I would actually argue that, at least from a raw numbers standpoint, kickers probably have a better chance at going to the NFL than anybody. Considering that many teams carry two kickers, and that some are stashed on the practice squad, there are probably around 50 or so kicker jobs at any given time (NFL.com currently lists 49 kickers, some of which, granted, were recently cut). And the "politics" of it (40 times, bench reps, Wonderlic, where they went to school, etc.) don't play into it as much for kickers. They pretty much just have to be good at kicking.
And Kip Smith is not an average kicker. If you go back and look at top 3 recruit-type kickers (Crosby, Mehlhaff, etc.), I would wager that more of them are in the NFL than not.
But all that aside, I agree with your basic premise. I just think this is a case of Smith being a lifelong UCLA fan, and when they finally offered him a free education, he jumped at it.
I just wish guys would wait and not make commitments until they're truly ready, and not just as a placeholder until something better comes along. It's a pipe dream, I know.
Agreed with your post.
Kip Smith committed to the team prior to seeing our performance as a whole and I think that really resonated strongly to him. Brewster preaches that they are a team on the rise and after the season was over what do you think it showed to all of our recruits? Last place in almost every important statistical category in the conference. Brewster had everything in place, all he had to do was not choke against Illinois and have a decent offense but it just didn't happen. Kids want to play for a good program.
Everyone is looking forward to seeing how Brewster does next season with a majority of his recruits playing on both sides the of the ball but I think everyone is in for a rude awakening if they look at our schedule next year, as follows:
Thu, Sep 02 Middle Tennessee State at Murfreesboro, Tenn TBA
Sat, Sep 11 South Dakota TCF Bank Stadium TBA
Sat, Sep 18 Southern California TCF Bank Stadium TBA
Sat, Sep 25 Northern Illinois TCF Bank Stadium TBA
Sat, Oct 02 Northwestern TCF Bank Stadium TBA
Sat, Oct 09 Wisconsin at Madison, Wis. TBA
Sat, Oct 16 Purdue at West Lafayette, Ind. TBA
Sat, Oct 23 Penn State TCF Bank Stadium TBA
Sat, Oct 30 Ohio State TCF Bank Stadium TBA
Sat, Nov 06 Michigan State at East Lansing, Mich. TBA
Sat, Nov 13 Illinois at Champaign, Ill. TBA
Sat, Nov 27 Iowa TCF Bank Stadium TBA
We are going to be lucky to go 6-6 next year, unfortunately. BRUTAL home schedule which is where we attained our victories and our more winnable opponents are all on enemy territory. Brewster is going to have a tough time keeping his job next year if he doesn't do a much better job this off-season preaching a variety of topics to his players.