AlferdJasper
Well-Known Member
I think experience. His first year I think he felt the pressure to live up to the expectations of all of his friends who remember how good he was in high school and the new fans and he had tough breaks with hitting posts and let the first misses get to his head. Second year he felt like he needed to redeem himself and let that pressure get to his head. It is now his senior year, he is older and hopefully more mature. He knows (and we know) he has the ability to make it from anywhere and I think he will put the past behind him and have the right amount of confidence and focus to have a strong senior campaign and help his team win some games.
I hope I'm right, but if not I hope one of the other guys can step up and make some kicks for us. We desperately need our special teams to improve.
Fair enough. You might add in there that we don't know when his hip started bothering him, and in the best outcome, the surgery is like TommyJohn for kickers: makes him stronger.
Here's the best case scenario IMHO.
Goodman finally finds his mojo and is starter at Field Goals. I don't care if he hits another 20 posts, as long as 19 of 'em go IN. Let him finish out as a senior with 75% success rate.
Marcus Kirkwood should get a shot at kickoffs. He's a big guy, powerful leg, and he's patiently waited a year already for his chance. Let him kick. Don't pull another Aweida.
Castor red-shirts, as he should.
Feirberg hangs tough and also red-shirts to put on some weight.
Grossnickle concentrates on punting.
Next year, with two guys graduated, you've got Grossnickle, Castor, Feirberg (and any walkon or freshmen yet to be recruited) and all three of them were combo guys in high school.
They can all compete for everything all over again, but with a little maturity and experience.