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Many of you will come to a point in your kicking career where you may have to decide whether to accept a scholarship or financial aid at a small school, or try to walk-on and earn your scholarship at a bigger school by winning the starting job. There is no uniform advice that will work for everyone. Your decision will have to be based on your financial situation, your kicking abilities and potential, and your personal preference.
Following The Kicking Coach Alumni took a chance at walking on, won the starting jobs, and are kicking great this year.
Dan Conroy, Michigan State University. Perfect on the year on FG attempts.
Derek Dimke, Illinois. So far 13 for 13 on FG attempts. Kickoffs are great.
Mike Meyer, Iowa. Took over the kicking duties over a scholarship kicker. He is a true freshman this year.
Cole Wagner, Connecticut, beat out a scholarship punter and is starting this year as a redshirt freshman.
Congrats on your successes so far,
Filip Filipovic
THEKICKINGCOACH.COM
Monday, September 27, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Wasted Time
I recently had an opportunity to work with a punter who has been out of college and trying to make it to the NFL for the last 5 years. It only took about 2 kicks for me to see why he hasn't made it yet. I thought to myself, "I can see why you haven't made it yet?" His mechanics were so unnatural that:
1) NFL coach would never give him a chance &
2) There is no way that his consistency will ever be in the 80%+ range that NFL teams require
We changed few simple things - relaxing the steps, softening the grip, adjusting the grip, moving the drop more outside, etc. Few hours later, he was punting the ball consistently and looked like an NFL punter. It is rare that someone is able to make major changes and improve right away. But it was easy for him because he made changes that immediately made his movements more natural and comfortable.
He has been working hard on his punting skills his whole life. He has a strong leg, tough mind and good work ethic. He's been to number of kicking camps. Why hasn't he made it? Unfortunately, he has been coached by people who are better salesman than coaches.
Conclusion:
1. Be careful of who you are learning from.
2. Do some research on your kicking coach. Contact people who have worked with them in the past. It is amazing how many kicking coaches have bad reputations and still run successful(profitable) kicking businesses.
3. Stay away from coaches who claimed to have developed some revolutionary way of kicking that will increase your power by million percent. They usually have some clever catchy name for their style. These guys are ripoff artists. They are successful kicking industry businessman because there is a turnover in athletes every year.
You do not have much time to develop your skills and make it to college or pros. Don't waste time by working with guys who have a fancy website and promise you the world.
Filip Filipovic
THEKICKINGCOACH.COM
1) NFL coach would never give him a chance &
2) There is no way that his consistency will ever be in the 80%+ range that NFL teams require
We changed few simple things - relaxing the steps, softening the grip, adjusting the grip, moving the drop more outside, etc. Few hours later, he was punting the ball consistently and looked like an NFL punter. It is rare that someone is able to make major changes and improve right away. But it was easy for him because he made changes that immediately made his movements more natural and comfortable.
He has been working hard on his punting skills his whole life. He has a strong leg, tough mind and good work ethic. He's been to number of kicking camps. Why hasn't he made it? Unfortunately, he has been coached by people who are better salesman than coaches.
Conclusion:
1. Be careful of who you are learning from.
2. Do some research on your kicking coach. Contact people who have worked with them in the past. It is amazing how many kicking coaches have bad reputations and still run successful(profitable) kicking businesses.
3. Stay away from coaches who claimed to have developed some revolutionary way of kicking that will increase your power by million percent. They usually have some clever catchy name for their style. These guys are ripoff artists. They are successful kicking industry businessman because there is a turnover in athletes every year.
You do not have much time to develop your skills and make it to college or pros. Don't waste time by working with guys who have a fancy website and promise you the world.
Filip Filipovic
THEKICKINGCOACH.COM
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Todd Carter signs with Carolina Panthers
Todd Carter, former Grand Valley State University ('08) kicker signed a contract with Carolina Panthers on Tuesday, April 6th.
Todd has always had an exceptionally strong leg. But when we first started working together in December '08, his consistency was terrible. We agreed that instead of making a sloppy run at the NFL when he wasn't ready, we will take a full year, change up his mechanics a bit, and train with the goal of getting on a team in the spring of 2010.
We shortened his field goal approach, cut out his jab step, adjusted his body lean and increased the length and speed of his kickoff approach.
And 15 months later, after workouts with Chiefs and Panthers, Todd had 2 contract offers. He chose Panthers because he will have the opportunity to win a job as a kickoff specialist.
Here is a short article about Todd's signing from Yahoo front page -
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Double-threat-Todd-Carter-kicks-deep-makes-smo?urn=nfl,232798
Check out Todd's monster kickoffs here -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__ii2NNZ0Mw
Congrats Todd !!!
Filip Filipovic
TheKickingCoach.com
Todd has always had an exceptionally strong leg. But when we first started working together in December '08, his consistency was terrible. We agreed that instead of making a sloppy run at the NFL when he wasn't ready, we will take a full year, change up his mechanics a bit, and train with the goal of getting on a team in the spring of 2010.
We shortened his field goal approach, cut out his jab step, adjusted his body lean and increased the length and speed of his kickoff approach.
And 15 months later, after workouts with Chiefs and Panthers, Todd had 2 contract offers. He chose Panthers because he will have the opportunity to win a job as a kickoff specialist.
Here is a short article about Todd's signing from Yahoo front page -
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Double-threat-Todd-Carter-kicks-deep-makes-smo?urn=nfl,232798
Check out Todd's monster kickoffs here -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__ii2NNZ0Mw
Congrats Todd !!!
Filip Filipovic
TheKickingCoach.com
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Learning From NFL Tryouts
Few weeks ago I invited Kansas City Chiefs Special Teams Coach Steve Hoffman to work out few specialists that I am training. He watched their videos and set up their tryouts for March 26th at the University of Michigan indoor facility.
Three guys that were trying out out were:
1) Zoltan Mesko, University of Michigan punter. Top punter int he nation from college class of 2010.
2) Todd Carter, Grand Valley State University. Kicker with a very strong leg
3) Zach Johnson, Eastern Michigan University punter. Underrated punter with a strong leg.
Tryout took 4 hours. Steve Hoffman is one of those special teams coaches who relies on more than just a stopwatch and a chart to evaluate kickers and punters. He has been coaching specialists for 25 years at the NFL level. He looks for technical proficiency, foot speed, coachability and body language. He is not evaluating a kicker based on how he is kicking today. He is evaluating him on his potential, personality traits, and how he feels that the kicker will deal with the NFL culture.
Whenever a specialist is trying to go up a level (high school to college, college to professional), he has to start comparing himself to those who play at the next level. Being a good high school kicker does not mean that you will kick in college. Being a top 5 college kicker does not mean that you will get a shot at the NFL. Coaches and recruiters are looking for more than just your performance numbers. They are trying to figure out if they can see you wearing the uniform of their team.
Words of Advice: If you are trying to move up to the next level, observe how succesful specialists that play at the next level kick, practice, work out, interact with coaches and teammates, react to success and failure, etc. And then do what they do.
Filip Filipovic
THEKICKINGCOACH.COM
Three guys that were trying out out were:
1) Zoltan Mesko, University of Michigan punter. Top punter int he nation from college class of 2010.
2) Todd Carter, Grand Valley State University. Kicker with a very strong leg
3) Zach Johnson, Eastern Michigan University punter. Underrated punter with a strong leg.
Tryout took 4 hours. Steve Hoffman is one of those special teams coaches who relies on more than just a stopwatch and a chart to evaluate kickers and punters. He has been coaching specialists for 25 years at the NFL level. He looks for technical proficiency, foot speed, coachability and body language. He is not evaluating a kicker based on how he is kicking today. He is evaluating him on his potential, personality traits, and how he feels that the kicker will deal with the NFL culture.
Whenever a specialist is trying to go up a level (high school to college, college to professional), he has to start comparing himself to those who play at the next level. Being a good high school kicker does not mean that you will kick in college. Being a top 5 college kicker does not mean that you will get a shot at the NFL. Coaches and recruiters are looking for more than just your performance numbers. They are trying to figure out if they can see you wearing the uniform of their team.
Words of Advice: If you are trying to move up to the next level, observe how succesful specialists that play at the next level kick, practice, work out, interact with coaches and teammates, react to success and failure, etc. And then do what they do.
Filip Filipovic
THEKICKINGCOACH.COM
Friday, March 19, 2010
2010 Ohio Off-Season Kicking Clinic
After a huge success of Illinois and Michigan Off Season Clinics we expanded east to include a great football state of Ohio. Sold out clinic took place in March at the University of Akron 's beautiful indoor facility. Staff was very talented, consisting of future NFL kickers and punters.
From Left: Jon Thoma - OHIO STATE, Aaron Bates - MICHIGAN STATE, Aaron Pettrey - OHIO STATE, Myself, Craig Burgess - IUP, Todd Carter - GRAND VALLEY STATE, Zach Johnson - EASTERN MICHIGAN, Dan Conroy - MICHIGAN STATEFilip Filipovic
THEKICKINGCOACH.COM
Monday, January 25, 2010
Mesko and Swenson handling kicking duties for Team North in Senior Bowl
Two TKC staff members were selected to play in the UnderArmour senior bowl that is scheduled to take place on Saturday, January 30th in Mobile, Alabama. Game is televised on NFL network at 3 PM Central time.
Brett Swenson, Michigan State and Zoltan Mesko, University of Michigan, were both 4 year starters who completed their college careers with too many honors to list in this entry.
Zoltan Mesko
Brett Swenson (on far right)
Filip Filipovic
TheKickingCoach.com
Brett Swenson, Michigan State and Zoltan Mesko, University of Michigan, were both 4 year starters who completed their college careers with too many honors to list in this entry.
Zoltan Mesko
Brett Swenson (on far right)Filip Filipovic
TheKickingCoach.com
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