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Congrats to client @SamMartin_6 to being named NFC Specials Teams Player of Week #BOOM. First time Lions punter has been named NFC Special Teams Player of Week @SamMartin_6 #BOOM BOOM!
Great article on client in Baltimore Sun this morning. Check out the link below/
For Ravens' Tucker, it's power — and privilege http://t.co/JFFxfAH6JG
— Aaron Wilson (@RavensInsider) September 6, 2013
Congrats to client Jeff Braun for signing w the Miami Dolphins today. Jeff is an offensive center and guard. He was previously with the Baltimore Ravens.
There are a few spots remaining for this Friday’s RSR Sports Football Clinic LLC. Be sure to sign up and not miss the opportunity to attend an awesome camp, as well as meet NFL players Tanner Purdum and Justin Tucker! Sign up here: http://rsrsports.com/footballclinic/index.php
Justin Tucker threw out the first pitch at the Orioles game tonight against the Red Sox. It was a perfect strike right down the middle. The Orioles fitted Justin with his own number 9 jersey for the occasion.
http://t.co/uXPG7C3mEt
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
