K - Kip Smith

[paulser21]

Per Sid's article today...

"Kip Smith, a Colorado kicker who has committed to the Gophers, recently punted a ball 81 yards and he also has a 67-yard field goal to his credit this year."

The kid has an amazing leg. High altitude or not.

***Sorry if this has already been posted. It's hard to siphon through all of "Fire Brewster", "Play Marquis", and "The Sky is Falling" threads.

 

[GoAUpher]

81 yards? Jeebus!

 

[gopherguy05]

81 yards? Jeebus!

Well...you do have to take altitude into consideration.....but this kid has one hell of a leg. If he's even acceptably accurate we are going to have no worries about the kicking game for the next 4 years.....

 

[GophBen]

81 Yard Punt

While there's no way to take anything away from a 67 yard FG, there's a couple questions I have about the 81 yard punt: did the returner position himself too close? How much wind was there? Grass or turf?

Ok, that's it. 81 yards is still 81 yards. Damn incredible.

 

[RedPoo]

While there's no way to take anything away from a 67 yard FG...

Oh, but there is...the kick was 1) in Colorado and 2) a free-kick, off a tee, with no kick-block team.

But I'm just playing devil's advocate. The kid's a great get. It's unfortunate that I'm now officially in the camp that believes you should be punting on maybe 25% or less of fourth downs.

 

[Khaliq]

Well...you do have to take altitude into consideration.....but this kid has one hell of a leg. If he's even acceptably accurate we are going to have no worries about the kicking game for the next 4 years.....

Doubt that's an altitude thing. That has to be a ball that got a pretty great bounce and roll after the kick. Doesn't diminish it or anything, it's still impressive, but it almost certainly wasn't 81 yards in the air.

 

[Saskatchewan Gopher]

My understanding was that the punt also had over 5 seconds of hang time, so it likely was high and far, with some bounce too.

 

[Ole]

Doubt that's an altitude thing. That has to be a ball that got a pretty great bounce and roll after the kick. Doesn't diminish it or anything, it's still impressive, but it almost certainly wasn't 81 yards in the air.

He's got a great leg, he's almost got a violent kicking technique, really throws himself into the kick.
Also he's a well put together athlete, almost 210 lbs. I forsee him doing kickoffs and long distance kicks next year, he should stretch our range to 50-55 as possible kicking territory. Ellestad can handle the midrange and clutch kicks.

 

[upchurch]

every comment practically is trying to diminish his accomplishments

 

[Schnoodler]

I heard he punted it so far and accurately that it actually went around the world and landed 81 yards down field with no bounce just stopped dead exactly where he intended it to go.

 

[KoolAid]

I heard he punted it so far and accurately that it actually went around the world and landed 81 yards down field with no bounce just stopped dead exactly where he intended it to go.

That's what I heard.

Then he went into McDonalds, ordered a whopper, and they made it for him.

 

[RedPoo]

I was just wondering on another thread, thought I'd ask here...anyone have an educated guess who our kickers will be next year? It looks like Orseske may have a shot at a medical redshirt (which I suppose is irrelevant)...does he punt, and Kip do kickoffs and field goals? Or is he looking at transfer options? Do freshman kickers start right out of the gate more often than other positions?

 

[josh087]

I actually saw the 81 yard punt in person. The amazing thing is that he was punting into a 50 MPH wind, and it was all underwater.