Commit #8 - Kip Smith, Kicker

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EaganGopher

EaganGopher

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Scout is reporting a committment today by kicker, Kip Smith. They have him rated the #8 kicker in the nation. Another nice pickup by Brew!

I'm not great with links. sorry.
 

What I could find on him from a kicking camp report on espn.com

Kip Smith is a 2010 athlete from Legacy HS in Colorado. He has traveled twice down to Texas to attend a Kohl's Showcase Camp and made good both times. He really showed the leg strength and consistency needed to be a top national prospect. He has film from Colorado showing him hitting long kickoffs and field goals, but people will always question the altitude. Smith showed he is a solid punter and that he gets great height off the ground on field goals. He will gain more Division I attention as the recruiting process goes on because he is as good as the athletes who have already received offers
 

The sleeper

Not a lot of colleges have been recruiting Kip Smith (Broomfield, Colo./Legacy), but that may change in a hurry.

As of right now the only real interest has been from SMU and Wyoming. Smith attended the Mustangs' spring game and has been told by the Cowboys they'd like to see him work out in person.

"They've been talking about getting a kicker for next year and they want me to come out there and see how I do," said Smith.

Back in December, Smith competed in his first showcase and finished roughly in the middle of the pack. Smith said he had been experiencing some soreness in his leg, which contributed to the poorer than expected showing.

Sunday he was a completely different kicker, blasting the ball through strong winds and making the finals of essentially every competition he took part in. After the showcase, camp organizer Jamie Kohl said that in his opinion, even though the interest in Smith has been relatively limited, Smith was one of the most college-ready kickers at the event.

Smith said afterwards that the wind, though strong, wasn't a huge issue for him because of what he often deals with at home in the mountain town of Broomfield, Colo. (elevation: 5,344 ft).

"The wind was brutal today, but it gets pretty windy up where I live in Colorado, so I'm used to it. It wasn't really anything new," said Smith.
 


He is rated the #3 kicker in the country by Kohls Kicking (with the #1 guy already committed to Auburn). Good pickup.
 



Here is a story on the news from PrepColorado.com:

Legacy kicker Kip Smith will take his strong leg to the Big 10.


Things change fast in the world of football recruiting. Yesterday kicker Kip Smith of Legacy High School in Broomfield, Colorado asked me to update his favorites list to include Minnesota, UCLA, Kansas and Memphis State. A couple hours later, Smith e-mailed me again to let me know he had just gotten off the phone with Minnesota Head Coach Tim Brewster and committed to be part of the Gopher football program.

The 6-1 205 pound Smith possesses one of the strongest legs in Colorado as evidenced by a 56 yard field goal his sophomore season. Maybe more importantly, last season 47 of his 50 kickoffs were touchbacks making Smith a tremendous asset to the coverage team and the defense.

Last season, Minnesota won seven games and played in the Insight Bowl. Brewster, one of the most aggressive recruiters out there, is well versed in Colorado High School football. Brewster’s sons played at Denver Mullen while he was a coach for the Denver Broncos. Aurora, Colorado and Cherokee Trail athlete Kendall Gregory-McGhee, one of the top Colorado recruits in the class of 2009, opted to play at Minnesota for Coach Brewster.

Go Gophers!!
 

I'll say this for Smith, he does have a very strong leg. He was clearing the uprights pretty easily on almost all the kicks in his highlight package and appears to get great distance on his kickoffs as well.

Always nice to get a kick who can be a big-time weapon on special teams.
 

I am glad we gave a scholarship to a K/P. I know some people are against it (for some reason). Kicking can make or break a great game or season, so I'm glad we picked up a good one. When is the last time we've had a reliable kicker? (Nystrom, Lloyd?)
 



Brewster's Tweet from this morning:

The Gopher Train is filling up fast, its time to get on board!! Lets Ride!!
 

This goes out to those of you still living in 1999

Its June 30th, 2009. We have 8 committments, among them two Wisconsin players, and a top 10 kicker for the 2010 class. Now, I was around in June of1999 1989, 1979 and there was no news about recruits, no recruiting nationally. No mention of 24/7 365. There were the mid summer magazines with their previews, top players. Maybe some instate players were indentified and we fretted over whether we had a chance to get them. It started long before Bill Bennett, extended through Chris Winke, and more recently to Mr. Floyd. We just weren't worthy. Coach Brewster changed all that, along with a lot of other things. Its all good.

Go Gophers!
 

husker70 said:
Its June 30th, 2009. We have 8 committments, among them two Wisconsin players, and a top 10 kicker for the 2010 class. Now, I was around in June of1999 1989, 1979 and there was no news about recruits, no recruiting nationally. No mention of 24/7 365. There were the mid summer magazines with their previews, top players. Maybe some instate players were indentified and we fretted over whether we had a chance to get them. It started long before Bill Bennett, extended through Chris Winke, and more recently to Mr. Floyd. We just weren't worthy. Coach Brewster changed all that, along with a lot of other things. Its all good.

Go Gophers!
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3 wisconsin players actually....:D
 

husker70 said:
Its June 30th, 2009. We have 8 committments, among them two Wisconsin players, and a top 10 kicker for the 2010 class. Now, I was around in June of1999 1989, 1979 and there was no news about recruits, no recruiting nationally. No mention of 24/7 365. There were the mid summer magazines with their previews, top players. Maybe some instate players were indentified and we fretted over whether we had a chance to get them. It started long before Bill Bennett, extended through Chris Winke, and more recently to Mr. Floyd. We just weren't worthy. Coach Brewster changed all that, along with a lot of other things. Its all good.

Go Gophers!
Click to expand...

Brewster is doing a good job with recruiting. The lack of buzz back in the day however was due largely to the fact that there were no recruiting sites out there so the majority of fans didn't know which athletes were being recruited by who unless you knew the athletes personally. Back in the day however before all the rules regarding contact times with recruits you actually could and coaches did recruit and contact players 365 days a year.
 



Hooray! A top-flite kicker. No offense to a lot of the guys who have kicked for the Gophers over the years. There have been some good ones. But it's nice to see it's not an afterthought with Brewster. I remember when Mason held tryouts.
 

pharmacygopher said:
I am glad we gave a scholarship to a K/P. I know some people are against it (for some reason). Kicking can make or break a great game or season, so I'm glad we picked up a good one. When is the last time we've had a reliable kicker? (Nystrom, Lloyd?)
Click to expand...

I have mixed feelings about giving kickers scholarships. If this person works out I will obviously be very pleased. Its those cases where he loses his confidence and can't hit an extra point, let alone a key field goal, when I say, "why did we use a scholarhsip on this guy when we could have used it to get a real football player?!" I think that scholarship kickers feel a lot of pressure and it gets to some of them. However, if this guy can boot a high percentage of touchbacks on kickoffs the scholarhip will be at least partially worth it.
 

denguegopher said:
I have mixed feelings about giving kickers scholarships. If this person works out I will obviously be very pleased. Its those cases where he loses his confidence and can't hit an extra point, let alone a key field goal, when I say, "why did we use a scholarhsip on this guy when we could have used it to get a real football player?!" I think that scholarship kickers feel a lot of pressure and it gets to some of them. However, if this guy can boot a high percentage of touchbacks on kickoffs the scholarhip will be at least partially worth it.
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The guy is also a very good punter. The Kohl's kicking site has him as the 3rd rated placekicker and the 7th rated punter.
 

harrys ghost said:
The guy is also a very good punter. The Kohl's kicking site has him as the 3rd rated placekicker and the 7th rated punter.
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I've heard that he is an even better punter than kicker and he has a really strong leg.
 

pharmacygopher said:
I am glad we gave a scholarship to a K/P. I know some people are against it (for some reason). Kicking can make or break a great game or season, so I'm glad we picked up a good one. When is the last time we've had a reliable kicker? (Nystrom, Lloyd?)
Click to expand...

right on. case in point: last year's northwestern game when we missed that chip shot field goal in the second half that would have iced the game for the gophers. and don't get me started on the number of field goals jason gianinni missed that completly changed the course and/or outcomes of games!! :mad:
 

I'm all for offering a scholarship to a kicker, welcome aboard Mr Smith! His leg looks very strong in that clip.
 

Considering how many games are decided by field goals or missed extra points I think its a no brainer to put a top flight kicker on scholarship every couple of years. There are very few players that impact a game's final score more than a kicker and I for one am glad Brew sees it that way too. Oreske was rated one of the top, if not THE top, punting prospect last year and now we'll have one of the top 3 kicking prospects. Great job Brew! Keep em coming!
 


With the new outdoor stadium and potentially unusual wind variations, especially on the west end of the stadium, a good kicking and punting program could be much more valuable. Field position will now be huge in some situations.

I remember Ohio State's kicker sending kicks out of the end zone all the time two or three years ago at the metrodome. That makes a huge difference in a game.
 

koppco1 said:
Considering how many games are decided by field goals or missed extra points I think its a no brainer to put a top flight kicker on scholarship every couple of years. There are very few players that impact a game's final score more than a kicker and I for one am glad Brew sees it that way too. Oreske was rated one of the top, if not THE top, punting prospect last year and now we'll have one of the top 3 kicking prospects. Great job Brew! Keep em coming!
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Koppco: I fully agree that kickers and punters can have profound impacts on the outcomes of games and I hope that the kickers/punters that we sign work out. I believe its a gamble to sign them (all signees are a gamble of sorts though), but as you indicate, it may be a bigger gamble not to sign a promising kicker/punter.
 

pharmacygopher said:
I am glad we gave a scholarship to a K/P. I know some people are against it (for some reason). Kicking can make or break a great game or season, so I'm glad we picked up a good one. When is the last time we've had a reliable kicker? (Nystrom, Lloyd?)
Click to expand...

Completely agree! There is nothing more frustrating than losing a game because of a sub-par kicking game. If we could even get 50% of our kick-offs as touchbacks, that would be great.

Welcome aboard Kip!!!
 

pharmacygopher said:
I am glad we gave a scholarship to a K/P. I know some people are against it (for some reason). Kicking can make or break a great game or season, so I'm glad we picked up a good one. When is the last time we've had a reliable kicker? (Nystrom, Lloyd?)
Click to expand...

I think both of those guys were walk-ons who were awarded scholarships. I'm pretty sure that our recent history (at least under Mason) was to bring a few guys in as walk-ons and then award the scholarships accordingly. Gianinni and Kucek were the only guys I remember who got a scholarship as freshmen (at least under Mason).

Considering the impact they have on a game, we should be offering scholarships to kickers if we think he's that good. I understand the downside (kickers being hit or miss and "wasting" a scholarship if it doesn't work out), but the upside is a guy that will be consistantly good for 3/4yrs.

Does anyone know if Bailey and Lohmiller were offered scholarships as freshmen?
 

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