Kicking Prospect
Benchmarks
Most important part of college exposure process is knowing your value. Are you a division 1 kicking prospect? If not, what level of college can you kick at?
These are kicking practice distances and hang times that you should be able to achieve on a calm, warm day, with decent, broken-in leather football, in the summer before your senior season of high school.
Coach Filipovic started The Kicking Coach in ’07 with the primary purpose of skill building and evaluating kickers with honesty and openness. Kicker’s skills and next level value are the most important aspects of the recruiting process. Join us at one of our kicking camps and learn what it takes to get there.
Kicker
Division 1:
• 55+ yard field goal range off the ground. 60+ FG range
off a 1-inch block.
• 70+ yard kickoff range off a 1-inch kickoff tee.
• Solid fundamentals. Good ball rotation and height on kicks.
• Many division one scholarship athletes can kick 60+ yard field goals off the ground. If your range is closer to 55, you are more likely to be a walk-on candidate.
Division 1 scholarship kicker Tucker McCann’s skills video – Filmed in July prior to his junior season in high school. Tucker received a full scholarship to University of Missouri.
Division 2:
• 50+ yard field goal range off the ground. 55+ FG range
off a 1-inch block.
• 65+ yard kickoff range off a 1-inch tee.
• Solid fundamentals. Good ball rotation and height on the kicks.
• Since division 2 schools can offer anywhere between few thousand dollars and a full scholarship, closer you are to division 1 standards, bigger your scholarship will be.
Division 2 scholarship kicker Parker Blust’s skills video – filmed in July prior to his senior season in high school. Parker received a partial scholarship to Northwood University in Michigan.
Division 3:
• 45+ yard field goal range off the ground. 50+ FG range off a
1-inch block.
• 60+ yard kickoff average off a 1-inch tee. Being able to kick off directionally and execute pop up kickoffs.
• Good enough fundamentals and good work ethic.
• Since division 3 schools do not offer athletic scholarships, prospects are offered financial packages based on their skill level, in combination with their academics, and/or family financial need.
Division 3 kicker/punter Zach Lichosik’s skills video – filmed in July before his senior season in high school. Zach is attending University of Wisconsin – Whitewater.
NAIA Schools:
• Similar standards to Division 2 NCAA schools
• Like division 2 schools, NAIA schools can give scholarships of any amount to athletes – ranging from few thousand dollars to a full scholarship.
Punter
Division 1:
• Ability to hit 50+ yard punts from a line of scrimmage with 4.7+ second hang times
• Top high school punters in the country are able to hit 5.0+ second hang times. There is a huge difference in consistency among punters. Some guys have really strong legs with acceptable consistency, while others have adequate leg strength with outstanding consistency.
• Good hands are a must. Between catching the snap and foot punting the ball, the punter has only 1.15 to 1.3 seconds. Total operation time including the snap is around 2.1 seconds in college
Division 2:
• Ability to hit 45+ yard punts from the line of scrimmage with 4.4+ second hang times on at least 5 out of 10 punts.
• Some division 2 punters are able to hit hang times of close to 5.0 seconds. Those athletes will receive larger scholarships. Sometimes division 2 schools place a lower priority on punting, not even giving any scholarship money to a punter. They find the best punter they have on the team and live with it. This is why division 2 punting can resemble NFL-level at one college and high school level at another.
• Good hands are a must.
Division 3:
• Ability to hit 40+ yard punts from a line of scrimmage with 4.0+ second hang times on at least 5 out of 10 punts.
• Since snapping and protection at division 3 level are not as good as some of the bigger schools, punters who can punt the ball quickly and/or can roll out punt (rugby style) are more valuable.
