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Great kicking prospect! He continues to improve and move up in the ranks. He is currenty ranked #10 in the class of 2014.


http://www.kohlsnews.com/news/video-201 ... enge-recap

Looks like a very good soccer player as well. Won a state championship yesterday with Edmond North.


http://newsok.com/edmond-north-beats-no ... le/3808875

Kicker rankings feel like they are a bunch of BS...Haven't we had several "Top 10" kicking prospects during June's term that have flat out sucked. Mike Loftus, Scout No. 6 prospect...#42 in Nation punting last year...sucked at FG kicking so we had to put an article in the newspaper for one who was iffy at best...this is what you get for one of the best prospects in the Nation?

No, we haven't had "several top 10 kicking prospects" under JJ. If Loftus was No. 6, as you say, that would make one top 10 guy, and he doesn't suck. So he's a better punter than kicker. Guys evolve and grow and develop differently. Unless you have an Eric Dickerson-type of prospect, every coach is projecting.

Pretty sure SMU didn't "put an article in the newspaper for (a kicker)." Hover's dad read that SMU lacked depth and initiated the contact between his son and SMU. It wasn't like SMU was taking out ads.

As for your last sentence -- that's exactly why rankings are so overrated. They all over-rank some and under-rank others. That's not a slap at the recruiting services, because coaches over-rank and under-rank, too. It's an inexact science, to say the least. I'd say it's even harder for kickers and punters than for other players, because so few coaches have the slightest clue about what actually goes into kicking a football.

What changes for a kicker between HS and college? The ball? The FG height? That should be the easiest evaluation to make. Loftus was ranked as a Kicker not a Punter...so why is he losing out to a walk-on who frankly isn't very good?

The other guy I was thinking about was Matt Szymamski, who was ranked by Chris Sailor as the No. 1 kicker in the nation...did okay at SMU, but mostly unremarkable.

So yeah that's "a couple", not "several"...big deal.

Tulsa World All-State Second Team

Second-team specialists
Pos. Player, school Cl. Ht. Wt.
K Trevor Moore, Edmond North Sr. 5-10 185


http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/h ... 75bfc.html

Finalists For 2013 Season All-American Team Announced

http://www.kohlsnews.com/news/finalists ... -announced

Is this another grandfather of a kicker who SMU didn't take thread?

"What changes for a kicker between HS and college? The ball? The FG height? That should be the easiest evaluation to make. Loftus was ranked as a Kicker not a Punter...so why is he losing out to a walk-on who frankly isn't very good?"

Actually there is a huge difference between high school and college for field goal kickers - the width of the goalposts is greatly reduced in college and high school kickers get the ball placed on a tee by the holder. At least this is the way it is in Texas high schools.

as a former kicker, the largest difference is attributed to the reduced width of the field goal posts (which is somewhat offset by the correlating width of the hashes) and going from using a tee to kicking off the ground. typically, this transition reduces range by approx 10 yards. many kickers aren't able to make the transition at all.

The Oklahoman's Varsity All-State Football Roster

First Team Kicker


http://www.newsok.com/multimedia/video/3002950431001

I did not realize that field goals are wider in HS, so thanks and I stand corrected. Bringing them 5 ft closer would significantly shorten a kickers range and make him difficult to evaluate unless you are tracking the accuracy of every single kick. I also didn't realize they kick from tees on FGd in high school...that seems like an odd handicap (golfing sense)

Loftus was awful. He went from kicking everything, to kicking off and punting, to just punting, to doing nothing. So, as he 'progressed' he went from handling everything to handling nothing and being benched in favor of a place kicker who could maybe kick the ball 30 yards on a good day. That's awful.

here is a local kid - junior at McKinney Boyd - converted 40, 35, and 26 yarders in one game against Coppell. Notice the last one was a bad snap and two guys broke through the line - still converted it.

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1897773/hig ... /118130224