Rob Bironas gets paid !!!

Rob Bironas spent 2 years kicking in Arena League and 1 year kicking for Arena 2 league before getting a shot with Tennessee Titans in 2005. He just signed a 4 year contract worth 12 million dollars. He is another one of those great stories where a guy refuses to give up.

I remember when he kicked for Tampa Bay in 2003 preseason. He tripped on his kickoff steps and hit the ball with his knee.

He came a long way since. Read the full article here.

KICKING AT THE NEXT LEVEL

I had the opportunity to work with Bill Ruehlmann last week. He is a high school junior K/P from Chicago. He has the leg strength to punt in college. He is also pretty consistent for a high school punter. But he takes 3 steps to punt the ball. College coaches will look at that and quickly eliminate him as a recruit. 3 step punters are slow and they cover too much ground with their steps. The kicker is that the 3rd step does not add power and it will not make a punter more consistent. It is simply something guys get used to and that can be easily eliminated.

I asked Billy if he wants to kick/punt in college. He said, " That is the goal". In that case we need to eliminate the 3rd step and make few more adjustments. If Billy would have said that his goal was to be the best high school punter he can be, I would not have asked him to make many changes because he is pretty good already.

If you are an athlete who aspires to play at the next level, you have to know what coaches at the next level are looking for. Call someone and find out right away.

March 20th Chicago Clinic Scheduled

March 28th Chicago Kicking Clinic sold out 45 days before the event.

For those of you still interested, we scheduled another clinic with the same format at the same location (Schaumburg Sports Center) on Friday March 20th 2009 from 6:30pm to 10pm. We expect this clinic to sell out by the end of February.

For more information CLICK HERE

Training Advice for Punters - Hands

Every good punter has good hands. Every great punter has great hands.

There are no shortcuts when you talk about improvement in ball handling. More time you spend practicing catching the ball and "molding it" better your hands will become. Molding the ball means catching the snap and quickly getting the ball to your drop table with football laces up and ball parallel to the ground with the correct inward tilt.

It is absolutely pointless to train hard in the weight room for the entire off season if you don't also work on your ball handling.

Have someone toss you a football underhand 25 to 50 times a day. Who? It can be your dad, teammate, brother, girlfriend, etc.

In high school, you will have about 1.1 seconds to catch the ball and kick it. Does it matter how good your mechanics are and how strong your leg is if you can't efficiently catch the ball and get it to your foot?

Tip: Catch the ball with your arms extended (elbows extended but not locked). Squeeze with fingertips.

Will Hagerup is The First Punter from 2010 Class to be offered a scholarship

Will Hagerup, high school punter from 2010 class, was offered scholarships from a Big 12 and a Big 10 school already. You might have seen Will at Michigan Off Season Kickoff Camp at Grand Valley State University. He is the first junior punter in the nation to be offered. Fielding scholarship offers this early is not very common for specialists. Will is a 6'4" athletic punter who has already hit punts with 5.0+ second hang times. He will wait until August to make his verbal commitment. Big 10 schools with strong academics are on the top of his list.

Facebook

I have been using facebook to stay in touch with many of my campers and counselors. If you have a kicking question, shoot me a quick note. I will get back to you quickly. I also post camp photos and videos. Tag yourselves in the photos. It helps me learn everyone's name. Look me up. Search Filip Filipovic. Network: Chicago.

Kick Tomorrow !

It is going to be 52 degrees in Chicago and pretty warm throughout the Midwest tomorrow. Cancel whatever plans you have and kick. These days are few and far between. Take advantage of them when you can.

Awesome Article on Kicker Recruiting

This is an article about 3 really good, class of '09 high school kickers from Northwest Indiana. They are all D1 material but had difficulties receiving division 1 offers.

Some of you might have seen Mitchell Voss (one of the three kickers mentioned) kick two 55 yard field goals and a 57 yard field goal off the ground during the College Showcase at the Illinois Off-Season Camp in Pekin. He received preferred walk on offers from Kansas State and University of Michigan.

From the article:
"It's always been the case -- kickers (and punters) are the last to get offered. They'll get teased with walk-on offers, they'll get strung along while waiting for a scholarship to open up, they'll get taunted with "grayshirt" proposals, which call for the player to enroll in January."

http://www.post-trib.com/sports/lazerus/1414893,laze.article

Filip Filipovic
(773) 480 - 5425
TheKickingCoach.com

Kicking at Purdue University

Last week I had the opportunity to visit Purdue University and kick with Carson Wiggs. Carson was a starting kicker as a freshman. He had a great year and will kick for Purdue in '09, '10, '11.

I was just happy to have access to an indoor facility in the Midwest.





Carson
Not a bad pool table in the player lounge.

Welcome! Blog Information

Hello Everyone,

Most of you who met me know that I love kicking and talking about kicking. I try to keep in touch with many of my campers, and I try to provide them with as much support as possible with issues like off season training, recruiting, etc. Preferred methods of communication in the past have been facebook messages, emails and newsletters. The problem with emails and messages is that I often have to answer same questions over and over again. Newsletters allow me to get the information to many of you at once. But I have to keep it short since you probably do not want to read a 10 page newsletter. And I don't want to write it.

Thus, this BLOG.

I will post frequently.

In this blog, you will find:

- Training tips
- Recruiting information
- Analysis of NFL/College kickers and punters
- Update on former campers
- Upcoming kicking events
- Pictures/Videos of campers and counselors

Hope you enjoy!

Filip Filipovic
Head Coach of The Kicking Coach LLC
Phone: (773) 480 - 5425
Website: TheKickingCoach.com