Always find it strange we haven't had more rugby lads make the transition into the Nfl, those outhalfs have a serious leg on them, Same for Gaa players in Ireland, i know a few Aussie rules players have been converted, San Diego had one if I'm not mistaken.
Hardloper wrote:
takitaki wrote:
Lol. Find me a kid that is willing to spend 3 hours a day from 10 to 18 punting a football. I take it you don't have kids?
That's why it's such a genius idea, no one else is doing it
In 1970s, Punt, Pass & Kick was a big deal. All Pop Warner kids practiced all three. I'm close in age to Hall of Fame QB, Jim Kelly. He was a National Level Punt Pass & Kick guy, so was Coach Andy Reid. Punt, Pass & Kick most likely isn't a big thing today because Am. football coaches began seeking futbol/soccer guys for kicking duties.
To punt in the NFL you have to be one of the top 32 punters in the world. Not easy to be in the top 32 in anything. Plus, careers can last 10+ years so maybe there are 2-5 openings per year
Earlyboy wrote:
Always find it strange we haven't had more rugby lads make the transition into the Nfl, those outhalfs have a serious leg on them, Same for Gaa players in Ireland, i know a few Aussie rules players have been converted, San Diego had one if I'm not mistaken.
Neither of the current nor previous Seahawks punter came from American football (Jon Ryan and Michael Dickson)
Aside from the incredibly small amount of time a punter has (he can't even pull the ball into his body on the catch), it seems that punting has the same type of difficult trade-offs that are involved with any sport. You can increase hang-time and get a fair catch with a shorter punt or decrease hang time with a long punt and run the risk of a Devin Hester returning it. Physics is always there. I think direction would also be hard since the first priority in a punt is to spiral the ball for aerodynamic reasons and thus using your foot to direct the ball would be a mistake. You would have to line up your approach just right for a sideline kick and adjust for any fade that comes from a spiral. Last, this activity involves an enormous amount of sitting around while spending several hours at the game. It would be much easier to sit around, spend 10 seconds sprinting, and then relax. Of course, being a punter on the college team is way more prestigious than the XC team and is bound to attract the opposite sex. Running your ass off at 140lbs. just doesn't cut it in the social scene.
takitaki wrote:
Male gymnasts top out at about 5'6" so at least half of the snaps would go over their heads.
I was curious so I looked up the height and weight of the top punters in the NFL. I'm pretty sure none of these guys would be good gymnasts no matter how much they trained so why should gymnasts make good punters? Don't they focus mostly on developing upper body strength?
It looks like if you are not at least 6 feet (eliminating over half the men in the U.S.) you would be at a distinct disadvantage trying to make it as a punter.
Johnny Hekker 6 ft 5 in weight 241
Thomas Morstead 6 ft 4 in weight 235
Tress Way 6 ft 1 in weight 220
Andy Lee 6 ft 1 in weight 185
Brett Kern 6 ft 2 in weight 214
Bryan Anger 6 ft 3 in weight 202
Logan Cooke 6 ft 5 in weight 227
Cameron Johnston 5 ft 11 in weight 198
Michael Dickson 6 ft 2 in weight 208
Kevin Huber 6 ft 1 in weight 214[/quote]
Nobody is saying that the person should be an elite gymnist. They probably will not have the body for that. The point is to do the training at a young age to develop skills. A soccer players body and a distance runners body aren't the same. Playing soccer for 2 hours/day as a kid from 6-12 is still pretty good training for your future distance runner.
But the people who suggest the odds of you ending up with a leg that can kick the ball 70 yards is about the same as having an arm that throws a 95+mpw fastball. Not likely.
My friend and former colleague (now deceased via suicide, a sad event which hurts me to this day) had a son whom he tried to develop as a punter. He went Division II, and the kid, who was a quality, bright kid, majored in Pharmacy even though he was in the "game" as a 44 yard average punter. His father pushed him, but those at the kicking camps, while applauding his punt yardage, found him a half a second short on hang time. The young man is now a regional pharmacy leader for a large chain, and his wife, whom he met at school, is a pharmacist also. He used punting and kicking rather than let it use him - a wise thing. My call on all of this is that punting takes real skill and talent, just like most other professional endeavors. Nothing is as easy as it sounds.
Steeler Fan wrote:
Sally Vix wrote:
Virtually NO ONE as a kid aspires to be a punter in the NFL. Assuming your son (or even daughter) is a healthy kid, train them like Todd Maranovich's dad did with him.
Punting is NOT that hard. Take a decent gymnast and he could be kicking 50-yard punts in no time. NOW you start off your kid at 5 to be a gymnast and at 10 transition him to be a world class punter. 3 hours a day from 10 to 18 and he WILL be a very great punter. He can skip college and make WHAT? a million a year for 20 years? Game over.
If looking for a niche, a long-snapper is the way to go. Defensive players are no longer allowed to touch them and that is all they do with the exception of being expected to help punt coverage although it is not their main duty.
I coached a below average HS shot putter & FB player. He received a full scholarship to a mid-major as a long snapper.
The position is overall less competitive and on average a longer shelf life than a punter.
Long snapper isn't a bad idea, but you need size to do it. More likely easier to work on punting or kicking.
fdsakjf;lksdjaf wrote:
Long snapper isn't a bad idea, but you need size to do it. More likely easier to work on punting or kicking.
I agree, but since they changed the rule a few years ago that no one can make contact with the snapper, is this dynamic of size changing? Everyone I see doing it is above average size, although not behemoth like most NFL trench players, so if it is evolving it is taking a while.
Does anyone know whether punters get full scholarships? My cousin's kid is a long snapper in D1 and he has to pay full freight until he becomes the starter. I believe his status is "preferred walk-on".
rogermortimer wrote:
My friend and former colleague (now deceased via suicide, a sad event which hurts me to this day) had a son whom he tried to develop as a punter. He went Division II, and the kid, who was a quality, bright kid, majored in Pharmacy even though he was in the "game" as a 44 yard average punter. His father pushed him, but those at the kicking camps, while applauding his punt yardage, found him a half a second short on hang time. The young man is now a regional pharmacy leader for a large chain, and his wife, whom he met at school, is a pharmacist also. He used punting and kicking rather than let it use him - a wise thing. My call on all of this is that punting takes real skill and talent, just like most other professional endeavors. Nothing is as easy as it sounds.
Nice anecdote - thanks.
The OP is another example of someone who should NEVER be a parent. You want a guinea pig and not a family. That is fine so get yourself some Guinea pigs but please do NOT have children.
........ wrote:
The OP is another example of someone who should NEVER be a parent. You want a guinea pig and not a family. That is fine so get yourself some Guinea pigs but please do NOT have children.
My son is 16 and I would never train him like that. It was a hypothetical that maybe a kid trained in that manner could become a NFL punter.
Sally Vix wrote:
........ wrote:
The OP is another example of someone who should NEVER be a parent. You want a guinea pig and not a family. That is fine so get yourself some Guinea pigs but please do NOT have children.
My son is 16 and I would never train him like that. It was a hypothetical that maybe a kid trained in that manner could become a NFL punter.
OK so you do not even believe in the premise of the thread. Then I retract my assertion about you.
SDSU Aztec wrote:
All sports, including even distance running, require natural ability. The amount of talent required to be an NFL punter would eliminate over 95% of the population.
95? Are you crazy It would eliminate like 99.99%
Think about it. How many college punters are there? They all practice for years on end. Many of them suck.
The same thing is true in running.
rojo wrote:
SDSU Aztec wrote:
All sports, including even distance running, require natural ability. The amount of talent required to be an NFL punter would eliminate over 95% of the population.
95? Are you crazy It would eliminate like 99.99%
Think about it. How many college punters are there? They all practice for years on end. Many of them suck.
The same thing is true in running.
Some runners suck because they were never made to be runners.
NOW tell me you take a fairly coordinated kid and put him in a 5 or 7-year program where he develops extraordinary gymnastic abilities establishing extraordinary physical, flexibility, strength and power techniques THEN you submerge him in a 7-year punting program while still maintaing his gymnastics expertise. Are you telling me this guy can't punt 70 yards in his sleep?? And no - very few males can throw 95 mph. That is not skill developed. Buy punting can be.
Are punters hated by their teammates ? Any time the punter is on the field that means your team is relinquishing possession of the ball to the opposing team. A punter is a reminder of the failure of a football team's offense. Who wants to be friends with a player who represents your team's failure ?
You never want to see your punter step onto the field.
People on here always act like any person can achieve anything if just given the right training. Like anyone could run a WR marathon if they just had that magic training plan, or become one of the best punters in the world, if they just put their mind to it.
That is so insulting to those that do achieve great success and it is so delusional to fail to account for natural ability and aptitudes combined with hard work that is required of those that do make it.
Sally Vix wrote:
rojo wrote:
95? Are you crazy It would eliminate like 99.99%
Think about it. How many college punters are there? They all practice for years on end. Many of them suck.
The same thing is true in running.
Some runners suck because they were never made to be runners.
NOW tell me you take a fairly coordinated kid and put him in a 5 or 7-year program where he develops extraordinary gymnastic abilities establishing extraordinary physical, flexibility, strength and power techniques THEN you submerge him in a 7-year punting program while still maintaing his gymnastics expertise. Are you telling me this guy can't punt 70 yards in his sleep?? And no - very few males can throw 95 mph. That is not skill developed. Buy punting can be.
O.P., I see you are using multiple handles on this thread. You're the one with a problem comparing guys who can throw 95 m.p.h. fastball with elite punters. Under your other handle on this thread, I thought you were stating there are far more guys who can throw a baseball greater than 95 m.p.h. than guys who are elite punters. That is true. I should have compared elite N.F.L. punters with guys who can throw a baseball 98 m.p.h. Kareem Abdul Jabbar as a publicity stunt in high school in NY threw a baseball 92 m.p.h. Of course many N.B.A. guys can throw a baseball 95 m.p.h. QBs like Jeff George, John Elway, Dan Marino and Dante Culpepper could have thrown a baseball greater than 95 m.p.h. Rotating one's femur throw hip socket quickly enough to put a football 75 plus yards in practice wearing shorts is as rare a talent as throwing a a baseball 95 m.p.h. Did you read O.P. on an early post that all of us who played Pop Warner Football in 1970 punted? Punt Pass & Kick was big in 1970s. Guys who can punt greater than 75 yards in shorts are punting in N.F.L. Making your kid a dancer or gymnast for flexibility is not enough. Punting is like throwing a baseball. A baseball pitcher wants to move his arm threw shoulder socket as fast as possible. A punter wants to move is leg threw hip socket as fast as possible. Most great pitchers in M.LB. are 6'2" or taller; most great punters in N.F.L. are 6'2" or taller.
this is nonsense wrote:
Sally Vix wrote:
Some runners suck because they were never made to be runners.
NOW tell me you take a fairly coordinated kid and put him in a 5 or 7-year program where he develops extraordinary gymnastic abilities establishing extraordinary physical, flexibility, strength and power techniques THEN you submerge him in a 7-year punting program while still maintaing his gymnastics expertise. Are you telling me this guy can't punt 70 yards in his sleep?? And no - very few males can throw 95 mph. That is not skill developed. Buy punting can be.
O.P., I see you are using multiple handles on this thread. You're the one with a problem comparing guys who can throw 95 m.p.h. fastball with elite punters. Under your other handle on this thread, I thought you were stating there are far more guys who can throw a baseball greater than 95 m.p.h. than guys who are elite punters. That is true. I should have compared elite N.F.L. punters with guys who can throw a baseball 98 m.p.h. Kareem Abdul Jabbar as a publicity stunt in high school in NY threw a baseball 92 m.p.h. Of course many N.B.A. guys can throw a baseball 95 m.p.h. QBs like Jeff George, John Elway, Dan Marino and Dante Culpepper could have thrown a baseball greater than 95 m.p.h. Rotating one's femur throw hip socket quickly enough to put a football 75 plus yards in practice wearing shorts is as rare a talent as throwing a a baseball 95 m.p.h. Did you read O.P. on an early post that all of us who played Pop Warner Football in 1970 punted? Punt Pass & Kick was big in 1970s. Guys who can punt greater than 75 yards in shorts are punting in N.F.L. Making your kid a dancer or gymnast for flexibility is not enough. Punting is like throwing a baseball. A baseball pitcher wants to move his arm threw shoulder socket as fast as possible. A punter wants to move is leg threw hip socket as fast as possible. Most great pitchers in M.LB. are 6'2" or taller; most great punters in N.F.L. are 6'2" or taller.
I only used 1 handle - this one.