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At Thursday morning's practice, I was encouraged and discouraged by the impressions I got from the kicking game.

On one hand, (punter) Colin Vadheim looked extremely inconsistent. One moment he uncorked a pair of missiles that seemed to go forever. And they were high, in addition to being long, meaning that should he fire that kind of bomb during a game, the coverage would have plenty of time to run downfield and make the play. But he followed those boomers with a series of shanked and squibbed kicks that wobbled harmlessly through the air, and would do little to improve field position. He has the ability to be a great punter; I hope he develops the consistency he needs in this, his senior season.

On the other hand, (placekicker) Adam Walterscheid looked great. He still has an exceptionally strong leg capable of serious distance on his kicks. But more importantly, he seemed to have improved on his accuracy and initial lift he gets on the ball. Initial lift often is more important than leg strength, because if you crush the ball but can't get it up in the air quickly, you're going to hit your blockers in the back or get the ball blocked. He was hitting the ball from about 35-40 yards away and banging it almost on to the top of the parking garage by the intramural field (missing the top by as little as six inches.) If he can control his sometimes-erratic aim and maintain his leg strength, while getting the ball up high as quickly as he did today, he could become a big-time weapon for the 'Stangs.

Let's hope Adam has turned it around. That was definitely frustrating when we had to go for it on 4th down because of his inconsistency instead of taking 30yd field goals last year. As for Colin, I don't think that will be a problem. He always seems to get the job done. Thanks for the report though. The kicking game is definitely a cause for concern coming into this year and its good to hear some positives.

Is that scrimmage report right. Were we really 2-9 on field goals in the scrimmage. That is just awful. What is the deal. Is it the holder? What happened to these guys legs? Surely they could kick in HS. This may really hurt us this year.

I hear that some of the players on the SMU girls soccer team have more accurate and stronger legs than these guys!

I was really hoping that the kicking would improve from last year, because there is nothing more aggravating in football than watching a kicker miss an extra point and/or short field goals, especially in domed stadiums. But, apparently, we seem to be heading down that same old road of having to go for 4th and 12 from the opponents 25 yard line.

[This message has been edited by jettison (edited 08-22-2000).]

THE ROCK SAYS...

THAT IS SO DAMN FRUSTRATING. WHY CAN'T WE GET A KICKER THAT CAN BE PRETTY ACCURATE FROM INSIDE THE 30? ARE KICKERS REALLY THAT HARD TO COME BY>

We don't seem to ever recruit kickers seriously.

First of all, it's not that hard to kick a 30-yard field goal. In high school I hit a 48-yarder in the second game of my life, having been borrowed from the soccer team on which I played. If you can kick a soccer ball, you make a couple of MINOR adjustments in your motion and lo and behold, you can kick a football. Remember a few years ago when Coach Cavan and (soccer) Coach Hyndman shared Daniel Hernandez? He only kicked one year in high school, but he had a cannon of a leg. Actually, he had two —— supposedly he drilled field goals of more than 50 yards in practice with his right foot AND his left foot. Best kicker SMU's had in years.

Also, it appears the Mustangs are recruiting a kicker this year. Multiple recruiting sources list at least two who have SMU on their lists of choices.

• Jake Jackson: Greenville, Texas 5-9 145 4.7
Baylor, Texas Tech, SMU, TCU

• A.J. Haglund: El Reno, Okla. 5-8 155 4.7
Arkansas, Yale, Rice, SMU, Harvard, UofPennsylvania

[This message has been edited by HorsePower (edited 08-23-2000).]

[This message has been edited by HorsePower (edited 08-23-2000).]