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[QUOTE="ECE '76, post: 5477153, member: 8656"]
Having been a SU FB fan since the days of [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Ruoff']Bernie Ruoff[/URL], I've seen all the great placekickers and punters we've had.  I remember when Syracuse set the NCAA record for most consecutive XPs.  The streak without missing an XP covered 11 years! (SU did not score a lot of TDs in those days, so it took a long time to accumulate 262 XPs.)

The idea that the FG kicker has to do kickoffs is straight out bizarre. It is easy to see in the FG accuracy of Andre Szmyt over his time.  He was superb in the years when someone else was doing kickoffs.  His worst season was the year he did both FGs and kickoffs.  Just kicking for raw power is different than kicking for accuracy, under pressure, and timed with the snap.  Two very different things, and it's easier to excel if you only have to do one.

SU finds itself with 2 mediocre place kickers this season.  It's actually good news if each one can concentrate on doing just one thing.

SU's STs were so bad last year, and Rickie Brumfield's inauspicious departure from GaTech makes him a very questionable replacement at SU.  At the time "he left the staff":

[URL='https://www.si.com/college/georgiatech/football/georgia-tech-football-special-teams-coordinator-ricky-brumfield-no-longer-with-program-01jbc6vxfktv']Georgia Tech ranks 121st in kickoff return defense, 1st in blocked kicks, 106th in blocked kicks allowed, 71st in kickoff returns, 107th in net punting, 98th in punt return defense, and 81st in punt returns. Georgia Tech kicker Aidan Birr ranks 106th in field goal percentage.[/URL]
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