Ed Orgeron Is Opening Up The Competition At Kickoff

I don't understand. You ha e these guys at practice every day. You don't know who your best kickoff guy is yet?

The LA Tech kicker was putting them in the end zone repeatedly last week. It is possible. Glad to see O not happy with kick coverage too. They managed to do okay, but BYU came close to breaking out on a couple. It did not look good. Of course, comments on that were shouted down during the game, but O saw the film. He's not gonna Peveto this deal and keep doing the same stupid things. Glad to see him attempt improvement when needed.

I watched Gamble play in high school at Flower Mound. I saw many of his 70+ yard kicks like here LINK . The coaches weren't trying to get him to kick it to five yards from the sideline like Miles did. I get it, though, that this is a tactic in football, and it needs to be practiced, but even in the pros it happens. Good of O to reach out to a senior and give him a chance at redemption.

If this is your "must fix" after game one, your team's in a good place, IMHO.

I don't get why everyone wants it in the end zone. What happens more often: A. Return past the 50 B. Fumble/stopped short of the 25 because of coverage or penalty. It's B, and it's not even close. Drop it as close to the goal line as possible

I was going to not comment on this, but I am an idiot. I make this comment not to argue with anyone or to defend any of our kickers ( even though they are all great guys) but to give you guys some context on what everyone is wanting. Everyone wants a KO specialist who kicks it OUT OF THE ENDZONE or to the BACK OF THE ENDZONE every single time. Guys, that is a 75 yard kick. Yes, we see some guys that have that leg and can do that with their "A" ball....but that is not their average. Do you know how many kickers each year coming out of HS can average a 75 yard ball in the elite camps? A true 75 yard average. Less than 10....seriously. A 70 yard guys plants it in the middle of the end zone. Now this is usually good enough to avoid a return. How many of those are out there? True 70 yard averages? Probably your next 10. My point is simply this....the key to any good kicker is repeatability. To know what a guy will do when you call on him. Kicking is very precise...the sweet spot on a ball is about a 1 inch square. The slightest deviation in contact gives a multitude of different results. Kickers are like golfers....they can get into swing funks. We have 3 guys on roster than each have the leg to get touchbacks. The strongest leg is Gamble, but candidly, Les and BDP screwed his muscle memory up so bad it ain't even funny. Culp's short kicks against BYU surprised me, but it is likely a small swing flaw that the special teams coach can help him with......oh wait, we do not have one. Kickers are just given balls and told to go kick while everyone else gets real coaching. Jack has done it and can do it, as well. However, none of these guys are 75 yard average guys.....nor are they 70 yard average guys. They will hit some close and a few longer, but they will hit several short. Now, to CEO credit, he does have an offer out to a kid from class of 2019 who charts a solid 68 yard average. Currently ranked in Top 5 of al HS kickers. He is gonna get strong the next couple years. He will be a solid 70+ yard guy. I hope we get him, but OK has their sights on him also.

This reminds me. What is the kicker who kicked the ball out of bounds bama 2014 game doing today?

Somebody at LSU can kick into the end zone. I mean anyone. He should have open tryouts

I'm just glad he is trying to fix it. Miles would have let it go till it hurt them in a game.

How is the staff into the first game before realizing they can't kickoff??? Luckily, this is a relatively easy fix.

Finally!

At least we know he wants them in the endzone, just like the fans.

They have at least a game to try Gamble out again.

how hard would it be to go find a soccer play on campus with a big leg and get him to kick the shite out of the ball off a tee. It can't be that hard to find guys that can do that relatively simple task.

Gamble?? He's had 3 yrs of futility including too many Kickoffs out of bounds. Maybe as a senior he's better, I hope.