AJC > Sports > Tech > Blog > Archives > 2008 > February > 07 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USWho kicks? Who punts?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You might have noticed that Georgia Tech signed no punters or kickers on Wednesday. I talked with coach Paul Johnson about that on Wednesday afternoon. Here’s what he said (paraphrased).
Yes, the Yellow Jackets have to replace Ray Guy Award winner Durant Brooks and kicker Travis Bell, one of the best in school history. But former special teams coach Charles Kelly, now the cornerbacks coach, assured Johnson that Tech has good candidates to replace them.
In the kicking department, there’s Scott Blair, who handled kickoffs last fall, and Mohamed Yahiaoui, who did that in 2006. Neither looked as sharp as Bell when I watched preseason workouts in 2007, but that’s a long time ago.
As for punting, I seem to remember someone other than Brooks booming punts in preseason practice. (It might have been Kevin Crosby.) The only problem was a lack of consistency, and if that were fixed the Jackets would be in great shape at punter.
Johnson said that, in general, he hopes to find punters and kickers from walk-ons, though he said that he would not rule out signing a specialist in the future if the player and the situation warrants.
Permalink | Comments (26) | Post your comment | Categories: Football
Comments
By GTBACKER
February 7, 2008 9:37 PM | Link to this
No way to replace a 2 time Ray Guy finalist(1 time winner) and 4 year starter and all-acc kicker like Brooks and Bell right away. Not just their talent but their leadership on special teams. However, they also provide a huge competitive eviornment everyday in practice for the younger kickers who inspire to reach the next level. From all I have heard and seen the Blair kid has a very strong leg and has a nice upside as a place kicker and punter, and we have seen what he can do on kickoffs. The Mohamed guy has potential, if he can become more consistent. He could be a nice backup if he does not win the job as he can handle all 3 aspects. The darkhorse could be the redshirt from Shaw HS as a punter. Overall we may not have the same consistency as last year at the start of the season, but we will get better as the season goes on and could finish very strong after we get some game experience under our belts. I am sure these 3 learned a great deal just working out everyday with the 2 great ones we are losing.
By GreenJacket
February 7, 2008 9:39 PM | Link to this
It will be hard to replace Bell and Brooks. I hope they both get a shot in the pros.
By mowreck
February 7, 2008 11:12 PM | Link to this
Who says we gonna HAVE to punt? hehehe
By GT Fan
February 8, 2008 12:10 AM | Link to this
I am justh stho exsthited about GT football thisth year. Let’sth beat UGA for a change and maybe I’ll try the sthraight life. I justh hate UGA stho much becausth my boyfriend (Shayne) criesth stho hard and justh getsth stho upsthet when GT getsth their little buttsth sthpanked - sthort of like Shayne sthpanking mine - every year by UGA. I could justh sthcratch their eyesth out!!! I hate UGA!
By Ramblor
February 8, 2008 7:02 AM | Link to this
GT Fan (not) - you actually took time out of your day to type that? You are a dork.
By Matt the Brave
February 8, 2008 8:27 AM | Link to this
Who kicks who punts…who cares?! They’re still going to lose to Georgia for the next five years.
By HIAWASSEE
February 8, 2008 8:30 AM | Link to this
DUMB,DUMB. FROM WHAT I UNDERSTAND WE ARE FLUSH WITH AVAILABLE SCHOLARSHIPS AND WELL BELOW THE 85 LIMIT. HOW MANY GAMES HAVE WE SEEN GAMES WHERE IT COMES DOWN TO FIELD GOALS AND FIELD POSITION? APPARENTLY, THE OPINION IS THAT WE ARE GOING TO BECOME SUCH AN OFFENSIVE POWERHOUSE THAT A FIELD GOAL OR FIELD POSITION WILL NOT ENTER INTO THE SCHEME.
I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT A COACH WHO GETS PAID $1,000,000 PER YEAR WOULD BE CONCERNED WITH PUTTING A PRODUCT ON THE FIELD THAT WAS STRONG IN ALL PHASES OF THE GAME. SEEMS IT WOULD BE WISE TO SEARCH THE COUNTRY FOR THE BEST PUNTER AND KICKER AND OFFER THEM A SCHOLARSHIP. DO ALL DIVISION 1 SCHOOLS SHARE OUR COACH’S THINKING?
By Chris
February 8, 2008 8:44 AM | Link to this
Show me a team that uses a scholarship on a freshman kicker/punter, and I’ll show you a team with an idiot for a coach. 9 times out of 10, punters and placekickers are initially walk-ons. After you prove you can deal with the pressure, many earn scholarships. Brooks wasn’t on scholarship his first year with us, and I don’t think Bell was either.
I guess the reason for this is that it’s way easier to psych yourself out as a kicker, because it takes such precision and a high level of concentration to kick it exactly how you want it. If you’re rattled in the least, you’re not going to do well, so coaches are going to want you to prove that you can hack it at the college level.
By gt in sc
February 8, 2008 9:15 AM | Link to this
hiawatha; youre the one that is a complete idiot. if you dont know what you are rambling on about, stay off an otherwise intelligent blog. coach knows what he is doing.
By DaddyFatSacks
February 8, 2008 9:25 AM | Link to this
The reason tech usually didnt sign kickers or punters was because the last two they gave scholarships to were PK David Jordan and P/PK Kyle Belcher. David Jordan never kicked a field goal in his career at tech and Kyle Belcher quit after one year. Bell and Brooks both came as walk ons and it seemed to work out. 2 walk ons= 2 ALL ACC 2 scholarships= 2 duds
By GT80
February 8, 2008 9:54 AM | Link to this
Chris said it right. And HIAWASSEE, stop SHOUTING. Nobody is going to listen to you just because you type in all caps. IDIOT!
By gt student
February 8, 2008 9:54 AM | Link to this
Bell wasn’t well-liked by a lot of the team members, not sure what you mean by losing his leadership.
By Football Recruiter
February 8, 2008 10:14 AM | Link to this
Hiawassee, do you know anything about a keyboard? Obviously you either went to UGA or no where at all. Take a lesson fron a second grader!! Also if you know anything about a Paul Johnson offense, which apparently you don’t, Navy only punted the ball 24 times last year which I think was second least in the country!
By RAMBLE ON!
February 8, 2008 10:40 AM | Link to this
GT80, you need to stop calling everybody idiot (except for fleabags), we are suppose to be on the same team…
…I don’t think with CPJ offense, we’ll need any kickers, except for extra points, unless we just go for two.
By Jamal
February 8, 2008 10:44 AM | Link to this
I saw the Blair kid kick in high school for Calhoun. He has a cannon of a leg. He should be fine.
By old gold engineer
February 8, 2008 12:16 PM | Link to this
Mike, I appreciate and enjoyed the football recruiting and signing day coverage. Lots of reasons to be optimistic about the upcoming season. I would like to read more about the basketball game against WF the other night if you or Matt have any more insight to share. Will GT’s recent road success continue as they travel outside the ACC this weekend?
By GT Alum
February 8, 2008 12:55 PM | Link to this
gt student, Interesting point you made about Bell not being liked by his players. Were you on the team and in the locker room. Kinda hard to make that statement without being on the team or in the lockeroom. I dont know that a kicker can be a leader but to say he was not liked by his teammates????
By BeeProud
February 8, 2008 1:00 PM | Link to this
Matt the Brave,
Get the crayons out of your nose and get back to your school work… or you will be delivering pizzas your whole life.
By BuzzFactor
February 8, 2008 1:20 PM | Link to this
There are several Kickers and Punters listed on last seasons roster.
By gojackets
February 8, 2008 1:36 PM | Link to this
The three strongest kickers at tech now are Iain Vance, Mohamed Ya. and Scott Blair. Vance has the has the strongest, most accurate leg and has the potential to be on of the countries best field goal kickers.
A potential kicking line up would be Blair- kickoffs, Vance-fieldgoals, and Mo-punting.
The spring practices will most likely decide who does what.
Rest assured that the future of Tech kicking is in very good hands(feet).
By Take a breather
February 8, 2008 2:17 PM | Link to this
Hiawssee, since you didn’t get the coach you wanted, why don’t you take some time off and jump on the bandwagon when we’re trying for win No. 10 next season. Obstructionist ba$tard.
By son_sir
February 8, 2008 2:18 PM | Link to this
If you are the beat writer then this article would make more sense in, say, mid-August.
By son_sir
February 8, 2008 2:27 PM | Link to this
Not too many people care if the kicker is liked or not. What matters is putting it between the sticks. Most are a little different anyway and are out of the mainstream leadership circle. Sure, there are exceptions, but in general they keep to themselves. Big deal. Kick the game winner and everyone will love you until your next miss. That’s just how it goes.
By Mike Knobler
February 8, 2008 6:20 PM | Link to this
Old Gold Engineer
Matt covered the game at Wake for us, and since it wasn’t on TV I didn’t see it. It sure looks like this team does as well on the road as it does at home. I did watch Connecticut play Syracuse and came away thinking that Tech will have a big depth advantage that could tell in the second half if the Jackets can hang close enough.
That Thabeet guy clogging up the middle is a monster, though.
By ramblin wreck
February 8, 2008 8:25 PM | Link to this
As for gt students comment, how the hell would you know if Bell was liked by his teammates? I agree with gt alum! If you aren’t on the team, then you can’t make that assumption. I happen to know that he is a very nice and well liked guy! Atleast that’s what all the ladies say! ha ha! And for gojackets, who the hell is Iain Vance????
By Chip
February 10, 2008 3:18 PM | Link to this
Yeah, gailey tried that walk on crap in his first couple seasons, with disasterous results - Just look back five, six, and seven years ago in the record books to see how well the walk on stuff works…then gailey gave a couple scholarships to kickers who sucked, but lucked out with Brooks and Bell starting four years ago…