Ryan Norton

[PhatOrange]

Keep in mind, that in HS the ball is kicked from the 40 and in college the 30. So none of his kicks in the 60's would reach the end zone. Hopefully being a year older and stronger in the fall, he will consistently kick the 70+ yarders in his film. If he does, he could be the best kick off guy in the country. #1 last year was at 68.8 yards per kickoff. But we don't know how many were intentionally kicked short. The key is probably touchbacks and the same guy who led (Auburns kicker) in yardage led in touchback percentage at 58%. He will also need to improve his hang time.

Does college kick off from the 30 or the 35?

 

[Whitey23]

Does college kick off from the 30 or the 35?

30

 

[SUFan44]

Keep in mind, that in HS the ball is kicked from the 40 and in college the 30. So none of his kicks in the 60's would reach the end zone. Hopefully being a year older and stronger in the fall, he will consistently kick the 70+ yarders in his film. If he does, he could be the best kick off guy in the country. #1 last year was at 68.8 yards per kickoff. But we don't know how many were intentionally kicked short. The key is probably touchbacks and the same guy who led (Auburns kicker) in yardage led in touchback percentage at 58%. He will also need to improve his hang time.

If he can kick it inbounds it would be an improvement over last year.

We averaged 62.3 yards per kickoff last year, 74th out of 120 schools. Three touchbacks (102nd out of 120), 0 of which came at home in a dome with no wind. And four out of bounds, 13th-most in the country.

For a team that plays its home games in a dome, that is atrocious.

Also, you mention hang time. I think that's overrated. Not like Krautman/Raupers were sending kickoffs up near the roof.

I think we'll see this kid kicking off this fall. Like the signing a lot.

 

[FranCuse]

If he can kick it inbounds it would be an improvement over last year.

We averaged 62.3 yards per kickoff last year, 74th out of 120 schools. Three touchbacks (102nd out of 120), 0 of which came at home in a dome with no wind. And four out of bounds, 13th-most in the country.

For a team that plays its home games in a dome, that is atrocious.

Also, you mention hang time. I think that's overrated. Not like Krautman/Raupers were sending kickoffs up near the roof.

I think we'll see this kid kicking off this fall. Like the signing a lot.

I couldn't agree with you first two paragraphs more.

Regarding the hangtime, Marrone mentioned in one of his luncheons that it was the most critical component. When they brought in the soccer guy, he had no hangtime which was why he wasn't a feasible option.

 

[cayugacuse]

Check out the distance he was getting on the kicks in the links spaz posted on the first page of this thread. 70 plus looks like no problem.

 

[rrlbees]

If he can kick it inbounds it would be an improvement over last year.

We averaged 62.3 yards per kickoff last year, 74th out of 120 schools. Three touchbacks (102nd out of 120), 0 of which came at home in a dome with no wind. And four out of bounds, 13th-most in the country.

For a team that plays its home games in a dome, that is atrocious.

Also, you mention hang time. I think that's overrated. Not like Krautman/Raupers were sending kickoffs up near the roof.

I think we'll see this kid kicking off this fall. Like the signing a lot.

I'm sure you remember that Krautman kicked with a bad groin for 1/2 the season. The shame is that even with the bad groin, there was nobody behind him that could do better to allow him to just do FG/XP. There is a reason so many went out of bounds and that is because the coaches chose to try short kicks toward the sideline hoping to keep it in bounds which is tough to do, instead of Krautman kicking it the best he could straight away. Once he couldn't get his kicks up enough and deep due to not being able to bring his leg through and up, it was thought to try the sideline kicks since our coverage guys made the shorter kicks only worse.

Most of the BE schools, and probably others, use kickoff specialists, so hopefully this kid can take that on. Only Krautman and the Pitt and Lville kids did both. Even with the bad groin, Krautman was still the #1 FG kicker in the BE and was #2 nationally last year. This kid can be a great help to the team. I also wanted to pint out to people who watched his video that those kicks in the 60's won't reach the goal line because the kicks are 10 yards further.

BTW, hang time is far from overrated. The difference between 4.0 and 4.5 is a lot of extra time for your cover team to get down field. .5 seconds is a long time when sprinting. You may have, or may not have, seen the soccer player they brought in for a few days after Krautman got hurt. The one game he dressed he kicked pre-game and at halftime. He was easily outdistancing an injured Krautman and putting several to the goal line or in the end zone. He only lasted till that Monday because he had no hang time. Tryout over.

 

[orangepassion]

I wonder if any of the coaches were able to see him kick live

 

[Orangeyes]

Never, never, never trust just a video right Joe?!

 

[Orangeyes]

This kid has come highly recommended to the staff, he's class of 2013.

Might not be a bad idea to keep him in mind just in case.

 

[SUFan44]

I'm sure you remember that Krautman kicked with a bad groin for 1/2 the season. The shame is that even with the bad groin, there was nobody behind him that could do better to allow him to just do FG/XP. There is a reason so many went out of bounds and that is because the coaches chose to try short kicks toward the sideline hoping to keep it in bounds which is tough to do, instead of Krautman kicking it the best he could straight away. Once he couldn't get his kicks up enough and deep due to not being able to bring his leg through and up, it was thought to try the sideline kicks since our coverage guys made the shorter kicks only worse.

Most of the BE schools, and probably others, use kickoff specialists, so hopefully this kid can take that on. Only Krautman and the Pitt and Lville kids did both. Even with the bad groin, Krautman was still the #1 FG kicker in the BE and was #2 nationally last year. This kid can be a great help to the team. I also wanted to pint out to people who watched his video that those kicks in the 60's won't reach the goal line because the kicks are 10 yards further.

BTW, hang time is far from overrated. The difference between 4.0 and 4.5 is a lot of extra time for your cover team to get down field. .5 seconds is a long time when sprinting. You may have, or may not have, seen the soccer player they brought in for a few days after Krautman got hurt. The one game he dressed he kicked pre-game and at halftime. He was easily outdistancing an injured Krautman and putting several to the goal line or in the end zone. He only lasted till that Monday because he had no hang time. Tryout over.

Don't disagree with much of what you said -- just disappointed that our kicker, even before he was injured, wasn't getting much depth on kickoffs and it hurt us big time throughout the year.

As to the hang time, if a kid can kick four yards into the end zone (which 74 yards would do), that alone would make up for the .5 seconds that he may not have in hangtime. Which is why I said it is overrated (at least in theory, if he can kick the ball into the end zone. If not then I agree.)

Hopeful he can do it in college, and I think at the very least he can take a load off of Krautman.

 

[sutomcat]

If he can kick it inbounds it would be an improvement over last year.

We averaged 62.3 yards per kickoff last year, 74th out of 120 schools. Three touchbacks (102nd out of 120), 0 of which came at home in a dome with no wind. And four out of bounds, 13th-most in the country.

For a team that plays its home games in a dome, that is atrocious.

Also, you mention hang time. I think that's overrated. Not like Krautman/Raupers were sending kickoffs up near the roof.

I think we'll see this kid kicking off this fall. Like the signing a lot.

I agree, great signing. Based on the film out there, he will be our best KO man since Pat O'Neill. Wish it happened last year...might have cost us a bowl game. But it is better to address this late rather than never. I think we go from one of the worse teams on KO coverage to one of the best overnight with this move.

And it should save a lot of wear and tear on Ross Krautman, who was asked to do both last year and was worn ragged by the end of the season (and injured to boot).

 

[007]

I agree, great signing. Based on the film out there, he will be our best KO man since Pat O'Neill. Wish it happened last year...might have cost us a bowl game. But it is better to address this late rather than never. I think we go from one of the worse teams on KO coverage to one of the best overnight with this move.

And it should save a lot of wear and tear on Ross Krautman, who was asked to do both last year and was worn ragged by the end of the season (and injured to boot).

Amen. This is one of the best signings of the class if Norton can consistently KO 70 yards. Coverage didn't have a chance last year.

Punting was almost as poor, with 39.3 yards/punt for Fisher (5th in the BE); and Raupers was the worse punter in the BE at 37.4

 

[OrangePA]

I think his swoon was due more to poor poor line play, he was forced to rush kicks, had a few blocked, too.

If Mr. Norton can KO into the endzone on a consistent basis, that will help this program tremendously.

 

[Cadillac]

What, geeking out over a kicker committing?

Well, I am and I couldn't be happier. We need him next year. We needed him this year.

We're excited, but you know who's probably downright giddy? Scott Shafer.