http:// http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070117/NDSports02/701170414/-1/NDSPORTS

 

I know he's not offered yet, but it's not like we don't have a schollie or teo to dish out.

 

I say give it a shot, kickers are like a crap shoot

Because they are a crap shoot, make him walk on.

Because they are a crap shoot, make him walk on.

 

yeah, but if you have the extra schollies burn it on'em.

 

plus, no way a kid turns down a schollie from one school to walk on at ND.

 

unless the kid is a life long ND fan. just my opnion

I think we have enough kickers...

I think we have enough kickers...

 

yeah, but can one make PTA consistently?

I agree with Jersey, we should offer him. We don't have enough kickers, because Goia is gone. That leaves Burkhart and apparently he hasn't been that impressive, and maybe a walk-on or two. It'd be nice to have competition since we have open schollies. This kid is good apparently.

Going with Jersey and Eagles on this one. So many tight games have come down to a field goal that to allow a potential NC or BCS bowl appearance fall on the shoulders of a walk-on is borderline incompetence for a coach, yet many do it all the time. Coaches will give out a schollie to a guy who they "hope" will develop into a position, yet refuse to give it to a guy who will DEFINITELY see playing time EVERY SINGLE GAME in some capacity. A field goal kicker (Boston College) ended our hope of a NC in 93', and a field goal kicker IS a primary reason the 88' NC was ND's. Reggie Ho's field goal against Michigan won it for the Irish. If last year's kicker was in a gold helmet in 88', ND blows a NC. Yes, Reggie Ho was a walk-on, but leaving this increasingly important position to a walk-on is, at the least, misguided. I believe the "don't waste a schollie on a kicker" attitude stems from the days when the NCAA started limiting scholarships. Many of the big dogs of the day were winning their regular season games by far more than 3 points, so kickers were an afterthought. When the NCAA started the limitation on schollies, many coaches saw little need to give it to a kicker given the margin of victory that they had enjoyed up to that point. However, the schollie rule created parity in football, so close games became the norm when lesser teams started being able to compete. Unfortunately, many coaches never caught on, believing the increased competition was all-the-more reason not to waste a schollie on a kicker, when in fact it should have inflated the need for quality kicking. ND should absolutely go after the best kickers they can, for mark my word; a big game IS going to come down to a kid's foot, and I'd rather it not be some walk-on engineering major who thought "it might be fun to see what all this football stuff was about".

I agree with Jersey, we should offer him. We don't have enough kickers, because Goia is gone. That leaves Burkhart and apparently he hasn't been that impressive, and maybe a walk-on or two. It'd be nice to have competition since we have open schollies. This kid is good apparently.

 

I agree, ND needs the competition. ND would have scored a lot more points this year if they had a kicker who could make a 45yd field goal. I think ND has Burkhart, Renkes, and some walk ons. I don't want ND to go back to the days in the mid 90's where they were having walk ons kick (if you remember how bad that was).

I started a thread about this kid a little while ago...there was an article on Scout about him.

Yes, but what makes this kid the one. His stats are not all that impressive. Burkhart had touchbacks on almost all his kicks in highschool.

Yes, but what makes this kid the one. His stats are not all that impressive. Burkhart had touchbacks on almost all his kicks in highschool.

 

Law,

 

That's what baffled me all season long with Burkhart. He was an accurate kicker in HS too. I believe he hit quite a few long ones (50+). Yet, Gioa...who is not good, consistantly beat him out. He must have been REALLY bad if CW passed up on him deciding to go for it on 4th down so regularly instead of putting it in Gioa's hands. I'd love to know what happened there.

 

Also, we can't kick the ball out of the endzone if there was a 2 million dollar prize on the line. I'm tired of opponents starting there return from the ten. There HAS to be some leg power somwhere in the University.

i dont want to see gioia on the field this season...turn it over to burkhart.

 

as far as this kid goes, hey why not, contact him see if he will be a walk-on.

special teams suck!!!

special teams suck!!!

Okay I really have to disagree with you on that! (Unless you were referring to ND's lack of special teams)

ok go irish, yes, if you want to put it that way. nd's special teams are lacking!!!!!

is polian responsible?? is he gonna stay?? if so, will corwin give his input?? let's get this under control.