Simple Kicking

Special Teams Roundtable: Jeremy Springer, Aman Anand, Jonathan Rutledge by James Hairston

The first Special Teams Roundtable was held at the AFCA Convention on January 9, 2022. The panel consisted of four Power 5 coaches.

1) Louie Matsakis, Analyst - University of Kentucky

2) Drew Meyer, Analyst - University of Virginia

3) Brett Arkelian, Analyst - Virginia Tech

4) Grant Kurzner, Analyst - University of Missouri-Columbia

Highlights:

1) The key to coaching a kicker is to unlock their natural athletic ability and allow it to take over. 1B) The kicker's personality and temperament determine how best to coach: a) like a caddie in golf, or b) aggressive, yelling, etc

2) A coach can sense whether a kicker is ready or not, and it is his job to change the path a kicker’s mind is on, so that it flips it into thinking about something completely different.

3) Each kicker is different: some are pensive and technique-oriented, others rely on feel, requiring little-to-no thinking.

4) Asking for a kicker's feedback after a shank does three things: a) creates conversation, b) identifies problem, c) creates space to move on and refocus.

5) Coaches can identify the mental strengths of a high school kicker in recruiting but it requires the kicker to attend on-campus summer camp to be evaluated in-person.

6) A high school kicker who makes excuses for a missed kick immediately is disqualified in recruiting.

7) Hold tryouts for kicking, punting and long snapping in the offseason for emergencies!

8) High school kickers who play multiple sports are more attractive because they have been exposed to more situations to winning because they play more games.

Cameron Little is the Kicker for the Arkansas Razorbacks. As a true Freshman. Through 4 games he is perfect 8-for-8 on field goals.

The Razorbacks are fielding their best squad in nearly a decade.

Little earned the starting job in fall camp, and according to the Simple Kicking App, he is a top 10 kicker in college football with his proximity to the middle of the Pro-Posts at 6 feet 11 inches, and 5.06 points above expected.

Little was a highly coveted high school prospect earning All-America honors.

You may also find the Simple Kicking Punting Tracker, or Punt tracker app on the App Store helpful in charting your kicks and punts:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/simple-kicking/id1492643118

Follow @SimpleKicking on:

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/simplekicking​

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplekicking​

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simplekicking​

Web: https://www.simplekicking.com​

Please follow Cameron Little:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cameronglittle/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cameronglittle/

Parker Lewis is the sophomore kicker at the University of Southern California (U.S.C) who had a monster freshman season in 2020. A graduate of Saguaro High School in Phoenix, AZ. Lewis is a rising PAC-12 Kicker who has a bright future.

Earning a job in college football is difficult. Keeping it is even harder. As an early enrollee Lewis beat out USC great, Chase McGrath during crazy times in the college football landscape.

On this episode, Lewis shares his story, and how he beat out two upperclassmen.

Please follow Parker Lewis:

https://www.twitter.com/ParkerLewi

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ParkerLewi_/

0:00 - Welcome to Simple Kicking and James Hairston (LSU and Rice) story

1:00 - The Chris Sailer Kicking Camp: the difference between a Top 12 kicker and an Underclassmen

4:00 - How do you improve your ranking and kick the ball farther?

8:00 - The difference is like understanding a car engineer

10:30 - 150% difference based on points above expected

12:30 - Training on the Pro-Posts which narrow the field goal posts to 9 feet wide

15:00 - Two Outstanding kickers who had fun playing the game

18:30 - The Nick Folk story and how many wins he was worth in the 2020 NFL season

20:00 - How college coaches recruit

21:20 - Follow Simple Kicking

Points above expected is a metric that determines which kickers are better than others. Check out that video below: https://youtu.be/92F3KCtOfHw

Nick Folk, University of Arizona, Dallas Cowboys, New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and New England Patriots Kicker

check out that podcast here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDeZbQdtoJk&t=1331s

You may also find the Simple Kicking Punting Tracker, or Punt tracker app on the App Store helpful in charting your kicks and punts:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/simple-kicking/id1492643118

Follow @SimpleKicking on:

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/simplekicking​

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplekicking​

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simplekicking​

Web: https://www.simplekicking.com​

Chris Sailer and Chris Rubio check out that podcast here:

https://youtu.be/3H3S7HSqcug

Please check Chris Sailer out below :

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chris_sailer

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrissailerkicking

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chris_sailer

Web: https://www.ChrisSailerKicking.com

Please check Chris Rubio out below :

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/TheChrisRubio

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rubiolongsnapping

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rubio.longsnapping

Web: https://www.RubioLongSnapping.com

Chicago Bears Kicker Cairo Santos splits the Pro-Posts, you can find that episode here: https://youtu.be/tfAW16UxLq0

Nick Folk, University of Arizona, Dallas Cowboys, New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and New England Patriots Kicker

check out that podcast here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDeZbQdtoJk&t=1331s

You may also find the Simple Kicking Punting Tracker, or Punt tracker app on the App Store helpful in charting your kicks and punts:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/simple-kicking/id1492643118

Follow @SimpleKicking on:

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/simplekicking​

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplekicking​

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simplekicking​

Web: https://www.simplekicking.com​

The Simple Kicking App was created to give kickers a tool so that now only did they have knowledge of their own performance, but also so they could learn, adjust, and reach their goals.

Reaching goals means enjoying the process. Check out 2 press conferences held after the CSK camps. Kalen Jones (CA) 2022, and Caden Perry (TX) 2023.

Caden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRKseAyFLaI&t=2s&pp=sAQA

Kalen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYiCJVLmgPg&pp=sAQA

A shift is occurring in the college recruiting world where there is an emphasis on data and video. The Simple Kicking App provides both in the largest kicking database on the planet.

Currently there are over 60,000 kicks logged from just under 3,000 kickers.

In the past a kid leaves a session with thoughts and tired legs, and now young kickers will have their results posted for all scouts to see on a live leaderboard.

Young kickers face a sweet spot of time to develop. Are you taking full advantage of the time you have? The difference between making kicks and missing them short is hard work.

But what separates the men from the boys?

Working Smart.

The Texas Longhorns added their 3rd Aussie punter in the past decade or so: Michael Dickson, punter for the Seattle Seahawks, current punter Ryan Bujcevski, and the newest arrival is Isaac Pearson from Australia. He learned how to kick from ProKick Australia.

Texas has some of the best specialists in the Country. Justin Tucker, Austin Westlake High School, Baltimore Ravens, Cameron Dicker, Lake Travis, just to name a few.

Hailing from New South Wales, Pearson joined the Simple Kicking Show for an in-person clinic.

Here we talk about technique, mindset, and the art of punting, it was a ton of fun.

Overview of the session: Overview of the first set, Punting in Windy Conditions, mindset of punting. What has it been like traveling from Australia to compete in American college football. Expectations for the session 50 yards, 5.0 seconds hang time punt

Nick Folk, New England Patriots Kicker, on making solid contact. Practicing real game scenarios, deliberate practice. Focus on the process not on the results. Reviewing Data on the Simple Kicking App. Two things I am thinking about: be relaxed and make smooth contact on the ball. Punting in Windy Conditions, Austin McNamara Texas Tech Punte. How to get out of a punting slump. Adjusting the mindset. Let the ball do the talking.

Nick Folk, University of Arizona, Dallas Cowboys, New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and New England Patriots Kicker

check out that podcast here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDeZb...

You may also find the Simple Kicking Punting Tracker, or Punt tracker app on the App Store helpful in charting your kicks and punts:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/simple-kicking/id1492643118

Follow @SimpleKicking on:

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/simplekicking​

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplekicking​

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simplekicking​

Web: https://www.simplekicking.com​

Please follow Isaac Pearson:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/isaac_pearson/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Isaac_Pearson23/

Cairo Santos is an NFL Kicker who had a breakout season for the Chicago Bears in 2020. A 8 year NFL veteran, Santos was signed as an undrafted free agent for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2014 Tulane University.

Santos’ NFL career has made stops in the National Football Conference (NFC) and American Football Conference (AFC) with 4 franchises: the Chiefs, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Tennessee Titans. Statistically 2020 was his best season, as he converted 93.8% of his kicks with 3.4º precision according to the Simple Kicking App. Santos credits punter Pat O’Donnell (The University of Miami) who held for him.

Cairo Santos is the first born Brazilian to play in the NFL.

Santos was a soccer player growing up and his heroes were Neymar, Ronaldinho, and Ronaldo.

Folk did not have childhood aspirations to play in the NFL, and this episode covers topics of how hard it is to stay in the NFL and how he sustained a long career despite multiple injuries, and roster cuts. This story is a lot like Nick Folk’s. was named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week twice in 2020 for his game winning field goals vs. the New York Jets and the Arizona Cardinals.

Santos was named the NFC special teams player in Week 6 victory at Carolina Panthers. Santos was named the NFC’s special teams player of the month for December 2020 making all 12 field-goal attempts from Weeks 13 through 17 through the Pro-Posts except for one.

He is the best kicker in Chicago since Robbie Gould.

Thomas Fletcher was the Long Snapper at the University of Alabama. A two-time national champion, Fletcher was selected as the 2020 Patrick Mannelly Award Winner which is presented annually to the nation's top long snapper.

Fletcher was recruited by Head Coach Nick Saban, and former special teams coordinator, Jeff Banks who has begun a career at the University of Texas as of January 2021.

On his special teams unit he played with Green Bay Packers punter J.K. Scott, and Simple Kicking's own, Will Reichard. He follows a lineage of excellent long snappers in Tuscaloosa like Carson Tinker (New York Giants) and Cole Mazza (Los Angeles Chargers).

Fletcher played in 3 college football playoff national championship games, winning the 2021 CFP National Championship over the Ohio State University and the 2017 CFP National Championship over the University of Georgia.

In this episode, Fletcher shares how his hard work throughout his career allowed him to become the best he could. Treating each moment as if it were a game he follows a specific process.

He shares his recruiting journey on how he earned a college scholarship as a long snapper to the University of Alabama, and tips he would give young long snappers who are attending kicking camps, showcases, and combines.

Drew Meyer is a Special Teams Analyst at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. This episode covers his outlook on kicking and punting. The episode covers how the late Nebraska punter Sam Foltz and Michigan State Punter Mike Sadler made an impact on how he recruits kickers and punters. Meyer highlights that he is looking for characters that resemble the remarkable qualities of two souls that left us too soon.

Meyer walked on as a punter at the University of Wisconsin and he shares how his playing experience has transferred to coaching and recruiting kickers as a Division 1 special teams college analyst.

Early in his coaching career, Meyer is taking lessons learned from college teammates Russell Wilson (Seattle Seahawks) Monte Ball (Denver Broncos) and what he learned from top punters at camps like Thomas Morstead, Tommy Townsend, and many others. Not only does he have 4 seasons under his belt coaching at the highest level of college football, but he has deep relationships with the best punters and kickers in the game.

This episode covers what attributes he looks for in a kicker, memorable stories from Kohl’s Kicking Camps, and gratitude.

Meyer drew insight from listening to the Podcast with Thomas Morstead, who is the punter for the New Orleans saints. You can find that episode here:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWIIAxJ_48k

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/28yUdlW2w3LYuJtRtUCeOr?si=R3VdTcUJRUGLv9BuFaYqQg

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simple-kicking/id1521447540?i=1000499982952

Google Play: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jack-fox-nfl-punter-detroit-lions/id1521447540?i=1000499982952

Nick Folk, NFL Kicker by James Hairston