Maher knows draft is hit-or-miss for kickers

By Rich Kaipust / World-Herald Bureau

LINCOLN — Rob Roche’s personal opinion is that Brett Maher will go somewhere in the late rounds of the NFL draft — that his strong leg, good workouts and high ceiling will entice somebody or other next weekend.

But the New Jersey-based agent said the future of the former Nebraska kicker is hardly riding on it, and uses one of his own clients to make that point.

Justin Tucker watched seven rounds go by last year without one NFL team wanting to waste a pick on him. The former University of Texas kicker settled for signing later with Baltimore, and went on to make 30 of 33 field goals and have a playoff game-winner as the Ravens won the Super Bowl.

“I kind of expected him to go free agent last year, and we knew where he wanted to go,” said Roche, head of RSR Sports Management. “It worked out perfectly because we got him where he wanted to be.”

Roche said it’s never easy to forecast how many kickers will get drafted, and this year is no different.

Four were picked last April, and this class has the depth and potential to be about the same. But only one kicker was drafted in 2011 — Nebraska’s Alex Henery by Philadelphia in the fourth round — and none the year before.

Overall, 22 kickers have been selected in the last 10 drafts. But half of the NFL’s 32 teams haven’t taken one in that time.

That’s where the guessing game comes into play for Maher, the two-time All-Big Ten kicker who followed Henery at NU.

“There are teams that obviously you can tell (might draft a kicker) based upon their performance of last year,” Roche said. “But there’s always that one or two teams that you don’t think about sometimes that will make a switch.”

NFLDraftScout.com and DraftCountdown.com have Maher ranked behind Dustin Hopkins of Florida State and Caleb Sturgis of Florida with the seven-round, three-day draft starting Thursday. NFLDraftScout.com has Maher and the three kickers ranked just below him projected as either seventh-round picks or free-agent signees.

“I do believe, based on how he’s worked out, that he gets drafted,” Roche said.

Roche said a handful of teams have visited Lincoln in recent weeks to work out Maher. Those have gone well, and come on the heels of Maher being at the NFL Combine in February and kicking a 60-yard field goal during NU’s pro day last month.

“We’ve had some good workouts with teams that will be drafting guys,” Roche said. “We’re not going to say who, but teams that we probably think are going to draft a guy.”

Two other things Roche likes about Maher is that he’s the only one of the top three prospects who has kicked in bad weather and the only one who handled both the place-kicking and punting duties for his college team.

Maher had 243 leg swings last season with field goals (27), extra points (59), kickoffs (96) and punts (61). At the NFL level, the experience as a punter will only be a bonus to some team.

“You let that kid focus on just field goals and kickoffs, you’re going to have another Justin Tucker, another top guy in the league,” Roche said.

Roche also said it can’t hurt that several former Nebraska kickers (Henery, Josh Brown, Kris Brown) and punters (Sam Koch, Kyle Larson) have had success in the NFL in recent years. Roche also represents Josh Brown and had Larson as a client.

However it works, Roche feels good that Maher will make the most of whatever chance he gets.

“He’s a gamer,” Roche said. “He’s a cool customer.”

Contact the writer:
402-444-1042, rich.kaipust@owh.com, twitter.com/RKaipustOWH

Each NFF Scholar-Athlete of the Day is selected from the list of candidates for the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards, presented by Fidelity Investments. Nominated by their school as the absolute best all-around scholar-athlete on their team, 147 candidates met the high standards needed for consideration this year. As part of its effort to highlight the best of the gridiron, the NFF separately highlights each of these 147 candidates on its website. These outstanding individuals must be a senior or graduate student in their final year of eligibility, have a GPA of at least 3.2 on a 4.0 scale, have outstanding football ability as a first team player or significant contributor, and have demonstrated strong leadership and citizenship.

Jeff Braun
West Virginia
Offensive Lineman
Westminster, Md.
Physical Education Teaching
3.21 GPA

Additional Information:
2012 Academic All-Big 12
2012 Big 12 Honor Roll
2012 Senior CLASS Award candidate
2011 Academic All-BIG EAST
2010 Academic All-BIG EAST
Garrett Ford Academic Honor Roll member

Community Service:
Regularly visits WVU Children’s Hospital; Participates in activities with Parkersburg Boys and Girls Club and in the “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” event to fight domestic violence; Speaks to local schools about importance of education and to stay away from drugs and alcohol; Volunteered with the Stepping Stones program, geared toward children with disabilities.

For the original link:
http://www.footballfoundation.org/News/NewsDetail/tabid/567/Article/53442/jeff-braun-nff-scholar-athlete-of-the-day-presented-by-fidelity-investments.aspx

by Aaron Wilson of Scout.com, April 11, 2013 at 3:50 pm ET

Appalachian State All-American punter and kickoff specialist Sam Martin has had official top-30 visits with the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings, according to a league source with knowledge of the situation.

The 6-foot-1, 205-pounder is known for his leg strength and ability to place the football adeptly.

Last season, Martin was a first-team Associated Press All-American selection and named National Punter of the Year by College Football Performance Awards and first-team All-Southern Conference.

Martin averaged 45.9 yards on 60 pounts last season with six touchbacks, 29 fair catches, 25 downed inside opponents’ 20-yard lines and 14 of 50 yards or more.

He averaged 63.1 yards on 71 kickoffs with 45 touchbacks.

He also made 7 of 10 field goals, working in tandem with Drew Stewart.

Martin has earned All-Southern Conference and All-American notice.

As a junior, he averaged 40.9 yards per punt. As a sophomore, he averaged 39.2 yards per punt as 51.7 percent of his punts were fair caught and 31.7 percent downed inside opponents’ 20-yard line and 15 percent not returned at all.

He was an All-Southern Conference freshman selection as he averaged 40.0 yards on 52 punts with 17 fair caught and 36.4 percent downed inside opponents’ 20-yard line.

He played one year of high school football growing up in Fayetteville, Ga., where he was a four-year soccer letterman who earned all-state recognition once and lettered twice in basketball.

Martin is a Dean’s List student and on the Southern COnference academic honor roll.

His father, Tom Martin, played soccer, basketball and baseball at Central Michigan and his sisters, Alice and Lucy, played soccer at Furman.

For more coverage of the NFL, go to profootball.scout.com.

To view the original article: http://profootball.scout.com/a.z?s=127&p=9&c=2&cid=1282802&nid=6806211&fhn=1

Sam Martin says his NFL future is in punting and kickoffs

Like most kickers and punters, Sam Martin had an accomplished soccer career before football.

In fact, Martin had accepted a soccer scholarship to Georgia State following his junior season in high school in the state of Georgia.

He joined the football team for kicks (no pun intended) his senior season and excelled. Appalachian State came calling following the season, offering Martin a scholarship after he averaged 69 yards per kickoff in the first year he ever played football.

Following a redshirt season, Martin was moved to punter and exclusively handled the team’s punting and kickoff duties for the next four years.

Interestingly, Martin had never punted until he got to college. It was only after booming a few just messing around in practices that coaches switched him over.

“It’s turning more into a common trend (for punters to handle kickoff duties) in the NFL,” Martin said. “Just because the field goal kickers are such a valuable position and some of those guys are deadly accurate, but might not be able to hit kickoffs to the back of the end zone. It’s a trend you’re going to see more of.”

When it came to punting, Martin ranked third nationally in the FCS (Division 1-AA) with a 45.9-yard punting average last season. Twenty-five of his 60 punts were downed inside the opponent’s 20 yard line, which set a school record and helped the Mountaineers rank second nationally with a 40.8-yard net punting average.

As a kickoff specialist, he averaged 63.1 yards per kick with 45 touchbacks in 71 kickoffs in 2012.

Martin also made 7-of-10 field goals last year after replacing a teammate, but he says his NFL future is in punting and kickoffs.

The Lions signed punter Blake Clingan this offseason, but it was always believed there would be a competition in camp to win the job. Clingan doesn’t have much experience kicking off.

The team did sign kicker David Akers this offseason, who had 40 touchbacks last year with the 49ers, ranking him in the top 10 in the NFL.

Martin said that upon hearing the Lions had signed Akers, he started working on holding field goals from the opposite side because Akers is left-footed.

“I’ve found that’s its not too different,” Martin said. “I think the biggest difference is just holding it with your right and spinning it with your left. Most of the time, NFL snappers give you the laces anyways so you don’t have to spin it. I’m getting better at it and I’m not too worried about it.”

Martin said his biggest asset when punting is controlling the ball, whether it’s hitting a high ball, a line drive or placing it in a certain spot.

“If I had to say one thing I’d say hang time,” Martin said. “But I just think I have really good ball control.”

Tim Twentyman
Lead Writer

Read the article at:http://www.detroitlions.com/news/lions-insider/article-1/Safety-Cody-Davis-and-specialist-Sam-Martin-visit-the-Lions-Thursday/4d8cf08e-fe47-4626-8a4d-cef5e810fca7

The New York Giants confirmed the signing of former Bengals kicker Josh Brown on Wednesday in a move that officially ends the Lawrence Tynes era with the Super Bowl XLVI champions.

Brown, 33, has had stints with the Seahawks, Rams and Bengals during his 10-year NFL career. Brown connected on 11 of 12 field goal attempts in 2012 for Cincinnati after replacing injured kicker Mike Nugent in December. Brown has few qualms about kicking in the high winds and inclement weather late in the season at the Meadowlands.

“I did real well in Cincinnati last year and I did real well in Seattle. I practice in the rain and wind a lot,” Brown said, via the New York Daily News. “It’s something you’ve got to get used to and learn how to kind of manipulate it. So, (it’s) learning how to deal with it.”

Brown connected on 18 of 24 field goals from 40 to 49 yards over the last three seasons and 4 of 8 from 50 yards and beyond. By comparison, Tynes hit 17 of 27 from 40 yards and beyond during that span. On kicks of at least 50 yards, Tynes went 4 of 9.

“He (Brown) is an experienced, proven kicker in this league,” Giants general manager Jerry Reese told the Daily News. “He will bring a lot of opportunities to score from a great distance.”

By Matt Rybaltowski

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/blog/eye-on-football/21867943/giants-sign-josh-brown-to-replace-lawrence-tynes

New York Jets Longsnapper, Tanner Purdum has agreed to a two year deal to remain with the team.

That’s because Purdum for the past three seasons has been pur-fect, at least as far as looking upside down through his legs and putting the ball fast and true through a small window snap after snap.

He’s played in 55 games as a Jet, including three playoff games in 2010, and has made 488 snaps, 275 on punts and 213 on placements. Not one of the 488 has skipped to his holder or sailed over his punter’s head.

Even though the NFL’s snapping quality seems about as high as its placekicking quality, snaps do go awry and thus get charged as fumbles to the snapper and rushes for no yards to the player who ends up with the peripatetic pigskin. Purdum’s been charged with no fumbles in his three seasons, and the only times a punter or holder took off with the ball, it was on purpose instead of out of self-preservation.

The last mishandled Jets mis-snap, whether due to snapper or holder, that we can recall was when James Dearth fired a field goal snap to holder Steve Weatherford back in Week 6 of the 2009 season against the Bills.

By Randy Lange
http://blog.newyorkjets.com/2013/03/18/long-and-short-of-todays-snap-re-signing/

Brett made all 10 of the 10 field goals he attempted for scouts on Thursday. This comes after he made 14 of 15 kicks at the NFL combine.

The Kearney native kicked for about a half hour for scouts.

“I’m kicking really well right now,” Maher said. “I kicked well today, kicked well at the combine. Kicked off really well today. Put a couple back on the endline. Just feel good about how the ball is coming off my foot.”

By Brian Christopherson

http://journalstar.com/sports/huskers/life-in-the-red/pro-day-rex-compton-maher-all-smiles/article_bc9a2dce-8778-11e2-8fc1-001a4bcf887a.html

Click on the link below to see an interview with Brett about his Pro Day and his experience at the NFL Combine.
Nebraska Pro Day – Brett Maher

Appalachian State’s Sam Martin continued to rake in accolades earlier this week when he was awarded the 2012 College Football Performance Awards’ NCAA Division I FCS Punter Award on Monday.

The award is the latest in a long list of postseason honors for Martin. In addition to the CFPA Punter Award, Martin was also named first-team All-America by the Associated Press, third-team all-America by The Sports Network and was a unanimous first-team all-Southern Conference selection by the league’s coaches and media.

The senior ranked third nationally with a 45.9-yard punting average in 2012, which was good for second in Appalachian State history behind only Harold Alexander’s 47.3-yard average in 1991.

Twenty-five of Martin’s 60 punts were downed inside the opponent’s 20 yard line in 2012, which set a school record for punts downed inside the 20 and helped the Mountaineers rank second nationally with a 40.8-yard net punting average. The senior also excelled as Appalachian’s kickoff specialist (averaging 63.1 yards with 45 touchbacks in 71 kickoffs) and place-kicker (making 7-of-10 field goals, including the final five of the season).

He is the fourth Mountaineer to be named the nation’s top player at his position by the CFPA, joining quarterback DeAndre Presley and safety Mark LeGree in 2010 and wide receiver Brian Quick in 2011.

By Staff Reports

http://www2.wataugademocrat.com/Sports/story/Martin-named-top-punter-by-CFPA-id-010056

LAWRENCE — Calling Kale Pick the biggest surprise of Kansas’ fall camp would be a classic left-handed compliment, because it implies a certain level of skepticism about whether a converted quarterback from Dodge City can become a bona fide playmaker at wide receiver.

After seeing Pick make a diving, left-handed grab earlier in camp, though, his teammates understand they shouldn’t be surprised by anything.

“I remember firing a ball in a tight window and him falling out of bounds, making a one-handed, left-handed catch, and he’s a right-handed wide receiver,” quarterback Dayne Crist said. “He’s jumping out of the gym on one of them, going up for a post and really climbing the ladder to go up and get a ball that was a pretty high ball that he had to stretch out for.

“He’s doing things like this every single day.”

That’s why, two weeks into fall camp, coach Charlie Weis is comfortable making the following statement about Pick:

“If I had to rate the performances in camp, he would rate one,” Weis said. And, to reiterate: “Out of 105 guys, the first guy I would put out there if I were rating performances in camp would be him.”

Weis isn’t basing this assessment on hustle, grit, determination or any of the intangibles often assigned to seniors from Kansas. Pick possesses those traits, too — “He’s just a guy you want on your team,” Weis remembers telling an NFL scout — but his ability to catch a football is what impressed Weis in training camp.

“He has great work ethic, but there’s a lot of guys who have great work ethics,” Weis said. “He’s made plays. It’s always great when a wide receiver makes plays.”

Pick isn’t offended if teammates are caught off guard by his athleticism. The playmaking ability isn’t something he suddenly acquired, but KU’s new offense has given him a chance to show what he can do.

“I just think I’ve had the opportunity to make plays this camp, and I’ve made the most of them,” Pick said.

Big plays were rare for KU’s offense last year, but Pick posted steady production — 34 receptions, 344 yards — in his first full season as a wide receiver.

Playing in Weis’ pro-style scheme this year, Pick has the flexibility to line up almost anywhere on the field depending on the formation, which could create more favorable matchups.

“What I really like in this offense is that I can line up at the inside receiver (or) I can line up at outside receiver,” Pick said. “If we go with five wide receivers, I can line up at the most inner (position) where a tight end could, or I could just change at multiple positions on the field.”

“A lot of guys look at him and you don’t really know what to expect,” Crist said, “but his athleticism is definitely up there.”

By Austin Meek
THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Full article available at: http://cjonline.com/sports/2012-08-13/wideout-weis-no-1-pick

MORGANTOWN -
Dream chasers lined up last week at West Virginia’s Caperton Indoor Facility for their chance to make an impression on National Football League scouts.

Jeff Braun was among them.

The 6-foot-5, 316-pound offensive lineman who was a jack-of-all-trades for WVU in his career ran through all of the tests in an effort to show the NFL exactly what type of player he could be at the next level, despite the fact that he is currently flying under many of the teams’ radars.

He and fellow linemen Josh Jenkins and Joe Madsen worked out in a variety of drills together, showcasing their blocking ability and their footwork while trying to leave a lasting image or time or lift in the minds of the league decision makers who watched them.

“You really want to perform well here and for a guy like me, a pro day was my only opportunity,” Braun said after his workout. “I didn’t get a chance to go to the Combine, so you circled this date and you knew what it was about, so every day of training, you focused on this. This was my Combine, so to be able to come here and execute the way I did, I was quite happy.”

Braun led all of the Mountaineers who worked out in the bench press, lifting 225 pounds 29 times, but he was more concerned leading up to the big day in proving his athleticism than his strength.

“The biggest knock on me was my athleticism and they didn’t think I could move very well,” he says. “I had to show them that and I think I did. I leaned up and I went out to prove that, look, I’m an athlete, too.”

That athlete was clocked at a 5.26 seconds in the 40-yard dash, while running the three-cone drill in 7.75 seconds and the 20-yard shuttle in 4.75.

Those numbers don’t typically tell the whole story of an offensive linemen, though. A position that requires such an understanding of the entire game and the ability to work as a unit with those on either side of you cannot be graded simply on what a player did in testing.

With that in mind, Braun believes he has the sort of experience that can help out a team as he played all but one position along the offensive line in his college career.

A year ago, his former teammate, Don Barclay, showed NFL scouts the same trait and it paid off with a camp invite from the Green Bay Packers and an eventual starting position by the season’s end. Braun is hopeful he can find similar success with his own versatility.

“That’s what I wanted to show and that’s the biggest selling point I have,” he says. “We created a highlight tape with my agent and we sent it out, it’s broken down into all four positions that I’ve played and have game film on. That’s what I tell scouts, I mean, look, I can play whatever you want me to play. It doesn’t matter, it’s not going to frazzle me to play that. That’s why when we did o-line drills today, I made sure I got some snaps in, I put a right hand stance down, I put a left hand stance down to show my versatility with that.”

It could very well pay off in teams’ interest in him, but Braun knows that his own path to the NFL will not be as easy as some may desire. In talks with his agent, he has heard that he could be anywhere from a late round draft choice to an undrafted free agent, but regardless of when and where he lands, he knows that will just be the beginning of his journey.

“Really, you could be a third, fourth, fifth round draft pick and get cut in camp on how you perform,” says Braun. “So all I want to do is get the opportunity to get to camp and once I get there, it’s a different game.”

But it’s the game of football that Braun loves. His hope is to make an impression in the coming months and begin what can be a solid professional career before the small window of an average NFL football player closes for him. After that, he’d like to continue working with the sport as a coach or in some other capacity.

Until then, he stays positive and he remains confident in himself and his abilities in the pro game. “This game’s serious,” Braun says. “You better show people that you believe in yourself and you have confidence in yourself to perform and I have that.”

Posted by Geoff Coyle

Full article available at: http://www.wvillustrated.com/story/21663423/jeff-braun-confident-working-for-nfl-future