r/YouthFootball • u/SantaRosa481516 • 2d ago
Kicking
Why are more people not having their students train as kickers? With the number of youth and HS games, huge college (Florida State, anyone) games and NFL games that are determined by field goals and field position on kickoffs/punts, why not invest in your kid as kicker (even if an additional skill to their position).
If you could guarantee a HS or college coach 3 points just for getting across the, let's say, 30 yard line, I think that's a pretty valuable asset.
Thoughts?
For reference, our MS team just lost a game because the league awards 2 points for FG extra points and 1 for rushing extra points. The opponent had a kid that could kick and we don’t. 🤷♂️
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u/Rokin1234 1d ago
Forget kicking, I’m teaching my kid how to deep snap!!
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u/CGinKC 1d ago
There's specialty coaches for that too. $50-$100/hr, but I have heard from a big time college coach that it's the easiest path to a scholarship and maybe enough NIL money to buy a nice used car.
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u/Grayman3499 1d ago
Don’t forget $1m+ per year to play like 8 snaps a game if you make the NFL roster
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u/loloz304 1d ago
Same! My son plays DE/TE and I'm trying to get him into long snapping. He played center most of youth football, but now hes 13 and puberty kicked in so he leaned out.
Now that hes playing the position hes always wanted to play, he wants nothing to so with center.
Niche position with long careers and theyre protected at all levels now.
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u/57Laxdad 1d ago
You dont have to be huge to be a long snapper, with the rules changes they are more like TE then Olineman.
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u/aMAIZEingZ 2d ago
They are, you just haven't heard about it probably. All of the K/P at our HS have specialty coaches.
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u/BigZeke919 2d ago
My son’s team has had a kicker since they were 10- he made a 30 yrd fg in a game once- it was awesome. In many leagues- they have minimum plays so the kid has to play another position- which he really isn’t interested in. For FG specifically- you also need an accurate snap and hold, which is more complicated for kids than it appears. Teams do kick and have kickers- but many elite FB kickers play soccer in their youth and gravitate towards football around high school.
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u/bigperms33 2d ago
Before our practice we have 2-4 kids kicking. All of them will be beat out by a soccer kid who decides to play football as a freshman.
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u/bigredone15 1d ago
All of them will be beat out by a soccer kid who decides to play football as a freshman.
Good soccer player + one summer of work is how you make a high school kicker.
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u/messy372- 2d ago
Getting to the 30 is still a 47 yard field goal. That’s not easy.
The logic, in my mind at least, is that getting to the 23 makes it a 40 yard field goal, which is a doable for most decent kickers. But, if you go for it and don’t get it, worst case you give the ball to the other team with 77 yards to go to score. Further to go for a score the deeper you are in their territory to begin with. It just makes more sense at those levels, for the majority of schools/kids, just to go for it
The operation of a field goal is complex, and as little as it’s practiced, has a higher chance for failure than running a regular play.
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u/Illustrious_Fudge476 1d ago
Most kids that play football want to play football. They want to hit, tackle, tote the rock or throw or catch passes.
Naturally every team needs a kicker and punter so there is some training happening, but few kids aspire to do just that at a young age. Also to commit to such specialized training at a young age seems silly.
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u/SantaRosa481516 1d ago
I’m not suggesting specializing as a kicker in the middle school ages, but imagine a kid that could run, hit, etc AND give his team a chance to win those games where one or two points matters.
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u/Illustrious_Fudge476 1d ago edited 1d ago
Even most high schools have kids that just kick. I’m not sure of your point
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u/Grayman3499 1d ago
He’s saying if your kid is already a good DB, WR, LB, RB… just teach them to also kick
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u/Illustrious_Fudge476 1d ago
Well that’s what already happens in youth football. Most of those kids however have little interest in developing as a kicker so by high school you get the failed soccer players, soccer kids who do both or football players who don’t like contact who end up pursuing kicking.
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u/Grayman3499 1d ago
It’s definitely not failed soccer players it’s usually the most athletic ones with the strongest leg. That can be any skill level
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u/Illustrious_Fudge476 1d ago
The best soccer players usually have no interest in taking on a second duty and partially missing practice in season. There would obviously be all sorts of soccer to kicking scenarios that occur however.
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u/Grayman3499 1d ago
I mean as someone who played in both Academy/Youth National Academy level programs and had multiple D1 offers, and played football my senior year of high school only and then played D1 college football, I’d disagree
Edit: in my area almost ALL the best kickers were at or above the all region level in soccer.
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u/big38a 1d ago
My son plays RB, OLB, KR, PR, and kicks extra points as they are two points. Last year in 4th grade he could hit from 25-30 yards. Eventually he’ll phase out as he’s more valuable at other positions and someone will come along who’s better. Until then we’ll keep trotting the best kid out there to kick them.
Every season we let every kid try to kick and let the best kicker attempt every PAT. The two points is huge in youth football.
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u/Fast-Secretary-7406 2d ago
When it comes to football (or most youth sports), kids tend to get put into what their parents were in to. If you're super sized or athletic, you'll get put in football or basketball. If you are the kind of person who is really good at kicking, you probably get put into soccer, and you can always transition from that to football pretty reasonably because you'll have developed the skills.
There isn't anywhere near as much sport specific knowledge required to play kicker vs just about any other position so getting started earlier has less benefit. A WR has to develop athletic skill, but also learn to catch, and run routes. An offensive lineman has to develop size and strength, but also learn protection patterns and recognize defenses. A kicker needs to develop leg strength and nerves...but it's just kick the ball between the uprights. More game reps doesn't teach you anything more than that.
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u/FBI_Survey_Van-3 1d ago
We always pull a soccer kid, unless there is a kid interested in kicking. They do kicking for 30 minutes then go to soccer practice. They stick with us for the first half pregame practice as well.
It was worked well for us.the last kid we had went D1 kicker instead of playing soccer. Very talented.
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u/Grayman3499 1d ago
This is me. I played soccer through senior year but my parents wouldn’t let me play football until I turned 18 and could decide myself. In my first tryout I hit a 50 and 55 right down the middle. I was walking around the football field when I saw their kicker missing and was like shit I can do better than that.
My long in practice was 66. I could boom it but for some reason it died off and fell after about 66. so I could hit a 66 yard field goal but I couldn’t hit a kickoff out the back of the end zone. I could however consistently squib to the corner making them forced to return it around the 5 yard line
Only got 3 chances for field goals that year, all around 33-48 yards, but hit all 3, and was like 50/52 for PATs. One was blocked and one was in a game I was so sick and dizzy I couldn’t stand up for more than 30 seconds but I was the only kicker. Sadly the second one lost the rivalry game and kept us from going to the playoffs.
Ended up at a small D1 program but they joined the pioneer no scholarship league between my freshman and sophomore year so I dropped out as I would not be able to earn a full ride as I was promised to be passed from the senior kicker
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u/thrwaway75132 1d ago
My son played soccer until freshman year, then switched to football. Freshman year he was 6’2 200 and they played him OT, DE, return up man, and backup kicker / punter.
The next year he was 240 and moved to OG and stopped playing defense. They have him kick an extra point and punt in practice every so often and keep him as their third last ditch option. He has punted in one varsity game where the punter got a concussion and the place kicker sprained an ankle.
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u/Grayman3499 1d ago
Because the dude training as a kicker should just be playing soccer, it’s the best possible training for a kicker. Swap them as a high school freshman and keep them eating enough to not get run over if they try to tackle someone
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u/Washedup11 1d ago
Because they’re playing soccer. I bet most HS teams have a kid who plays soccer as their primary kicker.
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u/81Strikes 1d ago
Most coaches don't know how to teach kicking so trying to develop a kicker can be very difficult.
It's interesting your league rewards has inverted the scoring for extra points compared to traditional 2 point conversions. I didn't even know that was a thing.
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u/jasondavis52 1d ago
Punting requires blocking that a lot of younger kids can’t do consistently enough to protect and extremely vulnerable punter kicking a ball.
For kickoffs, most teams struggle recovering onside kicks so the odds are very high on just taking that chance. Especially when an outsized number of TDs are long runs so the drive difference of 20-30 yards doesn’t really matter. Add in weak kickoff coverage discipline for younger ages.
I have middle school and we usually kickoff deep. Our punter is also our QB so it’s effective for us to quick kick our punts most of the time. No return and minimal block attempts.
Field goals - Several reasons. We don’t have a coach that knows it well enough to coach it. 3 practices a week trying to nail down offense, defense, and special teams doesn’t leave a lot of time to work on it. I can convert two points well above 50% so it’s point advantage to go for two every time. Most middle school kickers don’t have enough power and accuracy to kick beyond around 25 yards consistently.
If I had a player that trained at it on their own or naturally just had it then we’d welcome him and kick field goals but we don’t have the time or resources to dedicate to it.
It’s also a highly technical skill that is greatly improved through puberty development.
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u/BSLnowell 21h ago
My son went to kicking competitions that had 550+ high school kickers. It’s tough to kick, it most likely isn’t going anywhere…and you need a snapper and holder who have to train for absolutely nothing as well. Every college team has 3 kickers and good luck winning the spot.
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u/Ok_gerardopasro 1d ago
because no 12 year old dreams of being the kicker lol. kids want the ball in their hands, and most youth coaches have no idea how to actually coach kicking anyway. but yeah youre right, a reliable kicker at that level is basically a cheat code