This weeks progress
For this week I worked on some final touches on my project and also was able to make a 60 yard field goal to prove I was able to accomplish my goal. This week I’ve done less kicking and more working on the final touches on my project. Even after this project is over I am going to keep kicking because I have been making some great progress and my motivation recently has been at an all time high. Hopefully over the summer I can get into better contact with college coaches. I really would like to get an offer from the Air Force Academy. This is one if not my top school right now. The goal for this summer is to work more on kickoffs and hit a 65 yard field goal but more importantly work on consistency of my kicks. If I could average a kickoff of about 67 yards I would be pleased. Workouts The workout schedule will stay the same for this summer. I will probably be working out even harder this summer because of the football workouts that start the first week of summer. I need to pick up on my positive eating habits because I will be burning lots of calories and I need to make sure I don’t lose a bunch of weight. Recruiting I worked on finding camps this summer to get in front of the coaches to show off my skill set. I have registered to NC State, UNC, Liberty, Duke, and Wake Forest. Getting these coaches to see me kick is crucial for recruiting. I’m still working on finding more camps the more coaches that see me the better and with the way I’ve been kicking recently I expect to be the best at all the camps I go to.
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Progress
This week I was really focusing on getting video for the final product. I was not feeling too good the day I went out to kick so I was only able to hit a 57 yarder that day. I worked on punting a lot this week. My drop has gotten much worse over the course of this project because of how much I have been kicking field goals. This project has made me realize that I can never focus on one thing at a time with kicking. I need to be balancing all of them if I want to continue kicking. Kickoffs are the same way except they have gotten better over the course of this project. I think this is caused by the ball contact work that I have been doing recently. My strike has gotten higher on the ball and this helps me drive it. My plant foot has also spaced out which has helped me get a cleaner swing with more power (not getting cramped up with a close plant). Working out Workouts have been structured differently by design. I am transitioning into a heavy weight 10x2 set count on a lot of my workouts. This is helping me bulk better to gain more muscle. With these lifts I keep doing workouts that are explosive to help kicking just the weight is more. The low weight workouts were just to help me get back into my rhythm. Future plans My plans for next week is to get a technical breakdown of my swing and some things I have improved on. I will also get some benchmarks for my workouts so I can track my maxes over the course of my bulk. Next week after the technical break down I plan to get my 60 yard field goal made and have video for it. This weeks progress
This week I was finishing up on getting lots of video to present. I am nearly done with the project. I have completed my goal and more. During this week I was reached out to from the coaches at Wake Forest for game film and a transcript. This is my first college attention I’ve gotten and later that day I was also followed by the special teams coach at Air Force Academy. This was a huge confidence booster so this week I worked the hardest on kicking as I have ever done before. I kicked for probably 15 hours this week to get more film to send out to coaches. The film I worked on was continuous film that was constantly rolling college coaches like these types of videos because they show consistency. I did very little kicks over 50 yards but next week I plan to get the final video of my project and make a kick from 60 yards out. In my videos now you will notice that there is no block. I normally kick off the ground during the off season. My punting has gotten much better and I am finding myself a more well rounded kicker. I went from mainly being a place kicker last year to doing all three. Being able to punt and kickoff is super important if you have aspirations of making it to the next level. Workouts Working out this week went smooth. I am starting to make the transition to heavier weight to put on more muscle. My rep count will also decrease and I have started to incorporate more Olympic lifts to become more explosive when I kick. The workouts this week were focused on heavy arms and core. Working out/ weight gain This week I worked more on working out than kicking. I have been eating four meals a day to bulk. So far I have gained about 10 pounds since the start of this project which is really good. This week in the gym I have been hitting heavy quads and calves. This has been helping with my swing intensity and velo. I still feel weak when I workout though the weight moves much slower than it used to but even after 6 workouts I can already feel a difference in my lifts. I have been trying to use my bands for legs but I have not been doing it as much as I would like because I get caught up in my normal workout. Recruiting I have had an exciting week recruiting wise. I was followed by the special teams analyst at Arkansas, Wisconsin, and Virginia Tech. This has made my mindset flip from a kicking stand point. Some of my film now will be longer videos of me making field goals over and over to show consistency to college coaches. I have also done some research on some of my top schools like Duke, UNC, and Air Force. UNC and Duke are both looking for a punter in the class of 2023. I have also been working on signing up for college camps to show my skill set in front of college coaches not through a screen. My plan for this week is to put together a really good film to post on twitter. During these videos I will be tagging college coaches. I have learned that this is the way to get college attention. A key that I am lacking right now is posting multiple times a week. I am not very active on twitter yet but I plan to triple what I am doing right now. On the Edge of Failure
This was our last week of football and we played west Forsyth as a finale. We beat West 63-14! This week was full of mixed emotions because I played one of the best football games of my life but also found out my ankle was and had been fractured for the past 2 months. During a lacrosse game a couple of weeks ago I rolled my ankle and thought it was nothing major, just a little swollen but about 6 weeks later I went to get an x-ray to find out I had a convulsion fracture. Because of how long ago it happened I was cleared to play the next day and during this game I went 9/9 and missed one fg which was from 50 yards out (this kick was right down the middle and 9/10 times I made it from 50). I also went about 60 percent on my kickoffs this season with a punt average of around 45. This was the perfect way to end the season but now the only thing I am thinking about is junior season and working on my recruiting profile. Offseason plans During the off season I plan to work on making a name for myself and getting incontact with college coaches so when the time comes I can hopefully get an offer to play football at their school. This offseason I am also going to work hard in the gym and the kitchen to continue gaining weight. Last night I weighed in at 180 which is still less than I used to weigh but I am gaining on my mark of 190 and eventually 200. My workouts are going to start transitioning to bulk so I can put on more muscle. I will also incorporate more explosive workouts to activate my quads to help with kicking. Progress
During week 6 I started to kick a little worse than I have in the past weeks. During week 6 we played East Forsyth where I missed an extra point which is relatively rare for me. When I would make ball contact it sounded like a slap which meant my contact was way too low on my foot and I was making contact with my toes. Some things I can do to improve this fault is work on my starting position to the ball to make sure my plant foot gives me room to swing and make contact with the metatarsal. On Saturday of week six I did some kicking practice at the old high school to try to get back into my rhythm but something still felt off. My contact on the ball was much better but my swing was very stiff and I could barely make a 55 yarder this week. I have had some issues with my kickoffs this week. My plant foot is too far back making me sky all my kicks and make them land around the 5 yard line (this isn’t good). Hopefully next week I can get back into the rhythm with some light band work to make me feel more open when I kick rather than stiff. Working out Working out has become hard to do. Almost all of my free time goes into helping my Grandma with chores around the house that she can’t do. Some things that have stayed consistent is my diet. I have certain protein and calorie marks that I try to hit everyday so I can still gain healthy weight even if I'm not working out. My workouts when I do them are less power lifting and more machines. I find with these machines I am able to get more of a pump without having the normal stress on my joints. progress
This week we were going to play Glenn but the game was canceled due to weather. This week during practice I was kicking and punting very well. My body position while I kick has created some inconsistencies with things like accuracy and my follow through. This is something I have always had issues with and it seems to be more severe now that the past couple of years. A good way to explain what I mean by body position is where I am leaning when I kick the ball and where my follow through step ends up. My position when I kick the ball is a heavy lean left with a follow through step almost horizontal of my plant foot. This is not good at all. I think this inconsistency is the reason 90% percent of the football I miss are left. Some things I can do to fix this are getting more core more involved and staying vertical when I kick the ball while also using my swing to carry me down the field. Using my core will help me create a balance when I kick so I can stay vertical while still generating as much force to hit the ball with. My swing when working without a tee was terrible. I was swinging down. This means my ball won’t get the height that I would with a normal kick. Working out I bought a workout band to help get faster leg speed. I learned this from a kicker committed to ASU. I have already seen some improvements with my ball and leg speed. Having fast leg speed makes up for a lot of inconsistencies you might have. I have started to work out a little less and I think this might continue because of school work and football practice. My progress
This week was not as exciting as the last because there were no major accomplishments. This week I just kept working hard. I got into week two of my workout routine. The game this week was average as well I went about 60 percent on my touchbacks this is becoming normal for me. In one game this year I kicked more touchbacks than I did all of last year. This week during practice I stuck with my roots and did heavy technique work making sure the fine details are still prevalent in my swing. Something I noticed is that a lot of the balls I kicked were hugging the left upright and when I missed a deep field goal It was left. I think this is the result of my plant foot being too close and hitting the right panel of the ball rather than the seam. This is a relatively easy fix. I just need to be more direct with my swing to keep my foot on the seam and I need to work on my shoulders getting set and having my right pec pointed to the seam. This helps with your plant foot. During the game I also noticed my get off time was slow; this resulted in a point after being blocked. Having a kick blocked is easily one of the most frustrating things to happen to a kicker. The good news is that this is a very easy fix. I just need to work with my snapper and holder to get a rhythm down. Working out/ Weight update I am slowly but surely building up in weight again. I checked in at 178 after my workout. This is good progress. I plan to reach 180 by the end of this week. This would put me much closer to my threshold. My workouts this week involved more heavy band work to increase my leg speed. Insane Progress Already
At our game this week I was feeling great. I kicked multiple touchbacks and in warm ups I was able to hit a 60 yard field goal! This is a major accomplishment for me. I did not expect to make this much progress so quickly. This weekend I had another camp where I did decent. My ball contact was pretty poor for my standard and only went for kicks inside 51 yards. I have worked on ball contact but today it was a little of this that happens but is rare. The game really made up for the camp though. After I hit the 60 yard field goal I got really pumped and was so hype for the game. Starting the workouts/ Planning a Bulk This is my first week back in the gym in a couple weeks so I made sure to go lightweight and build back up to where I was. Something that I used to not incorporate enough into my workouts was core. I used to not work at all. Yesterday when I went back to gym I worked on core for a while and after the workout my legs felt like they were about to fall off and my core felt the same. Going lightweight yesterday gave me a better pump in my arms and legs. I think this is partly from the fact that I was constantly working out. I used to do a heavy set and then take a break but yesterday I went hard the whole time. At the start of january I was around 184 pounds and now I weigh around 173 this is not good at all. I believe this was from lacrosse. I had been burning more calories than I consumed. Over spring break I am going to go on a huge bulk to get back up to my weight threshold. At the end of spring break I want to be close to 190 and when the summer starts I want to be around 200. I plan to keep eating protein dense foods and eat a lot of lean meat. Fist camp of the spring (things I need to work on) This camp I performed average for me I could’ve and should have done a lot better. I came 4th in the punt of competition and went a decent 8/10 from kicks at 50 yards. I hit a lot of footballs that day and the majority of them were pretty good but my mishits meaning I didn’t make good ball contact were high spinning that I got under too much. The ball normally goes about 45 yards when this happens it isn’t the worst thing that could happen either the kicks normally go in when you do this but only from short range. Physical strength Most people glimpse over the aspect of a kicker needing to be an athlete but this is a very important aspect for making longer kicks. I have been so focused on form that I have gotten weaker and lost about 5 pounds. My goal my physical strength is to be around 190 by the end of this project and get back into a working out schedule. My core has also become very weak. For the first month of my workouts I will be using mainly bands and lighter weights to get back into the rhythm of working out. Future plans My plan for the rest of this week is to make an eating schedule and track calories so I can get to my goal weight of 190. Lacrosse has finally ended. This gives me more flexibility with my schedule to work out and practice on my own more. This week at practice I am going to practice one step to work on ball contact to eliminate mishits on the ball. My kickoffs are my weakest link when it comes to kicking, my main problem is tempo to the ball and plant foot depth. This week at practice I am going to be very technical and work on some fine details. |
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