ACC Kicker

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If the picture is accurate it looks like Chris Hawthorne. He played as a Freshman in one game this year. They have two kickers with numbers in the 30's on their roster at NC State. One is Hawthorne and the other is Josh Czajkowski a Sr. that played all season.

The other thought is that it is Czajkowski and he is coming for grad school and has eligibility left. He is 15/18 from 20-29 yds. 18/25 from 30-39 yds. and 12/13 from 40-49 yds. over the last three years. Also 119 for 121 on XP's
 


Czajkowski has used up his eligibility . As for Hawthorne he recorded stats this year (1 FG, 5 PATs & 20 KOs). I don't know how he could be eligible right away.
 




If it is Chris Hawthorne here is an article about him from this past year.

Sounds like he was happy enough back in November, seems kind of odd that he'd leave NC State if the the other kicker is graduating.
 




Not too strange considering they have committments from the #3 and #4 rated kickers according to Rivals. Why would NC State need two and why wouldn't one of them look at another school puzzles me. Unless one is more of a punter would be my only guess.

#3 Niklas Sade K Raleigh, NC Wakefield 2 stars 6'3" 190 N.C. State
#4 Wil Baumann K Wilmington, NC Hoggard 2 stars 6'4" 185 N.C. State
 

NC state is also bringing in 2 highly rated in-state kickers in this class, and had one from the last class as well. My guess is even with his limited success this year, he was told he will not be able to compete for the starting role going forward. They may have even been helping him find a school to kick at in good will.
 

Thanks guys, looks like NC State likes to stock up on kickers. Interesting recruiting philosophy.
 

From a NC State rivals page titled "Offseason Questions" dated Jan 5, 2011
http://ncstate.rivals.com/content.asp?cid=1172763

Who is kicking?

This will be a very important offseason and spring for a pair of walk-on kickers - punter Andy Leffler and kicker Chris Hawthorne. Both will get a chance to audition for the job to replace punter Jeff Ruiz and kicker Josh Czajkowski.

Leffler, a rising fifth-year senior, actually has extensive experience punting. He replaced the inconsistent Ruiz at times this season, and Leffler averaged 38.7 yards per punt in 31 tries and landing 15 inside the 20-yard line. That was better than Ruiz's 36.9-yard average in the same amount of punts.

Hawthorne, a rising sophomore, filled in for an injured Czajkowski against Wake Forest and made his lone field goal attempt, a 25-yarder, and all five extra point tries. He also kicked off 20 times last season for an average of 62.7 yards per attempt, including one touchback.

Both will need to be impressive this spring because NC State is set to sign two highly touted kickers. Punter Wil Baumann from Wilmington (N.C.) Hoggard High and kicker Niklas Sade from Raleigh (N.C.) Wakefield High are ranked by Rivals.com as the No. 4 punter and No. 3 kicker respectively in the 2011 class.
 



The Jerry Kill recruiting philosophy...no stone left unturned....go gettem Jer!
 

Actually........not a bad pickup at all.
 

Agree, lets hope it gets done. Having a poor kicking game is really frustrating and nerve-wracking.
 

I don't know why everyone is so sxcited for this kid??? He was a walk-on at NC State, not exactly a power house football school. They had him in their program for 3 years I believe, he will be a Junior correct? And even after 3 years there they didn't believe he was good enough to be their kicker, so they went out and recruited someone else. We will only have him for 2 years and then have to go through all of this mess again with needing a kicker. We need to go out and get a solid kid who can come in and play as a freshman and we wont have to worry about this for another 4 years. I just can not get excited about a kid who was not given a scholly out of high school and has had a chance to prove himself at another school and they just dismissed him from their equation completely.
 

PRgopher59 said:
I don't know why everyone is so sxcited for this kid??? He was a walk-on at NC State, not exactly a power house football school. They had him in their program for 3 years I believe, he will be a Junior correct? And even after 3 years there they didn't believe he was good enough to be their kicker, so they went out and recruited someone else. We will only have him for 2 years and then have to go through all of this mess again with needing a kicker. We need to go out and get a solid kid who can come in and play as a freshman and we wont have to worry about this for another 4 years. I just can not get excited about a kid who was not given a scholly out of high school and has had a chance to prove himself at another school and they just dismissed him from their equation completely.
Click to expand...

So you should only recruit players when you absolutely need them? So teams should only recruit a QB every 4 years? Just because they recruited a few kickers doesn't mean they didn't have confidence in him. It seems he would have competed for the kicking job next year, just is looking elsewhere for some reason. Maybe he just doesn't like it there. Maybe they aren't gonna offer him a scholarship and Minnesota can.
 

PRGopher59...

By your post count a cynic might be prone to assume you are a troll. I, sir, choose not to jump to that conclusion. But permit me to point out just a few errors in fact or judgment about your post:

1. Chris Hawthorne was a true freshman this past season. He was in N.C. State's program for one year--not three.

2. He was highly rated as a high school kicker and earned top-ten rankings at the elite camps he attended.

3. N.C. State may not be a "powerhouse," but it is BCS school--the highest level of college football.

4. Most kickers in college football are recruited as walk-ons and earn their scholarships later. Kickers are a notoriously flaky lot and it's risky to commit a scholarship to one out of high school before they have a chance to demonstrate what they're made of.

5. Given the choice of continuing as a walk-on or attending college on full ride, which would you take?
 

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