Kicker???

[PRgopher59]

We obviously need a kicker. Has anyone heard anything about our recruiting a kicker? Who is out there that we should be going after? We haven't had a good solid reliable guy in about 10 years and I think it can really win you some games if you have a solid kicker. I was just curious about what's out there for us.

 

[SDGopherFan]

was curious as well

especially after the sunday sports huddle when Sid asked a specific question about hearing we were recruiting a kicker. I searched most of the websites and couldn't find anything NEW about recruiting a kicker.

 

[WAGopher]

especially after the sunday sports huddle when Sid asked a specific question about hearing we were recruiting a kicker. I searched most of the websites and couldn't find anything NEW about recruiting a kicker.

If Kill is in on a kicker, I hope he keeps it to himself until the kid verbals. With our bad luck on losing good kickers, we should stash him in a Winnipeg hotel until he faxes in the signed tender.

 

[highwayman]

What about Tom Obarski from Apple Valley? Too good of a soccer and hockey player to play football?

 

[RoyalGopher]

Obarski would be great. In the PioPress when he was named soccer player of the year didn't it say he had made a 60 yarder in practice and had been the varsity kicker at Apple Valley for 7 years?

 

[Ewert86PC]

With the plethora of people who want to kick footballs, I found it hard to believe that Brew got someone who managed to bring the term "Epic Fail" to new levels of college football placekicking.

 

[Brick House]

Obarski would be great. In the PioPress when he was named soccer player of the year didn't it say he had made a 60 yarder in practice and had been the varsity kicker at Apple Valley for 7 years?

Tom has two older brothers, an Obarski has been the kicker for AV for the last 10-12 years. I think Tom was kicker for 4 years

 

[EG#9]

With the plethora of people who want to kick footballs, I found it hard to believe that Brew got someone who managed to bring the term "Epic Fail" to new levels of college football placekicking.

He was a Mason recruit

 

[GophersInIowa]

He was a Mason recruit

It's still Brewster's fault Mason recruited him.

 

[Ewert86PC]

It's still Brewster's fault Mason recruited him.

It's Brewster's fault that he didn't have a Plan B. If he switched kickers like he changed offensive schemes, then I could understand it.

 

[gophers2rosebowl]

Hopefully bring in a kicker and punter. At the worst it creates competition and doesnt just hand someone the job and then see them struggle all season without any other options.

 

[amateurdwarftosser]

I happen to know that Totino Grace's kicker from last season is enrolled at the U. He did a pretty good job for them, perhaps he could be persuaded to tryout?

 

[Unregistered User]

Is there even a remote possibility that Orseske and Ellestad are very talented, but need some coaching? This could turn out to be an example of Kill's ability to get kids to work hard, break them down to the basics and get the best out of them.

I'm not ready to throw the baby out with the bath water on these two.

 

[gopherguy05]

Is there even a remote possibility that Orseske and Ellestad are very talented, but need some coaching? This could turn out to be an example of Kill's ability to get kids to work hard, break them down to the basics and get the best out of them.

I'm not ready to throw the baby out with the bath water on these two.

Ellestad was a senior.....so he's been flushed down the toilet for about 2 months now......

 

[Unregistered User]

Ellestad was a senior.....so he's been flushed down the toilet for about 2 months now......

My bad...thought he was a junior this past year. My, how time flies.

Thanks.

In that case, he sucked, and should never have been here.

 

[Ogee Ogilthorpe]

Is there even a remote possibility that Orseske and Ellestad are very talented, but need some coaching? This could turn out to be an example of Kill's ability to get kids to work hard, break them down to the basics and get the best out of them.

I'm not ready to throw the baby out with the bath water on these two.

Ellestad is gone (senior I thought?). I think he has talent but for placekickers, once things start to go one way, particularly for younger guys, it's tough to get the confidence back. The cycle feeds itself.


Orseske will be fine. By all accounts he's got a great leg, he was only a freshman, and he'll be a strong punter for the Gophers for the next 3 years. I don't have too many concerns about him. Like Ellestad, he had a few bad kicks early that probably didn't help his confidence, and it was at a time when the whole team was struggling. I think a new season and a new coaching staff (i.e. a change of scenery if you will) will be all Orseske needs to right the ship.

I'm concerned about who's going to be putting the ball through the uprights next year. Haven't heard a thing about who that's going to be at this point. With large scale changes on both offense and defense next year, it would have been nice to not have to worry about special teams but that may not be the case.

 

[Wahoo McDaniel]

Jerry Kill Is No Stooge!

We obviously need a kicker. Has anyone heard anything about our recruiting a kicker? Who is out there that we should be going after? We haven't had a good solid reliable guy in about 10 years and I think it can really win you some games if you have a solid kicker. I was just curious about what's out there for us.

He'll recruit a decent punter and kicker.

 

[Rosemountian]

Obarski would be great. In the PioPress when he was named soccer player of the year didn't it say he had made a 60 yarder in practice and had been the varsity kicker at Apple Valley for 7 years?

He or one of his older brothers have been for 7 years. Not the same kid

 

[gophers2rosebowl]

I am not saying you write off the punter yet but youve gotta have plan B ready to go if he starts hittin ten yarders off the side of his foot again. Without a plan B its brutal and makes it a loose loose situation. You get a plan B ready and then at worst he pushes orseska and then starts for two years after being redshirted next year. someone should always be in the wings in case something goes wrong. Kickers and punters can be such head cases youve gotta have a trusty back up ready to go. Kill needs to bring in a solid kicker and punter.

 

[highwayman]

If you remember, all of Mason's kickers missed inordinate amounts of extra points, Ellestad missed ONE in two years, and that was a bad snap. Brewster's and Butler's coaching position was to scream at the kickers and threaten to take away their scholarships until they kicked better. Good approach. Orseske was never the same after the snap over his head. Once again, the coaches screamed at him when he left the field.

I'm not saying baby them, but come on. Ellestad and Orseske went from All-State to no confidence. Who's fault is that?

It didn't help Ellestad that his mom was sick and on the transplant list for two years. Orseske had mono and missed 6 months of training. Want to rip on them for that, too?

 

[gophmeister]

Want to rip on them for that, too?

Yes, yes I would.

 

[nevisgopher]

If you remember, all of Mason's kickers missed inordinate amounts of extra points, Ellestad missed ONE in two years, and that was a bad snap. Brewster's and Butler's coaching position was to scream at the kickers and threaten to take away their scholarships until they kicked better. Good approach. Orseske was never the same after the snap over his head. Once again, the coaches screamed at him when he left the field.

I'm not saying baby them, but come on. Ellestad and Orseske went from All-State to no confidence. Who's fault is that?

It didn't help Ellestad that his mom was on dialysis and the kidney transplant list for two years. Orseske had mono and missed 6 months of training. Want to rip on them for that, too?

+1

 

[gophers2rosebowl]

If you remember, all of Mason's kickers missed inordinate amounts of extra points, Ellestad missed ONE in two years, and that was a bad snap. Brewster's and Butler's coaching position was to scream at the kickers and threaten to take away their scholarships until they kicked better. Good approach. Orseske was never the same after the snap over his head. Once again, the coaches screamed at him when he left the field.

I'm not saying baby them, but come on. Ellestad and Orseske went from All-State to no confidence. Who's fault is that?

It didn't help Ellestad that his mom was on dialysis and the kidney transplant list for two years. Orseske had mono and missed 6 months of training. Want to rip on them for that, too?

i agree about coaches needing to coach and support their kickers however i think a coach is also responsible for making a kicker tough enough to handle playing in the big ten. If you do not coach a kid mentally to play he will collapse once he gets out there under pressure. You test him in practice and get a feel for him as a person and make sure he can handle playing under pressure. You then decide if you can coach him to be strong enough or he cant play. Ok after i agreed on that point i need to disagree with your point about orsekse having mono and missing 6 months of "training" point. You mean to tell me He had a near correct me if im wrong dead last punting in the big ten because he had a mono a full year before? That makes zero sense to me. I think a great coach knows how to coach certain types of players. Id rather have an average punter/kicker who can make kicks around 40 yards and punt the ball over 40 years net then a kicker who can hit random 55 yarders and a punter who supposedly can hit 75 yarders in practice. Call me crazy just my personal opinion.

 

[RodentRampage]

If it takes yelling at a player, you yell at that player. If it takes babying that player, you baby that player. Whatever gets results. Coach Kill has talked about not treating all of the players the same, as not all players respond the same way. If he can recognize what will work for each player, that is quite good.

 

[corcoran1]

Orseske will be fine. Great leg, but everything went wrong at the same time. Bad snaps, trying rugby style kicking, etc when we should have been simplifying things. The only thing I really thought they did wrong during coach Horton's tenure as HC. Keep it simple and move forward.

 

[Costa Rican Gopher]

There was a rumor on www.gopherillustrated.com (Makes a great New Years gift) not long ago that a solid kicker was going to transfer in for next season. His identity was not released because it's believed his season is still going on.

So, look at what teams are playing in bowl games & have coaching changes (that allows scholarship players to transfer w/out sitting out a year) or look for a kicker that's not on scholarship for one of them & could transfer/play immediately.

 

[highwayman]

There was a rumor on www.gopherillustrated.com (Makes a great New Years gift) not long ago that a solid kicker was going to transfer in for next season. His identity was not released because it's believed his season is still going on.

So, look at what teams are playing in bowl games & have coaching changes (that allows scholarship players to transfer w/out sitting out a year) or look for a kicker that's not on scholarship for one of them & could transfer/play immediately.

I have no idea what you are talking about. You still have to sit out a year even if there is a coaching change. You can play immediately if your school drops football or you move down a division.

The exception rule does not apply to football:

"The most commonly used exception is known as the "one-time transfer exception." As the name
suggests, this exception allows a student-athlete to transfer from one NCAA institution to
another on one occasion and be immediately eligible for competition. Certain conditions must
be met to use this exception, including: (1) the student-athlete must have been in good academic
standing and academically eligible for competition at the previous institution; (2) the previous
institution must grant the student-athlete written permission to use of the exception; and (3) the
student-athlete cannot have transferred previously from a four-year institution. [Note: In
Division I, the one-time transfer exception is not available if the student-athlete wishes to
participate in basketball, men's ice hockey or Division I-A football at the second institution.]"

 

[mggoph]

As per FBT blog (not sure if accurate or not):

To recap, the rumors suggest the Gophers have lined up a transfer kicker from a BCS conference team that will be eligible immediately. Before you scoff and say “that’s not possible!,” there are a few loopholes within the NCAA framework that allow a player to transfer within the same subdivision (i.e. FBS) and have the one-year residency requirement waived. One is a stipulation that a player with eligibility remaining on the 5 year scholarship clock can transfer to another institution if A) the player has obtained his degree from the previous school B) the player is seeking a graduate program that isn’t available at the previous school and C) the player walks on to the new school. Another lesser known loophole is one regarding walk-ons, specifically:

14.5.5.2.10.2 Nonrecruited Student. A student-athlete who does not qualify for the exception due to Bylaw 14.5.5.2.10-(a) may use the one-time transfer exception, provided he or she was not recruited by the original four year institution and has never received institutional athletically related financial aid from any four-year institution. (Adopted: 1/9/06 effective 8/1/06)

So there you have it: either a walk-on transfer or a transfer that was a walk-on.

 

[GopherSOB]

Some food for thought. If you are on scholarship with school ''A'' and you have earned your degree you can transfer to school ''B'' without having to sit out a year, assuning you have some eligibility left. There are a couple of other ways around having to sit out a year when transfering but I don't recall the details.

 

[ncgo4]

I just looked at the roster and was surprised to see we have two more kickers on the roster. Both are from Wisconsin so they must be good, eh? I did not see another punter beside Orseske.