50-yard FG in spring game

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Husker in Gopherland

Husker in Gopherland

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Sorry if this was already discussed, but to me, the most impressive moment of the spring game was Hawthorne’s 50-yard field goal. Maybe I'm overstating, but from where I was sitting, that kick would have cleared the crossbar from 55+ yards.

Is it sad to get excited over a FG? Probably. But for me, that was one of the best moment of the game/scrimmage, along with Kirkwood's run and Stoudermire's hit.
 

Considering the lackluster kickers we have had over the past few years, I was also quite impressed. You cannot understate the importance of a good kicker. One missed field goal can easily be the difference between a win and a loss.
 

Mistake I made....

I made the mistake of looking down for my binoculars when they set up for that FG.

Because Coach Kill is instilling a quicker pace to things...I looked up just in time to see it sailing through the uprights.

A very palpable "ooohhhhhhhh" went through the crowd followed by clapping.

I agree it was the highlight of the scrimmage.

Go Gophers! In Kill We Trust!
 

Husker in Gopherland said:
Sorry if this was already discussed, but to me, the most impressive moment of the spring game was Hawthorne’s 50-yard field goal. Maybe I'm overstating, but from where I was sitting, that kick would have cleared the crossbar from 55+ yards.

Is it sad to get excited over a FG? Probably. But for me, that was one of the best moment of the game/scrimmage, along with Kirkwood's run and Stoudermire's hit.
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With the kicking game woes in recent years, no, it's not sad to get excited about a FG.

In this case, however, it's not the distance that's impressive. Strength of leg is not at the top of my list for attributes for a kicker.

What I'm encouraged by is the fact that at least in somewhat of a "game situation", with fans in the stands, Hawthorne made the only two opportunities he had on the afternoon. The shorter one actually sneaked inside the left upright if I recall.

Point being, for Hawthorne more than most of the players, this was as close to a game situation as you can get; for a kicker on game day, you sit and watch all day, a relatively cold day at that, and you get called on just once or twice on the day to do your job and he did just that.

Definitely a good sign!
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
With the kicking game woes in recent years, no, it's not sad to get excited about a FG.

The shorter one actually sneaked inside the left upright if I recall.
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1) It's all about perception. I've posted this before, but Ellestad's career performance was nearly the same as Rhys Lloyd's. In fact, Ellestad was the greatest XP kicker in Minnesota history, missing only one kick--due to a botched snap.

2003/04 Lloyd 26-36 on FG (72.2%), including 12-18 (66.7) his Senior year. Missed 6 XP.

2009/10 Ellestad 24-34 on FG (70.5%), including 11-17 (64.7%) his Senior year. Missed 1 XP.

Range was not a factor either.

Lloyd was 6 for 13 FG in his entire career over 40 yards. He was 2 of 5 on 50 yarders, both made in his first two games as a Gopher. He made one FG over 40 yards his Senior year. He did make GW kicks against Wisconsin and Oregon and had the great onside kick against PSU.

Ellestad beat Syracuse, and made clutch kicks against Air Force in 2009. He made a huge kick against Illinois and made a great onside kick and two FG against Iowa in 2010. He was 3 for 7 on kicks over 40.

Rhys has a bigger than life personality, Eric is a quiet one. But to say that Lloyd was a great kicker and Ellestad was woeful, well...if Ellestad had been on a better team, this conversation doesn't occur.

2) As for the other comment--the object is to get the ball through the uprights. I heard they're all worth three points...
 


highwayman said:
1) It's all about perception. I've posted this before, but Ellestad's career performance was nearly the same as Rhys Lloyd's. In fact, Ellestad was the greatest XP kicker in Minnesota history, missing only one kick--due to a botched snap.

2003/04 Lloyd 26-36 on FG (72.2%), including 12-18 (66.7) his Senior year. Missed 6 XP.

2009/10 Ellestad 24-34 on FG (70.5%), including 11-17 (64.7%) his Senior year. Missed 1 XP.

Range was not a factor either.

Lloyd was 6 for 13 FG in his entire career over 40 yards. He was 2 of 5 on 50 yarders, both made in his first two games as a Gopher. He made one FG over 40 yards his Senior year. He did make GW kicks against Wisconsin and Oregon and had the great onside kick against PSU.

Ellestad beat Syracuse, and made clutch kicks against Air Force in 2009. He made a huge kick against Illinois and made a great onside kick and two FG against Iowa in 2010. He was 3 for 7 on kicks over 40.

Rhys has a bigger than life personality, Eric is a quiet one. But to say that Lloyd was a great kicker and Ellestad was woeful, well...if Ellestad had been on a better team, this conversation doesn't occur.

2) As for the other comment--the object is to get the ball through the uprights. I heard they're all worth three points...
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I never attempted to compare Ellestad to Rhys. I honestly couldn't tell you how they compare. Matter of fact in reading my post I didn't use names of any previous kickers. The fact is, the kicking game hasn't been considered a strength for a LONG time.

For whatever the reasons, it was obvious that Brewster's confidence in Ellestad was shaken early on and it affected game decisions that were made once the offense crossed the 50-yard line. That was the most significant part of the equation. Unfortunately, that feeds itself as time goes on; coach decides to go for it in a situation where you would normally attempt a FG, kicker knows this, kicker realizes this was due to coach not having faith in him, that in turn does a number on the kicker's confidence going forward, etc. It wasn't a good situation.

If Hawthorne (or whoever wins the position) comes out and makes all or a significant majority of his kicks in the first 2-3 weeks, we'll be in good shape for a long time to come.
 

Hawthorne

After the scrimmage we chatted with Hawthorne a bit. He said he has actually hit a 62 y fg in practice, so he has a strong leg.
 

With Lloyd, the Gophers were willing to try longer field goals. Only doing very short field goals would tend to increase your percentage. Also, the Gophers scored more touchdowns when Lloyd was playing, so to some extent, that would mean more opportunities to miss extra points.
 

RodentRampage said:
With Lloyd, the Gophers were willing to try longer field goals. Only doing very short field goals would tend to increase your percentage. Also, the Gophers scored more touchdowns when Lloyd was playing, so to some extent, that would mean more opportunities to miss extra points.
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My point was, they didn't. Lloyd didn't attempt more, and didn't make more. We were winning and liked his personality more.

There is no excuse for a kicker missing extra points, no matter how many he tries. I will always give them the benefit on bad snaps/holds. Rhys liked to push those XPs to the right...
 



highwayman said:
My point was, they didn't. Lloyd didn't attempt more, and didn't make more. We were winning and liked his personality more.

There is no excuse for a kicker missing extra points, no matter how many he tries. I will always give them the benefit on bad snaps/holds. Rhys liked to push those XPs to the right...
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My point is they did. Lloyd attempted more LONGER field goals. Longer field goals have a lesser chance of success, so kicking more long field goals will lower your percentage. And you do have to factor in the total number of touchdowns when examining extra points. More touchdowns are more opportunities to miss. You can't just look at the total number of misses.
 

RodentRampage said:
My point is they did. Lloyd attempted more LONGER field goals. Longer field goals have a lesser chance of success, so kicking more long field goals will lower your percentage. And you do have to factor in the total number of touchdowns when examining extra points. More touchdowns are more opportunities to miss. You can't just look at the total number of misses.
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Good point. If you have a kicker that you don't feel confident in until the offense crosses the 20-yard line, you're in deep trouble. Like I said, the confidence in your kicker and kicking game AFFECTS YOUR PLAY CALLING WHEN YOU CROSS MIDFIELD.

Highwayman, it's interesting you mention the personalities of Lloyd and Ellestad. I think you hit on a great point (possibly inadvertently). If there's one position on the field where I want that player to be a complete arrogant ass (exaggeration), it's my kicker. More than almost every other position, it's a CONFIDENCE position.

There are literally THOUSANDS of guys who can put that ball between the uprights and having a strong leg doesn't have a lot to do with it. Take a look around right now; there are NOT 32 "great" kickers in the NFL.
 

Lloyd has played four or five years in the NFL. Kick-offs matter too.

To be fair to Ellestad, Brewster's staff seemed to have no clue on how to manage kickers. It was obvious early on last year that Brewster had no confidence in Ellestad. A better coach would have known how to hide their lack of confidence. Witness how Mason handled Gianini.
 

Didn't Ellestad hit a 50 yarder in the spring game last year?
 



Winnipegopher said:
Lloyd has played four or five years in the NFL. Kick-offs matter too.

To be fair to Ellestad, Brewster's staff seemed to have no clue on how to manage kickers. It was obvious early on last year that Brewster had no confidence in Ellestad. A better coach would have known how to hide their lack of confidence. Witness how Mason handled Gianini.
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Agreed. Lloyd has only done kick-offs and has not scored a point in the NFL. He did play in Europe and scored 76 points. He was 4 of 10 on kicks over 39 yards.

Butler and Brewster destroyed what could have been a great career by Ellestad. He was Giannini's roommate when Brewster showed up and told Giannini that he was yanking his scholarship and he needed to leave. He told Ellestad that he would be no better and he should leave, too. There's some confidence building.

Ellestad was All-American as a high school kicker. There was nearly no coaching for our kickers for 4 years. They were on their own. When they would miss a kick during a game, they would be berated on the sideline and in the locker room, and not in the "Kill way".

There's the well documented switch up of Orseske's punting style. What a lot of folks don't know is that Ellestad had to hire his own coach during the summer, as the Brew coaching staff didn't have the time or inclination.

We got what we paid for, I guess.
 


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