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

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 STATE


Filip Filipovic
THEKICKINGCOACH.COM

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

"The Michigan Daily" Newspaper Article

This is a short article on twitter kicking tips, college specialists competition, etc.

"With Tweets and coaching tips, Filipovic helps Mesko, 7 other Big Ten Kickers"

BIG 10 Visits

One of my favorite things to do is to visit BIG 10 campuses, watch games and kick with my guys. Week 1 - Michigan State, Week 2 - Wisconsin, Week 3 - Michigan...


WISCONSIN

MICHIGAN STATE

PURDUE
IOWA
MICHIGAN
ILLINOIS

Filip Filipovic
THEKICKINGCOACH.COM

Signs that a college coach is interested in you

This is a great article written by Kris Crause, founder of NCSA and a former D1 scholarship athlete.

_________
The answer to this question will always vary based on the age of the prospect, the sport, the division level and the individual program, amongst other factors in the process. However, here are the top indicators of a coach’s level of interest, in declining order:

1. Full scholarship offer in writing
2. Full scholarship offer made verbally
3. Partial scholarship offer in writing
4. Partial scholarship offer made verbally
5. Offer of an official visit
6. Phone calls from the head coach on the first day of the contact period, which varies by sport
7. Hand-written weekly letter from the head coach or assistant coach (the former indicates higher interest)
8. Athletic application with fee waiver
9. Letter from the head coach or assistant coach with an invitation to call or email (the former indicates higher interest)
10. Offer of an unofficial visit or game day visit
11. Request for game, highlight, or skills video
12. Invitation for pro-rated one-day summer camp visit
13. Questionnaire and letter inviting the student-athlete to correspond or call

Filip Filipovic
THEKICKINGCOACH.COM

Great College Season Coming Up !

I was looking through the college football schedule today and marking all the games that I cannot miss. There are too many because...

1. I LOVE BIG 10 FOOTBALL.
2. There is a game every Saturday in which 2 or more The Kicking Coach alumni/staff will face each other on the field.

If you attended one or more of our kicking camps this year, you probably met many of them and had a chance to kick with them.

Here are just a few games you should try to watch:

9/5 Illinois vs. Missouri (D. Dimke K Illinois, A. Lalich P Missouri)
9/12 Northwestern vs. Eastern Mich. (S. Demos KP NW, Z. Johnson P EMU)
9/19 Michigan vs. Eastern Mich. (Z. Mesko P MI, Z. Johnson P EMU)
9/26 Michigan vs. Indiana (C. Hagerup P IN, Z. Mesko P MI)
10/3 Michigan State vs. Michigan (A.Bates & Swenson MSU, Mesko MI)
10/10 Iowa vs. Michigan, Illinois vs. Michigan State
10/24 Illinois vs. Purdue (Dimke K IL, C. Wiggs K Purdue)

etc...

Filip Filipovic
THEKICKINGCOACH.COM