FB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[bleedpurple]

UW-W's punter/kicker is Lake Bachar.  He is a stud and to get him last year was a coup for UW-W.  He was ranked the 40th best punter nationally for the class of 2013 by the prestigious Kohl's Professional Kicking Camps rankings.  They hold 105 kicking events and many kids attend multiple camps to maximize exposure. So to split hairs on rankings is really difficult, but there is a good measure of eyeballing and measuring the results on a head to head basis. Some of the kids around Bachar's rankings went to some big time schools:

#38 Auburn
#41 Florida
#44 Georgia Tech
#45 Missouri
#48 Washington
#53 Alabama

Again, this is not a precise science, but it's fair to say he has a great leg to be in that kind of company.

Oh, and he was ranked the 47th best place kicker by Kohl's also.

Are any of them punting/kicking yet?

#38 Daniel Carlson was redshirted at Auburn last year, but was the 2014 Spring Game special teams player of the game.

#41 Danny Krysalka was redshirted at Florida last year. Right now, he is listed on the two-deep as the #2 kicker.  The #1 guy was only 4-12 of FG attempts last year and his hold on the job is shaky to say the least.

#44 Harrison Butker was Georgia Tech's kicker as a true freshman last year. He was 53-54 on extra points and he was 10-14 on Field Goals. According the the GT media guide, he is expected to be among the best kickers in the ACC as a sophomore.

#45 M. Preston Soper Transferred from Mizzou to the University of Tulsa.

#48 Cameron Van Winkle handled all the kickoff duties for the Washington Huskies for the first 5 games as a true freshman last year until he was sidelined by an injury. He has healed and participated in spring practice for the Huskies.

#53  Trevor Wey did not play for the Crimson Tide last year. I could not find any information on the Tide's roster for 2014. It appears the Tide used only 1 place kicker and 1 punter in the spring game and neither was Wey.

[02 Warhawk]

UW-W's punter/kicker is Lake Bachar.  He is a stud and to get him last year was a coup for UW-W.  He was ranked the 40th best punter nationally for the class of 2013 by the prestigious Kohl's Professional Kicking Camps rankings.  They hold 105 kicking events and many kids attend multiple camps to maximize exposure. So to split hairs on rankings is really difficult, but there is a good measure of eyeballing and measuring the results on a head to head basis. Some of the kids around Bachar's rankings went to some big time schools:

#38 Auburn
#41 Florida
#44 Georgia Tech
#45 Missouri
#48 Washington
#53 Alabama

Again, this is not a precise science, but it's fair to say he has a great leg to be in that kind of company.

Oh, and he was ranked the 47th best place kicker by Kohl's also.

Are any of them punting/kicking yet?

#38 Daniel Carlson was redshirted at Auburn last year, but was the 2014 Spring Game special teams player of the game.

#41 Danny Krysalka was redshirted at Florida last year. Right now, he is listed on the two-deep as the #2 kicker.  The #1 guy was only 4-12 of FG attempts last year and his hold on the job is shaky to say the least.

#44 Harrison Butker was Georgia Tech's kicker as a true freshman last year. He was 53-54 on extra points and he was 10-14 on Field Goals. According the the GT media guide, he is expected to be among the best kickers in the ACC as a sophomore.

#45 M. Preston Soper Transferred from Mizzou to the University of Tulsa.

#48 Cameron Van Winkle handled all the kickoff duties for the Washington Huskies for the first 5 games as a true freshman last year until he was sidelined by an injury. He has healed and participated in spring practice for the Huskies.

#53  Trevor Wey did not play for the Crimson Tide last year. I could not find any information on the Tide's roster for 2014. It appears the Tide used only 1 place kicker and 1 punter in the spring game and neither was Wey.

That's good news. Hopefully he'll be an asset to the defense if he can pin opposing offenses deep in their own zone.

[AO]

UW-W's punter/kicker is Lake Bachar.  He is a stud and to get him last year was a coup for UW-W.  He was ranked the 40th best punter nationally for the class of 2013 by the prestigious Kohl's Professional Kicking Camps rankings.  They hold 105 kicking events and many kids attend multiple camps to maximize exposure. So to split hairs on rankings is really difficult, but there is a good measure of eyeballing and measuring the results on a head to head basis. Some of the kids around Bachar's rankings went to some big time schools:

#38 Auburn
#41 Florida
#44 Georgia Tech
#45 Missouri
#48 Washington
#53 Alabama

Again, this is not a precise science, but it's fair to say he has a great leg to be in that kind of company.

Oh, and he was ranked the 47th best place kicker by Kohl's also.

Are any of them punting/kicking yet?

#38 Daniel Carlson was redshirted at Auburn last year, but was the 2014 Spring Game special teams player of the game.

#41 Danny Krysalka was redshirted at Florida last year. Right now, he is listed on the two-deep as the #2 kicker.  The #1 guy was only 4-12 of FG attempts last year and his hold on the job is shaky to say the least.

#44 Harrison Butker was Georgia Tech's kicker as a true freshman last year. He was 53-54 on extra points and he was 10-14 on Field Goals. According the the GT media guide, he is expected to be among the best kickers in the ACC as a sophomore.

#45 M. Preston Soper Transferred from Mizzou to the University of Tulsa.

#48 Cameron Van Winkle handled all the kickoff duties for the Washington Huskies for the first 5 games as a true freshman last year until he was sidelined by an injury. He has healed and participated in spring practice for the Huskies.

#53  Trevor Wey did not play for the Crimson Tide last year. I could not find any information on the Tide's roster for 2014. It appears the Tide used only 1 place kicker and 1 punter in the spring game and neither was Wey.

That's good news. Hopefully he'll be an asset to the defense if he can pin opposing offenses deep in their own zone.

You guys are talking about your punter?  You punted twice against Mount Union.  The waterboy got more action.

[jknezek]

I've always thought really good punters should go to really bad offensive teams. You want to show your skills right? Plus it's a percentage game. If you punt low numbers and get one bad kick you look bad for your career. Go where you are going to wear that leg out! Mistakes don't matter so much when you can hide them amongst repeated efforts.   

[Just Bill]

I've always thought really good punters should go to really bad offensive teams. You want to show your skills right? Plus it's a percentage game. If you punt low numbers and get one bad kick you look bad for your career. Go where you are going to wear that leg out! Mistakes don't matter so much when you can hide them amongst repeated efforts.   

I can imagine a team trying to recruit a punter: "Our offense is terrible. If we get a first down it's a miracle. You'll get 12, 13 chances a game. Really, this is the place for you!"

[badgerwarhawk]

UW-W's punter/kicker is Lake Bachar.  He is a stud and to get him last year was a coup for UW-W.  He was ranked the 40th best punter nationally for the class of 2013 by the prestigious Kohl's Professional Kicking Camps rankings.  They hold 105 kicking events and many kids attend multiple camps to maximize exposure. So to split hairs on rankings is really difficult, but there is a good measure of eyeballing and measuring the results on a head to head basis. Some of the kids around Bachar's rankings went to some big time schools:

#38 Auburn
#41 Florida
#44 Georgia Tech
#45 Missouri
#48 Washington
#53 Alabama

Again, this is not a precise science, but it's fair to say he has a great leg to be in that kind of company.

Oh, and he was ranked the 47th best place kicker by Kohl's also.

Are any of them punting/kicking yet?

#38 Daniel Carlson was redshirted at Auburn last year, but was the 2014 Spring Game special teams player of the game.

#41 Danny Krysalka was redshirted at Florida last year. Right now, he is listed on the two-deep as the #2 kicker.  The #1 guy was only 4-12 of FG attempts last year and his hold on the job is shaky to say the least.

#44 Harrison Butker was Georgia Tech's kicker as a true freshman last year. He was 53-54 on extra points and he was 10-14 on Field Goals. According the the GT media guide, he is expected to be among the best kickers in the ACC as a sophomore.

#45 M. Preston Soper Transferred from Mizzou to the University of Tulsa.

#48 Cameron Van Winkle handled all the kickoff duties for the Washington Huskies for the first 5 games as a true freshman last year until he was sidelined by an injury. He has healed and participated in spring practice for the Huskies.

#53  Trevor Wey did not play for the Crimson Tide last year. I could not find any information on the Tide's roster for 2014. It appears the Tide used only 1 place kicker and 1 punter in the spring game and neither was Wey.

That's good news. Hopefully he'll be an asset to the defense if he can pin opposing offenses deep in their own zone.

You guys are talking about your punter?  You punted twice against Mount Union.  The waterboy got more action.

On the season we punted 82 times.  That averages to 5.47 times a game.  Which suggests that we must have played defenses better than UMU on some occassions.  That's roughly the same average (5.40/gm) as the 2012 season when we failed to make the playoffs.  The most punts we've had since our first appearance in the Stagg Bowl was in 2011 when we punted 101 times (6.73/gm).   The fewest came in 2009 when we only punted 45 times (3.00/gm).     

 

[02 Warhawk]

I've always thought really good punters should go to really bad offensive teams. You want to show your skills right? Plus it's a percentage game. If you punt low numbers and get one bad kick you look bad for your career. Go where you are going to wear that leg out! Mistakes don't matter so much when you can hide them amongst repeated efforts.   

That might be true if they're looking to play at the next level....but we're talking about D3 punters here. Maybe he just wants to play at a program that has a good chance of making a long playoff run.

[jknezek]

I've always thought really good punters should go to really bad offensive teams. You want to show your skills right? Plus it's a percentage game. If you punt low numbers and get one bad kick you look bad for your career. Go where you are going to wear that leg out! Mistakes don't matter so much when you can hide them amongst repeated efforts.   

That might be true if they're looking to play at the next level....but we're talking about D3 punters here. Maybe he just wants to play at a program that has a good chance of making a long playoff run.

It was just a joke, hence the smiley.  If given a shot to play at UWW and I liked the school, I'd have a go too. Especially if I was a Wisconsin kid.

The odds of playing professionally as a kicker are about as miserable as it gets. There are only about 40 professional place kickers in the NFL at any time and 32 punters (no one carries a spare punter, you can always bring an unemployed one in mid-season!).

[emma17]

All this kicking talk reminds me-
I believe kickers should be required to be starters at either an offensive or defensive position.

[badgerwarhawk]

Huh, emma, that makes no sense.  You don't even want them to punt and place kick.  Yet you think they should be offensive or defensive starters.     

It reminds me of Matt Turk.  Turk was the number one punter for only two of the four years he played for us.  Otherwise he was a tight end.  His collegiate numbers were relatively average.  Yet he parlayed punting into an extended NFL career with three All Pro/Pro Bowl appearances.   He was connected with nine NFL teams between the years 1993-2011, punted over 1,300 times and had a career average of just over 42 yards.   

[emma17]

Huh, emma, that makes no sense.  You don't even want them to punt and place kick.  Yet you think they should be offensive or defensive starters.     

It reminds me of Matt Turk.  Turk was the number one punter for only two of the four years he played for us.  Otherwise he was a tight end.  His collegiate numbers were relatively average.  Yet he parlayed punting into an extended NFL career with three All Pro/Pro Bowl appearances.   He was connected with nine NFL teams between the years 1993-2011, punted over 1,300 times and had a career average of just over 42 yards.   

I'm a nuanced sort of guy. IF football is to continue w specialists at kicking and punting- then I don't think it's good for one guy to do both.

However, once football adopts my rules, then their won't be any such thing as a kicking/punting specialist.  There's something very wrong when 11 guys are busting their tails, knocking heads, getting banged up to drive the ball down the field - stall or run out of time- and then bring in some clean clothed, unscratched, dry shirted "specialist" to determine the game.
I favor the concept of having the guys with all the skin in the game determine the outcome.

[MasterJedi]

Huh, emma, that makes no sense.  You don't even want them to punt and place kick.  Yet you think they should be offensive or defensive starters.     

It reminds me of Matt Turk.  Turk was the number one punter for only two of the four years he played for us.  Otherwise he was a tight end.  His collegiate numbers were relatively average.  Yet he parlayed punting into an extended NFL career with three All Pro/Pro Bowl appearances.   He was connected with nine NFL teams between the years 1993-2011, punted over 1,300 times and had a career average of just over 42 yards.   

I'm a nuanced sort of guy. IF football is to continue w specialists at kicking and punting- then I don't think it's good for one guy to do both.

However, once football adopts my rules, then their won't be any such thing as a kicking/punting specialist.  There's something very wrong when 11 guys are busting their tails, knocking heads, getting banged up to drive the ball down the field - stall or run out of time- and then bring in some clean clothed, unscratched, dry shirted "specialist" to determine the game.
I favor the concept of having the guys with all the skin in the game determine the outcome.

So what you're saying then is that you want to lose the game because the untrained jack of all trades type guy would probably not be able to make that kick?

[jknezek]

Not sure where you draw the line. What about 3rd down backs? Dime only defensive backs. Wildcat package only QBs. Heck the fullback position is practically a seldom used specialist for a lot of teams these days. Kick returners? There are a lot of specialists in football these days. I understand kickers get the most disdain because of the lack of contact and their general uselessness at other positions, but it's not that unusual to have a role player used only several times a game. We gave up on this idea long ago when we went to squad football and massive rosters instead of 2 way players...

That being said, I'm fine with doing away with extra points, modifying field goal points for distance (like the CFL), and switching to punts for kickoff duty. I think you could almost do away with placekickers this way leaving another roster spot for a contact player.

[Just Bill]

Huh, emma, that makes no sense.  You don't even want them to punt and place kick.  Yet you think they should be offensive or defensive starters.     

It reminds me of Matt Turk.  Turk was the number one punter for only two of the four years he played for us.  Otherwise he was a tight end.  His collegiate numbers were relatively average.  Yet he parlayed punting into an extended NFL career with three All Pro/Pro Bowl appearances.   He was connected with nine NFL teams between the years 1993-2011, punted over 1,300 times and had a career average of just over 42 yards.   

I'm a nuanced sort of guy. IF football is to continue w specialists at kicking and punting- then I don't think it's good for one guy to do both.

However, once football adopts my rules, then their won't be any such thing as a kicking/punting specialist.  There's something very wrong when 11 guys are busting their tails, knocking heads, getting banged up to drive the ball down the field - stall or run out of time- and then bring in some clean clothed, unscratched, dry shirted "specialist" to determine the game.
I favor the concept of having the guys with all the skin in the game determine the outcome.

Common discussion with me and my buddies. I also dislike having a player who does nothing but kick extra points and field goals (and punts to a lesser extent). My favorite "solution that will never happen" would be to prohibit a player just subbed into the game to take a placekick. IE, the person who takes the placekick must have been on the field the play prior.

I just love the possibilities of it...
- Multiple offensive and defensive players will have to practice placekicking because you never know who might be on the field when a TD is scored.
- More going for it on 4th down, since your kicker(s) will likely be less reliable.
- More going for 2, same reason, and going for 2 is awesome.
- Do you carry a placekicking specialist on your roster? Sub them in when the ball is on the 1, or perhaps on 3rd and long when in field goal range, so they'd be eligible to take the placekick? Might be a wasted spot most of the season, but that one time you need a 45-yarder to win it could all be worth it.

It'll never happen but it's fun to speculate. My other favorite is overtime should be first team to score at least 4 points (ie, first TD or two scores wins).

[Just Bill]

That being said, I'm fine with doing away with extra points, modifying field goal points for distance (like the CFL), and switching to punts for kickoff duty. I think you could almost do away with placekickers this way leaving another roster spot for a contact player.

I believe you are mistaken here. All field goals in the CFL are three points. The major CFL scoring difference is the single (rouge), which is essentially a point for the kicking team for a touchback.