Kill Recruiting philosophy - Kickers/Punters

[SJUgopher]

Some coaches refuse to give them scholarships and prefer to use walk-ons in that role. Coach Mason seemed to use a mixture of scholarship players and walk-ons. There were 3 kickers/punters that stood out from Mason's era - Nystrom, Gruening, and Lloyd. Dan Nystrom was a walk-on, at least when has a freshman. Rhys Lloyd was a scholarship kicker/punter. I don't remember Preston Gruening's if was on scholarship, but was an AA nonetheless. Coach Brewster seemed to prefer scholarship punters and kickers (Orseske and Kip Smith, who committed here and ended up at UCLA).

Does anyone what Coach Kill's philosophy is about recruiting kickers and punters? Does he just recruit walk-ons or offer scholarships?

 

[Killjoy]

The answer is both

Some coaches refuse to give them scholarships and prefer to use walk-ons in that role. Coach Mason seemed to use a mixture of scholarship players and walk-ons. There were 3 kickers/punters that stood out from Mason's era - Nystrom, Gruening, and Lloyd. Dan Nystrom was a walk-on, at least when has a freshman. Rhys Lloyd was a scholarship kicker/punter. I don't remember Preston Gruening's if was on scholarship, but was an AA nonetheless. Coach Brewster seemed to prefer scholarship punters and kickers (Orseske and Kip Smith, who committed here and ended up at UCLA).

Does anyone what Coach Kill's philosophy is about recruiting kickers and punters? Does he just recruit walk-ons or offer scholarships?

I don't know what he did before he came to Minnesota but for his first recruiting class here he did the following:

• Kicker Chris Hawthorne was recruited as a scholarship player
• Kicker David Platner was recruited as a walk-on
• Punter Peter Mortell was recruited as a walk-on

Coach Kill was very aware that kicking was a problem last year. He also wanted to put a strong focus on the specialty team because of the great importance that can have in the outcome of a game. He therefore went out and recruited Chris Hawthorne away from North Carolina State by offering him a scholarship.