackson calls Lechler one of the team leaders.
"He's been in here when it's been really good, he's been here when it's been really bad," Jackson said. "I've had so many personal conversations with him. I lean on him for so many different things. The guy is a huge part of this team, not just because he kicks, but because of what he's been through here."
Lechler has Jackson's ear despite the fact that the punter ripped late owner Al Davis early this year for not renewing the contract of head coach Tom Cable after last season's 8-8 record. Jackson was promoted from offensive coordinator shortly thereafter.
"He knew it wasn't personal," Lechler said. "I back my coach. I'll back Hue the same way. I'm a big believer in stability, and that's why I said what I said. I made it clear I had nothing against Hue."
Jackson went as far as asking Lechler to speak to the team after that win over the Bears 10 days ago. Lechler reminded teammates there were five games left with the playoffs in reach and, "If you want to keep this feeling, keep grinding."
Quarterback Carson Palmer had not heard of a punter giving a postgame talk, but said nobody blinked an eye in the locker room - because Lechler is not merely a punter.
"I think he's definitely the best punter in the league, but as far as a teammate, a leader, a veteran, a professional, he does everything right," Palmer said. "He says the right things. He doesn't act like a kicker. I wouldn't put him in that mold."
Ray Guy keeps eye on punters, but not from stands
By Mark Maynard / Prokicker.com
Ray Guy is considered the greatest punter in the history of the National Football League despite his exclusion from the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
But while Guy still keeps an eye on the game he dominated from the punting position nearly 25 years ago, don’t expect to find him in the stands or glued to the television watching a game.
“People think I should (be a fan), just because I played it,” he said. “I’m not a fan that sits all down long. I ain’t gonna sit in no stands. I don’t sit and watch it on TV either. They don’t show the Raiders much here (in Hattiesburg, Miss.) anyway.”
But Guy still appreciates the beauty of the game and the importance of punting in being successful. While he had one of the strongest legs in NFL history, it was the art of the punting game that made him a special player. His angle punting consistently gained the Oakland Raiders field position, pinning opponents in unfriendly territory against a usually fierce defense.
“Field position and ball placement, that’s what’s important,” he said. “I’d pick out a certain point or a certain area. I didn’t ever pick out a spot, I picked out an area, about a 10-yard circle. If you try to spot kick it, you better be good. Ninety-nine percent of the time you’re not going to hit that bull’s-eye. You take a circle around that spot where the vital spots are. Then it’s all right if you don’t hit the bull’s-eye.”
Guy would tell the Raider players in the huddle the direction and area where he was going to punt it. That made coverage especially easy. No one ever returned one of Guy’s punts for a touchdown in 14 seasons.
He was the first and only punter ever to be selected in the first round in the NFL Draft. He led the league in punting three times, had a string of 619 consecutive punts before having one blocked and played on three Super Bowl champion Raider teams.
Guy averaged 42.4 yards per punt in his career. But he could put the power to it when necessary as exhibited by the five punts of more than 60 yards during the 1981 season. Guy once had a 74-yard punt for the Raiders, a mark that was eclipsed twice this season by Raider punter Shane Lechler.
But he was his angle pinpoint punting that made him one of the Raiders’ best weapons. He had 210 punts inside the 20-yard line (not counting the first three seasons when the NFL did not track the statistic) and only 128 touchbacks.
During Super Bowl XVIII against the Washington Redskins, it was a key 27-yard punt from Guy that pinned the Redskins on their own 12 late in the first half. On the next play, the Raiders Jack Squirek intercepted Washington quarterback Joe Theismann and returned it for a touchdown for a 21-3 halftime lead. The Raiders went on to win 38-9.
Guy just smiled when he watched replays of Lechler bombing an 80-yard punt against the Chicago Bears on Sunday.
Lechler and Guy met during a Ray Guy Prokicker.com camp in Richmond, Ky., in 1999. Lechler was already a punter at Texas A&M at the time. Guy is quick to credit Lechler’s natural talent but the two punting greats hit it off immediately.
Guy was one of the first to congratulate Lechler when the Raiders took him in the fifth round of the 2000 NFL Draft. The late Al Davis, owner of the Raiders, chose Lechler because of his connection with the Ray Guy Prokicker.com kicking camp.
Davis, speaking at the Ray Guy Award presentation the year Lechler was taken, said when he learned the punter was involved with Ray Guy’s Prokicker.com camp that confirmed they were going to select him in the draft. That’s how much clout Ray Guy’s name had with Davis.
Lechler, who many already consider one of the greatest punters in NFL history, hasn’t disappointed the Raiders. He’s averaging 51.5 yards per punt this season and threatening to break Sammy Baugh’s 70-year-old record of 51.4, set in 1940.
Guy said today’s punters have an edge in training but it still takes the natural ability to achieve greatness.
“It doesn’t matter how you train or who you got training you, you’ve still got to have the ability to accomplish whatever you’re doing,” Guy said. “There’s more study going into it (punting and kicking) now. People understand it more, the finer techniques of it. They know how you’ve got to adjust certain ways the ball hits the foot. It’s just amazing. It’s like golf equipment. It doesn’t matter what you’ve got in your hand, you’ve still got to perform it. There has to be the right mental approach and teaching.”
Guy said he is happy for Lechler, 49ers punter Andy Lee and several others in the NFL who have been part of the Ray Guy Prokicker.com camp over the years.
