HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Here are the competition winners from the Ray Guy Prokicker.com winter camp in Hattiesburg.

-Long distance field goal winner:  Zak McDaniel, 50 yards
-Long distance field goal winner, middle school:  Mason McKey
-Long distance kickoff winner:  Logan Gunn:  67 yards, 3.84 sec
-Hang time punt winner:  Cliff Hurst, 47yds, 4.62 sec
-Out of bounds punt right:  Jim Speights, 1 yd
-Out of bounds punt left:  Alex Prince, 8 yd
-Fastest single snap:  Matthew Emrich, .81 sec
-Most accurate snapper:  Tyler Morris, 16 out of 30
Talent search:
Logan Gunn, k, 2012
Cliff Hurst, P, 2012
Dylan Scheurich, K 2014
Matthew Emrich, K, 2012
Andrew Ashe, LS, 2014
Matthew Emrich, LS, 2012

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.

SEATTLE - Competition results from the Ray Guy Prokicker.com camp in the Seattle area.

Long Distance Field Goal HS: Chavo Camargo, 45 yards

Long Distance Kickoff: Trevor Merritt, 68 yards

Hang Time Punt: Nathan Suyematsu, 4.51

Out of Bounds Punt Right: Tyler Gilmore

Out of Bounds Punt Left: Matt Longnecker

Fastest Single Snap: Wesley Rosotomily, 0.78

Most Accurate Snapper: Wesley Rostomily, 15 of 30

TOP PROSPECTS

Wesley Rosotomily, long-snapper, 2013

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - Ray Guy Prokicker.com competition results from the camp in the San Francisco area.

Long Distance Field Goal HS: Skyler Rand, 50 yards

Long Distance Kickoff: Angus McDonald, 63 yards

Hang Time Punt: Cole Thomas, 4.63

Out of Bounds Punt Right: James Donegan

Out of Bounds Punt Left: Skyler Rand

Fastest Single Snap: Hunter Morgan, 0.83

Most Accurate Snapper: Bruce Detter and Ryan Dunlap, 16 of 30

TOP PROSPECTS

Skyler Rand, kicker-punter, 2013

Nick Lima, kicker, 2013

LAGUNA HILLS, Calif. – Competition results from the Ray Guy Prokicker.com camp in the Los Angeles area Saturday and Sunday.

Longest Field Goal High School: Dylan Peterson, 45 yards

Long Distance Kickoff: Eddie Juarez, 72 yards

Hang Time Punt: Cody Fisher, 4.36

Out of Bounds Punt Right: Sergio Hernandez

Fastest Single Snap: Ross Ludwig

Most Accurate Snapper: Joseph Marx, 20 out of 30

TOP PROSPECTS

Brady Runyon, kicker

Eddie Juarez, kicker

By Mark Maynard / Prokickernews.com

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Combo kicker Brian Franklin came away from the Ray Guy Prokicker.com camp as a top prospect with a perfect performance.

Franklin, a rising senior from Chandler, Ariz., charted 10-for-10 during charting on field goals. camp coordinator Matt Reagan said it’s the first such performance he’s seen this summer.

“He’s in the 100 percent club,” Reagan said. “He’s a good punter and he’s got a leg. He’ll be fine at the next level.”

Franklin also launched a 69-yard kickoff to win the Long Distance Kickoff competition. However, his consistency is what sold Reagan.

“There was a lot of wind today and to be that consistent in the wind is good,” Reagan said. “We were real impressed with him. He’s not a big guy but that doesn’t matter. He’s all about leg speed and he’s got it.”

Franklin missed on his first attempt in the Longest Field Goal competition but he had already booted a kick from 60 yards out on the first day of camp.

Reagan said he won’t be surprised to find Franklin on somebody’s college roster in 2012.

“He needs to have a good senior year but I believe he’ll be kicking somewhere,” Reagan said.

The camp at Cocoino High School was a first for Prokicker.com. The facilities were top-notch, Reagan said.

“It’s the first time we’ve had a camp here and I hope we come back,” he said.

Franklin kicked for Dobson High School last year where he connected on a pair of field goals. He also had a 60-yard punt for the Arizona team.

By Mark Maynard / Prokickernews.com

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Two top kickers from the 2013 class were part of the Ray Guy Prokicker.com kicking Academy here.

Joesph Pedraza and Matt Flynn, who will both be junior kickers for their high school teams this fall, impressed the staff with some long-range kicking at the two-day Prokicker.com camp.

Pedraza, attending his first Prokicker.com camp, said he’s going away a much better kicker than when he came to the camp.

“It was a lot more than I expected,” he said. “I didn’t think it’d be this nice.”

Pedraza’s big leg easily made him a candidate for the top prospect list at the camp. Long-distance kicking is nothing new to Pedraza, who boomed a 46-yard field goal for Walker High School in Jasper, Ala., last year. But with the additional technique learned through the two-day camp, Pedraza better sees the sky is the limit – literally and figuratively.

“I learned a lot of new things, things that will help me be a better kicker when the season starts,” he said. “I’ve learned about following through on my kicks, keeping my chest up on kickoffs. They taught me so much stuff I didn’t know about kicking. I could tell the improvement from day one.”

Flynn, who will also be a junior this fall, was attending his first Prokicker.com camp. He’s been to others but the technique learned at Prokicker.com turned into immediate success.

“By the end of the day, I was cranking it up,” Flynn said.

He won the competitions for the longest field goal, longest kickoff and best hang time.

“He dominated all the kicks (competitions) here,” said camp director Rick Sang.

Flynn said “It was a good camp and let me work on my technique as a punter.”

Flynn, a combo kicker, is from Loganville, Ga. He’s also an outstanding soccer player and plans on continuing to play that sport in the near future.

Former University of Memphis All-American kicker and punter Matt Reagan said Flynn has an opportunity to play college football

Reagan is a former Prokicker.com camper himself and he’s now on the staff.

“These camps are great for a couple of reasons,” he said. “They’re getting the fundamentals from guys that have been there and been in the heat of battle. It’s different than hearing it from a coach. You also have the talent search aspect of it, like Matt Flynn, who has a good leg and could possibly go on to the next level.”

Reagan came to a Prokicker.com camp when he was a sophomore in high school in Knoxville and also attended a camp at Middle Tennessee State University that Sang’s staff ran. He said those camps made him a better kicker.

“There’s so many things out there right now, guys saying ‘Let me help you get a scholarship,’’’ Reagan said. “But if you don’t have the technique and ability you’re not going to perform. They may have heard of your name but if you don’t have any technique, they’re not going to take you.”

Prokicker.com camps focus on technique and honesty. Reagan said Sang doesn’t sugarcoat it for the campers.

“The thing that separates him is he really cares about the athlete,” Reagan said. “It’s not afraid to get up into him a little bit. Other camps will pat you on your back and tell you how good you are. Rick is telling them what they need to hear.”

Reagan said what Prokicker.com staff members try to do is tweak the good kickers with technical instruction that they can go home with.

“We want to reach them and show them what they’re doing wrong,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing you can do as a coach.”

The next Ray Guy Prokicker.com camp will be in Richmond, Ky., on Saturday and Sunday. Go to Prokicker.com for a complete listing of camps.

Prokicker.com alum Eric Yang Eric Yang, plans to walk on at Kentucky after setting school records of 18 field goals and 67 extra points, then booting a 52-yard field goal in the senior all-star game, at Brockwood High School in Snellville, Ga.

That's far from the former soccer player's initial impression of Broncos football, the season's 27-10 opening victory over Walton in the Corky Kell Classic at the Georgia Dome.

"I'd never even been to a Brookwood football game before that," Yang told the Snellvillepatch. "I was afraid I wouldn't know what to do. (Football) was a totally different atmosphere than you get in soccer. It's a lot more people, a lot crazier."

By Mark Maynard / Prokickernews.com

HOUSTON, Tex. – Dusty Mangum’s star in Texas will never dull.

It’s been six years since he kicked the Longhorns into the history books with a 37-yard field goal to defeat Michigan 38-37 in the 2005 Rose Bowl.

The kick not only gave the Longhorns their first BCS bowl victory, it also vaulted him into celebrity status.

Such is the life of a kicker.

Make the kick and be a star. Miss the kick and be forgotten.

Mangum nailed it, making his last kick as a Texas Longhorn one for the storybook.

“It’s something kids dream about playing in the back yard,” said Mangum who these days is a business intelligence consultant. “Never as a person do you think you’ll be in that situation. It’s either good or bad; you’re a hero or a zero. I was lucky enough to be prepared.”

With the game on the line, Texas Coach Mack Brown’s words to his kicker were the stuff of legend. Brown told his senior kicker: “You’re the luckiest human being in the world because your last kick at Texas will win the Rose Bowl.”

Mangum said Brown’s words of encouragement translated into confidence for him.

“You really don’t expect to hear that from a coach,” he said. “You expect to hear ‘Keep your head down, kick it straight.’ For him to say that to me, in that situation, was a positive accomplishment from Coach Brown. He respected me and showed the faith he had in me. I went out there with a positive attitude of want I needed to do.”

The Longhorns trailed 37-35 and Michigan’s defensive front came hard after Mangum’s kick, even tipping the ball, but it still had enough power to split the uprights and give Texas the triumph in the Rose Bowl.  That victory helped set the tone for what would be a national championship season in 2006 when Texas defeated USC in the Rose Bowl.

Mangum had already graduated but his place in Longhorn history makes him a celebrity in the state that loves in football maybe more than any other.

Mangum’s last kick opened doors for him.

President George W. Bush called Brown to congratulate him on the victory and to make sure he knew that he watched the entire game, including Mangum’s last kick that set off bedlam in the Rose Bowl – and in Texas.

Mangum appeared on radio and television programs and was honored by the Mesquite Independent School District (where he is from). He also had autograph signings at Texas bookstores.

Mangum’s story as to how he ended up at Texas is not unlike what many kickers go through. He was a preferred walk-on with the Longhorns.

“I came in during (summer) two-a-days and had to get to school on my own,” he said. “It’s all about getting the job done, kind of like life. It’s all about performing. I didn’t have a school that I clung to or anything. I was a college football fan and wanted to kick in college. It so happened the opportunity with Texas came up. It was the best one for me.”

And the Longhorns.

Mangum achieved many honors during his days at Texas although he wasn’t selected in the 2005 NFL Draft.

However, he is third on Texas’ all-time scoring list with 358 points and ranks first among Longhorn kickers. He made 121 consecutive PATS, a school record, and had two of the top 10 scoring seasons on record. Mangum was the nation’s fourth-leading active career scorer.

Now that he’s removed from playing days, Mangum stays involved with the kicking game as an instructor for the Prokicker.com / Ray Guy kicking Academy. He’s been involved with the camp since 2002.

“It’s a great avenue for a high school kid,” he said. “A lot of times on the high school level you may not have a coach who has great kicking knowledge. We help them know how to kick. We want them to be their own coaches. When you go back to practice, you are your own coach.”

Mangum said his experience as a young player included kicking camps and none were better than the Prokicker.com, which relies on heavy instruction from former college and professional kickers, punters and long-snappers.

“It’s all about making your own opportunity,” he said. “If you want to play Division I football, come to this camp. It will make you a better kicker.”

He saw some outstanding kickers in the first Prokicker.com camp of the season last weekend in Houston. Patrick Sohrt and Christian Madrigal, both from Texas, showed off their powerful legs on kickoffs, punts and field goals.

“There are a couple of pretty strong legs,” he said. “It’s fun to coach up these kids. They’re very receptive to what we’re telling them.”

Mangum appreciates the chance to stay involved with kicking and maybe pass on something that will make one of these campers the next celebrity kicker.

It can happen. Mangum knows that firsthand.

Here's what Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer told the Virginian Pilot about the team's kicker and punter battles this spring:

“I think Cody Journell is going to be our field goal guy. We’ll continue the competition (in the fall). Myer, I’ll say the same thing about him: if he could ever get his consistency, he’d be a great kicker because he’s really got a strong leg and gets the ball up quick. He’s got all the elements but has just never been a real consistent guy. I think that’s how that’s going to turn out.

“punter, I don’t know. Right now, I really don’t know. We talked today. If we stay inconsistent, I’m probably going to go with Danny Coale because he’s the guy you trust and the guy that’s (been) in the game. But we’re going to have to get his steps a little quicker. He gets a third step in there, and we need to get him down to a two-step kicker. Distance and height are good. His fundamentals are a little ragged, but he’s got all summer to work on it. I’m hoping one of these (other) guys will step up. (Ethan) Keyserling hit a couple before practice and boomed them. (Scott) Demler has his moments. (Grant) Bowden has his moments. (Conor) Goulding has his moments. But just a guy who can do it over and over, we haven’t found that this spring.”