Prospect Benchmarks
- Most important part of college exposure process is knowing how good you are. Knowing your value to a college coach will make your recruiting process simpler and more effective.
- These are kicking practice distances and hang times that you should be able to achieve on a calm, warm day, with decent, broken-in leather football, in the summer before your senior season of high school.
Kicker
Division 1:
- 55+ yard field goal range off the ground. 60+ FG range off a 1-inch block.
- 70+ yard kickoff range off a 1-inch kickoff tee.
- Solid fundamentals. Good ball rotation and height on kicks.
- Many division one scholarship athletes can kick 60+ yard field goals off the ground. If your range is closer to 55, you are more likely to be a walk-on candidate.
Division 1 scholarship kicker Tucker McCann’s skills video – Filmed in July prior to his junior season in high school. Tucker received a full scholarship to University of Missouri.
Division 2:
- 50+ yard field goal range off the ground. 55+ FG range off a 1-inch block.
- 65+ yard kickoff range off a 1-inch tee.
- Solid fundamentals. Good ball rotation and height on the kicks.
- Since division 2 schools can offer anywhere between few thousand dollars and a full scholarship, closer you are to division 1 standards, bigger your scholarship will be.
Division 2 scholarship kicker Parker Blust’s skills video – filmed in July prior to his senior season in high school. Parker received a partial scholarship to Northwood University in Michigan.
Division 3:
- 45+ yard field goal range off the ground. 50+ FG range off a 1-inch block.
- 60+ yard kickoff average off a 1-inch tee. Being able to kick off directionally and execute pop up kickoffs.
- Good enough fundamentals and good work ethic.
- Since division 3 schools do not offer athletic scholarships, prospects are offered financial packages based on their skill level, in combination with their academics, and/or family financial need.
Division 3 kicker/punter Zach Lichosik’s skills video – filmed in July before his senior season in high school. Zach is attending University of Wisconsin – Whitewater.
NAIA Schools:
- Similar standards to Division 2 NCAA schools
- Like division 2 schools, NAIA schools can give scholarships of any amount to athletes – ranging from few thousand dollars to a full scholarship.
Punter
Division 1:
- Ability to hit 50+ yard punts from a line of scrimmage with 4.7+ second hang times
- Top high school punters in the country are able to hit 5.0+ second hang times. There is a huge difference in consistency among punters. Some guys have really strong legs with acceptable consistency, while others have adequate leg strength with outstanding consistency.
- Good hands are a must. Between catching the snap and foot punting the ball, the punter has only 1.15 to 1.3 seconds. Total operation time including the snap is around 2.1 seconds in college
Division 2:
- Ability to hit 45+ yard punts from the line of scrimmage with 4.4+ second hang times on at least 5 out of 10 punts.
- Some division 2 punters are able to hit hang times of close to 5.0 seconds. Those athletes will receive larger scholarships. Sometimes division 2 schools place a lower priority on punting, not even giving any scholarship money to a punter. They find the best punter they have on the team and live with it. This is why division 2 punting can resemble NFL-level at one college and high school level at another.
- Good hands are a must.
Division 3:
- Ability to hit 40+ yard punts from a line of scrimmage with 4.0+ second hang times on at least 5 out of 10 punts.
- Since snapping and protection at division 3 level are not as good as some of the bigger schools, punters who can punt the ball quickly and/or can roll out punt (rugby style) are more valuable.