Per Nolan article 13 prospects on campus today...

[rrlbees]

One of the spots will be going to a kicker. Talk at a luncheon was that the staff was looking at two kickers who put the ball into the end zone with good hang time. They wanted to put an end to one of our special team issues next season

Hopefully they do something about kick coverage which IMO was a bigger issue.

 

[orangepassion]

One of the spots will be going to a kicker. Talk at a luncheon was that the staff was looking at two kickers who put the ball into the end zone with good hang time. They wanted to put an end to one of our special team issues next season.

Ryan Norton Stats:
2011
Named First Team All County 2011
Academic All Conference 2011
All Long Island
Broke Nassau County record for Most Points in a Career 2011
MSG Varsity's Top 31 Athletes on Long Island 2011
MSG Varsity's 20 Football Players to watch 2011
Broke School Record of most field goals in a career @ 13.
Broke School Record of most PAT's in a season
Broke School Record of most PAT's in a Career
Senior year kickoffs are reaching 70-80 yards with 4+ hangtime.

Long Island Sports Examiner:

With this success, Norton has caught the eye of a number of top universities. “This spring I was fortunate enough to have many great schools contact me,” he said. “Some of them include Penn State, LSU, Tennessee, Syracuse, University of Miami, University of Pennsylvania, Yale, Harvard, Princeton, [and] Stony Brook,” adding that Bryant College has offered him a scholarship. In terms of his decision making process, which will have him choose between historical football powerhouses and elite academic universities, Norton says “it is definitely a combination of academics and competition that will ultimately help me make my decision,” adding that he is currently planning on pursuing a degree in business.​

​

Norton’s career has gotten a boost from a strong support staff that includes Garden City assistant coach Dave Ettinger, who kicked collegiately at Hofstra, and New York Jets special teams coach Mike Westhoff, who is a longtime family friend. The young kicker says that Westhoff is “not only the best special teams coach in the NFL, but he has [also] been a mentor and guide for years.”​

​

​

Continue reading on Examiner.com Athlete Spotlight: Garden City kicker Ryan Norton - Long Island Sports | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/sports-in-long-island/athlete-spotlight-garden-city-kicker-ryan-norton#ixzz1jUnLxX1h​

I understand it, but it's disappointing to use another scholarship on special teams. What do you do w/ Fisher?

 

[TheSpaz]

I understand it, but it's disappointing to use another scholarship on special teams. What do you do w/ Fisher?

I'm pretty sure Norton will be a Kicker not Punter. He will come in as a KOS specialist and eventually full time kicker.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

I understand it, but it's disappointing to use another scholarship on special teams. What do you do w/ Fisher?

Marrone said at the luncheon that the "kickoff specialist" would probably be a walk-on, since he didn't think the scholarship numbers would work out.

Obviously the numbers have changed in the past 2 months.

It shouldn't have any effect on Fisher.

 

[Moontan]

Manley would be a nice get.

ESPN lists him with 9 BCS offers (including in town Georgia Tech) + UCF and in-town Georgia State.
He's in the next town west from me, Morris just east of me and Lynch just south-east of me. Good players, good competition, good to have on the Orange roster.

 

[007]

Hopefully they do something about kick coverage which IMO was a bigger issue.

I don't disagree about the poor coverage, but distance and hang time on the KO are a major factor. If Norton, or whomever, can consistently reach the goal line, there is no question in my mind we will see a spike in coverage and field position.

 

[GoCuse44]

Marrone said at the luncheon that the "kickoff specialist" would probably be a walk-on, since he didn't think the scholarship numbers would work out.

Obviously the numbers have changed in the past 2 months.

It shouldn't have any effect on Fisher.

I agree but it sounded like he would use a scholarship if ncessary because of the problems this team was having with kickoffs. With LSU, Miami, PSU, and Tennesee after this kid I would use a scholarship if he can put the ball in the end zone with 4+ hang time. We had some big momentum shifts last season with kickoffs going out of bounds, etc.

 

[JoeSU]

I understand it, but it's disappointing to use another scholarship on special teams.

After the near-unanimous sentiment about the need to improve ST play, it seems strange for someone to criticize investing a scholarship on a player who could have a direct, obvious impact on one important facet of the game. How many games has Krautman already won for us? A kicker who can semi-consistently reach the endzone with kick-offs would be a real weapon. Of course, our offense has to score for kickoffs to even be a factor.

 

[TheSpaz]

Kyle Bailey pictures: https://twitter.com/#!/2womenplusKB/media/grid

Looks like Texas Tech is in the picture as well.

 

[Franz69]

Regarding Norton. As mentioned, Mike Westhoff is his mentor and family friend. Westhoff and HCDM coached together on the Jets staff for 3 years. Should be a good in for us, yes?

 

[TexanMark]

Regarding Norton. As mentioned, Mike Westhoff is his mentor and family friend. Westhoff and HCDM coached together on the Jets staff for 3 years. Should be a good in for us, yes?

Assuming Westhoff liked Doug...
I have no problem investing an extra scholie here on a kid with NFL like distance. It'll give Ross a chance to rest his leg. Norton can back up Ross for two years on FGs/XPs. Ross can do backup kickoff duties. Another thing we can do is on obvious On sides kicks we could scheme two kickers out there and keep the opposing team guessing. I'm assuming Licky and Raupers would be back to walk-on status.

I only hope we get a full time ST's coach..tired of the Mickey Mouse BS coaching by committee thing they did--it had fail written all over it.

 

[orangepassion]

After the near-unanimous sentiment about the need to improve ST play, it seems strange for someone to criticize investing a scholarship on a player who could have a direct, obvious impact on one important facet of the game. How many games has Krautman already won for us? A kicker who can semi-consistently reach the endzone with kick-offs would be a real weapon. Of course, our offense has to score for kickoffs to even be a factor.

I'm not necessarilly against it per se, it just seems like we've used a lot of scholies on ST and still had poor results. How many schools give scholies to snappers, bring in a new punter/kicker every year (Morris, Raupers, Krautman, Fisher, possibly Norton) and yet are still bad on specials? If he'll make a difference, i'm fine with it, but it's definitely not ideal to use all these scholies on ST, unless we're top notch there. There's only so many scholies to go around.

 

[DCCuse]

Kyle Bailey pictures: https://twitter.com/#!/2womenplusKB/media/grid

Looks like Texas Tech is in the picture as well.

Good find. Expected him to commit this weekend, but I can see him waiting to check out TX Tech.

Like the ones of all the recruits together at the Dome.

 

[bnoro]

He might be fatter than Pat Shadle...

 

[sutomcat]

Regarding Norton. As mentioned, Mike Westhoff is his mentor and family friend. Westhoff and HCDM coached together on the Jets staff for 3 years. Should be a good in for us, yes?

Placekickers these days, even outstanding ones, have a hard time getting scholarship offers. If SU offered Ryan, I would be really surprised if he did not take the offer on the spot.

 

[TheSpaz]

Syracuse has a chance to get some of the best kickers and punters, LS in the nation because they are one of the few schools who do offer scholarships at these positions.

 

[SUFan44]

He might be fatter than Pat Shadle...

If he can kick it through the back of the end zone, who cares? So is Sebastian Janikowski.

 

[SUFan44]

Hopefully they do something about kick coverage which IMO was a bigger issue.

If the kicker can kick the ball into the end zone with consistency, the kick coverage will improve exponentially.

Punt coverage is a different story, but a kicker that can force touchbacks can change the game dramatically.

 

[Upstate]

He might be fatter than Pat Shadle...

Norton? He looks like he is in good shape in his videos

 

[Chip]

Hopefully they do something about kick coverage which IMO was a bigger issue.

True but I think a kicker who can keep it in the air longer and get it closer to, or into the end zone is an important piece to that puzzle. So is an ST coordinator and hopefully a year of S&C for the freshmen from the 2011 team.

 

[TheSpaz]

I guess John Garcia reads this board...lol

 

[bnoro]

Norton? He looks like he is in good shape in his videos

ha i thought bailey was norton.. whoops

 

[echosofmanley]

I would no problem with all the JUCOs from this weekend committing.

 

[echosofmanley]

True but I think a kicker who can keep it in the air longer and get it closer to, or into the end zone is an important piece to that puzzle. So is an ST coordinator and hopefully a year of S&C for the freshmen from the 2011 team.

It would make a huge difference, our SP Teams were beat having to knock heads every kickoff.

 

[JoeSU]

ha i thought bailey was norton.. whoops

Wouldn't it be great to have a 6-4, 230 lb, big black dude as our kicker?