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Drew Miller, Mediapolis IA, #1 ‘24 kicker nationally

Is there any compelling reason a kicker can't handle the punt duties or a punter can't handle the kick duties? The reason I ask is the best kicker/punter I ever saw was Kaeding when he was at West High. I always thought he should do both when he was at Iowa.
 
Fan? Yes. Does that mean anything, not necessarily. Have visited Iowa twice as well as 4 other schools in the fall with others showing interest. Really early though for specialists and not a lot of communication due to age and recruiting rules. Should be going on several spring visits this year, don’t know where yet

He’s attended several different camps, mainly Kohl’s Kicking which is the biggest and best for rankings by class (ESPN uses). Kornblue (former Michigan kicker) ranks upperclassmen (seniors) and Underclassmen (juniors and younger). Chris Sailer Kicking (more west coast) and Phase 3 Kicking. Also, attends Hammer Kicking Academy, but he doesn’t do rankings just training, comps and helps with recruiting.

Trying to get video from one of his recent camps for punting. In the final comp he averaged 55-60 yards per punt and 5.0 hang. Longest punt was 70 with a 4.91 hang. I’ll post it here if we can get it. He kicks as well, good distance up to 60-63, just needs more consistency in a charting session. Below are his rankings with all.

Kohl’s: #1 Punter, #8 Kicker
Sailer: #1 Punter, #1 Kicker
Kornblue: #2 Punter behind ‘23 headed to Michigan, #2 behind ‘23
Phase 3: #1 Punter, #1 Kicker
Hammer: doesn’t do rankings but recognizes him as the top punter in ‘24 and one of the top kickers

I thought he was already locked up??
 
Fan? Yes. Does that mean anything, not necessarily. Have visited Iowa twice as well as 4 other schools in the fall with others showing interest. Really early though for specialists and not a lot of communication due to age and recruiting rules. Should be going on several spring visits this year, don’t know where yet

He’s attended several different camps, mainly Kohl’s Kicking which is the biggest and best for rankings by class (ESPN uses). Kornblue (former Michigan kicker) ranks upperclassmen (seniors) and Underclassmen (juniors and younger). Chris Sailer Kicking (more west coast) and Phase 3 Kicking. Also, attends Hammer Kicking Academy, but he doesn’t do rankings just training, comps and helps with recruiting.

Trying to get video from one of his recent camps for punting. In the final comp he averaged 55-60 yards per punt and 5.0 hang. Longest punt was 70 with a 4.91 hang. I’ll post it here if we can get it. He kicks as well, good distance up to 60-63, just needs more consistency in a charting session. Below are his rankings with all.

Kohl’s: #1 Punter, #8 Kicker
Sailer: #1 Punter, #1 Kicker
Kornblue: #2 Punter behind ‘23 headed to Michigan, #2 behind ‘23
Phase 3: #1 Punter, #1 Kicker
Hammer: doesn’t do rankings but recognizes him as the top punter in ‘24 and one of the top kickers

Those are Regie Robb
Fan? Yes. Does that mean anything, not necessarily. Have visited Iowa twice as well as 4 other schools in the fall with others showing interest. Really early though for specialists and not a lot of communication due to age and recruiting rules. Should be going on several spring visits this year, don’t know where yet

He’s attended several different camps, mainly Kohl’s Kicking which is the biggest and best for rankings by class (ESPN uses). Kornblue (former Michigan kicker) ranks upperclassmen (seniors) and Underclassmen (juniors and younger). Chris Sailer Kicking (more west coast) and Phase 3 Kicking. Also, attends Hammer Kicking Academy, but he doesn’t do rankings just training, comps and helps with recruiting.

Trying to get video from one of his recent camps for punting. In the final comp he averaged 55-60 yards per punt and 5.0 hang. Longest punt was 70 with a 4.91 hang. I’ll post it here if we can get it. He kicks as well, good distance up to 60-63, just needs more consistency in a charting session. Below are his rankings with all.

Kohl’s: #1 Punter, #8 Kicker
Sailer: #1 Punter, #1 Kicker
Kornblue: #2 Punter behind ‘23 headed to Michigan, #2 behind ‘23
Phase 3: #1 Punter, #1 Kicker
Hammer: doesn’t do rankings but recognizes him as the top punter in ‘24 and one of the top kickers

Those are Reggie Roby numbers.4.9 hang time. The ball exploded off Roby leg.
 
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I'd take with a grain of salt any publication that calls a 15 year old kid the #1 kicker nationally in his class after hitting just 1 of 5 career field goal attempts. He's probably got a great leg, but he still has several years of high school ball left to mature and prove the ranking true.
 
I'd take with a grain of salt any publication that calls a 15 year old kid the #1 kicker nationally in his class after hitting just 1 of 5 career field goal attempts. He's probably got a great leg, but he still has several years of high school ball left to mature and prove the ranking true.
I think we all know that. However 4.9 hang time on a punt doesn't lie.
 
They tend to punt or kick FG/XP in college/pro. Either can do kickoffs. Generally the punter is the holder after that the holder is a QB. Not many teams are going to risk a QB getting hurt. Also, once in college many don’t practice both as often so they lose some of it. I’m sure they could do it in a pinch, but it’s hard on their legs. The really good ones can do both, but there are not a lot of true combos out there.
correct me if I am wrong but I think the Penn ST kicker did all of their kicking--punts--FG--kick offs, and he was booming them, but his punts got worse in the 4th qtr and actually gave us good field position 2 times in a row--maybe got tired?
 
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Reggie Roby was pretty good at placekicking and punting at Iowa. But, of course, that was way back in the dark ages.
Roby was a great punter, arguably one of the best 3-4 ever to do so. Not a great placekicker. 11-27 on field goals in college, 22-25 on extra points. He had a very strong leg but straight on placekicker and not accurate. It's why Tom Nichol became the PK late in Roby's career. Placekickers were less accurate back then, the teaching and skill development of the kickers is more refined and better today, even with the placekickers no longer being able to use a tee when kicking field goals and the goal posts being narrowed.
 
Question... Are these punt distances from the line of scrimmage or the kicker? If line of scrimmage, these are definitely great kicks.
 
It’s earned at camps with competitions and training. Yes it’s different than games because at camps you don’t have the other 21 people on the field with you. You sometimes have live ops with just a long snapper and holder, but rarely. And I’d go with Kohl’s rankings over any others. They get the most kids by far and do a good job. He’s not #1 with them for kicking and he wouldn’t argue any different. Now punting that’s another story.

And yes a lot can change over the next 2.5 years before his class gets on college campuses. The good news is all the top kids in his class are good friends and push each other to get better.
I'd take anything iowaslaw says with a giant chug of bourbon.
 
Is there any compelling reason a kicker can't handle the punt duties or a punter can't handle the kick duties? The reason I ask is the best kicker/punter I ever saw was Kaeding when he was at West High. I always thought he should do both when he was at Iowa.

A not insignificant part of why they start to specialize more in college is the practice limitations. They don’t get as much time as potentially in high school so they have to choose one. There’s also fewer kicking options in high school so they have to do more if they are any good.
 
I'm old and watched Reggie grow up. Obviously his leg was super strong, but as stated by someone he was not accurate enough for field goals in college. Iowa did use him for kick offs and once in a great while for very long field goal attempts if the circumstances were right such as at the end of the half or game.
 
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Reggie Roby was pretty good at placekicking and punting at Iowa. But, of course, that was way back in the dark ages.
Reggie wasn't a very accurate kicker but in desperation situation, he might hit a 60 yarder. Knew Reggie a little in IC. Good guy and a funny guy.

Reggie might have been the last straight away kicker I remember seeing. There was a rumor Reggie ate 40 tacos on Taco Grande's 25 cent Taco Friday.
 
Reggie wasn't a very accurate kicker but in desperation situation, he might hit a 60 yarder. Knew Reggie a little in IC. Good guy and a funny guy.

Reggie might have been the last straight away kicker I remember seeing. There was a rumor Reggie ate 40 tacos on Taco Grande's 25 cent Taco Friday.
He was 11-27 FG kicking in his first 2 years at Iowa. 28-34 on extra points. Tom Nichol took over place-kicking starting in 1981. Nichol was 43-70 FG kicking in his career. Crazy how much the place-kicking has improved in recent years with better specialized coaching from an earlier age. Fans would riot now if a kicker was allowed to take 70 FG attempts and make 61% of them. Narrowing the hash marks has helped, but back then kickers could also use a tee on field goals and the goal posts were wider too.

But man, could Roby thump the ball on punts. I really like Tory Taylor, but the people saying he's the best ever at Iowa, stop. Roby averaged 49.8 yards per punt and then 48.1 yards per punt his last 2 years in college. That 1981 team with Reggie's punting and Iowa's defense was something to behold. Game at Wisconsin Iowa got the early lead and then Fry basically shut down the offense and let Roby and the defense do its thing. This board would have melted down with how Fry went about winning that game.
 
He was 11-27 FG kicking in his first 2 years at Iowa. 28-34 on extra points. Tom Nichol took over place-kicking starting in 1981. Nichol was 43-70 FG kicking in his career. Crazy how much the place-kicking has improved in recent years with better specialized coaching from an earlier age. Fans would riot now if a kicker was allowed to take 70 FG attempts and make 61% of them. Narrowing the hash marks has helped, but back then kickers could also use a tee on field goals and the goal posts were wider too.

But man, could Roby thump the ball on punts. I really like Tory Taylor, but the people saying he's the best ever at Iowa, stop. Roby averaged 49.8 yards per punt and then 48.1 yards per punt his last 2 years in college. That 1981 team with Reggie's punting and Iowa's defense was something to behold. Game at Wisconsin Iowa got the early lead and then Fry basically shut down the offense and let Roby and the defense do its thing. This board would have melted down with how Fry went about winning that game.
Actually, Lon Olejniczak was handling PATs and FGs in 1981 until breaking his leg in 3rd game of the season against UCLA, and had sort of taken over PATs and FGs the latter part of the 1980 season.
 
He was 11-27 FG kicking in his first 2 years at Iowa. 28-34 on extra points. Tom Nichol took over place-kicking starting in 1981. Nichol was 43-70 FG kicking in his career. Crazy how much the place-kicking has improved in recent years with better specialized coaching from an earlier age. Fans would riot now if a kicker was allowed to take 70 FG attempts and make 61% of them. Narrowing the hash marks has helped, but back then kickers could also use a tee on field goals and the goal posts were wider too.

But man, could Roby thump the ball on punts. I really like Tory Taylor, but the people saying he's the best ever at Iowa, stop. Roby averaged 49.8 yards per punt and then 48.1 yards per punt his last 2 years in college. That 1981 team with Reggie's punting and Iowa's defense was something to behold. Game at Wisconsin Iowa got the early lead and then Fry basically shut down the offense and let Roby and the defense do its thing. This board would have melted down with how Fry went about winning that game.
Roby also had the advantage of not doing short punts. They used a second punter for that. I think Taylor could have a longer average if he didn’t do shorter punts but that would negate the best part of his game.
 
Roby also had the advantage of not doing short punts. They used a second punter for that. I think Taylor could have a longer average if he didn’t do shorter punts but that would negate the best part of his game.
Totally agree. The best part of his game is how often he can pin team’s inside the 10. And with our defense and then Charlie Jones returning punts, it leads to us starting a lot of drives with a short field.
 
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