Now that we have beaten

[ASUMountaineer]

Until we get the Special Teams cleaned up then a complete team is not in the discussion. I like that our offense is very balanced and our defense play has improved as the competition as gotten better.

Yeah - this is the one component the '05-'07 teams had that we are sorely missing. Of course - we didn't have to punt much back then either!

Still - we turned games a few times on special teams. Michigan, obviously, and Furman '06. I agree with whoever said having all these Freshman and Redshirt Freshman coming in next year, hungry for playing time, will help tremendously. Hopefully, the kicker recruit we have coming in is the real deal, and we get rid of the rugby punts.

Sepcial teams can make such a difference in college, almost solely based on the fact that so many teams are so bad at it...and don't spend any time on it. Focusing on being good at it will give us a big edge, I think.

Not directed at you but generally speaking. The same was being said of Matics when he committed.

At no point during Matics recruitment was he ever the #8 kicker. Or offered by Penn State. Slightly different level of player IMO.

It didn't stop some from saying he was the answer. As for the #8 kicker rating. It is impressive and well deserved but I just want him to put it through the uprights. If he can do that then I don't really care what he is ranked.

I would think that's the case with any kicker.

The ranking is just a measurement.

[Black Saturday]

Hope he has a great APP career. While we are on the subject,

Who was the kicker that was coming to APP back in the late 80's early 90's, that turned out to be ALL WORLD, but never showed up?

Help me out.

Jason Elam

(AnnoyingPeasant weaves a pretty good yarn about how we recruited and eventually lost his services.)

Thanks, I couldn't remember his name.

Maybe, the Peasant can spin us his version?

[EastHallApp]

One thing with kickers ... well all recruits ... is to pay attention to how their bios are worded, especially the players' list of college suitors.

With Michael Rubino, his bio said he "drew interest from" App, Penn State and East Carolina. It didn't say he drew offers from those schools. It's possible the writer meant to say he drew offers, or it's possible the writer intentionally or unintentionally left it vague. We don't know for sure.

If I had to guess, Penn State more than likely recruited Rubino as a preferred walkon. If anyone has more definitive information (paging Firemoose), I'd be interested in hearing it.

Good catch. Having read enough recruit bios over the years, I would say they aren't worded that way by accident. Those media guys know the difference between "offered" and "recruited" or "shown interest."

The important point, though, is that Rubino is ranked highly and by all accounts considered a good prospect.

[firemoose]

One thing with kickers ... well all recruits ... is to pay attention to how their bios are worded, especially the players' list of college suitors.

With Michael Rubino, his bio said he "drew interest from" App, Penn State and East Carolina. It didn't say he drew offers from those schools. It's possible the writer meant to say he drew offers, or it's possible the writer intentionally or unintentionally left it vague. We don't know for sure.

If I had to guess, Penn State more than likely recruited Rubino as a preferred walkon. If anyone has more definitive information (paging Firemoose), I'd be interested in hearing it.

Rubino held an PWO offer from Penn State and was drawing heavy interest from ECU, who was planning a visit that was to come the next week before he committed. According to sources he's still been receiving a lot of interest for other schools but was very happy with the commit to App and was planning all along to enroll early. Just had to make sure everything was set. Staff is very happy he is coming in early as most big schools don't offer kickers until later in Jan, as they see the ships they are going to have available. They wanted him here to lessen the chance of losing him. They think very highly of him.

[MDaniels84]

I also remember fondly one Bjorn Nittmo when he was kicking at App. Made the David Letterman show when he was a rookie with the NY Giants if I remember correctly. Bjorn could boom it.

[appbanker]

I also remember fondly one Bjorn Nittmo when he was kicking at App. Made the David Letterman show when he was a rookie with the NY Giants if I remember correctly. Bjorn could boom it.

I remember several times he put it through the uprights on a kick off, and that was when they kicked from farther back.

[bigdaddyg]

We had another strong kicker back in the mid to late 80's who could boom kicks. If I am not mistaken he made close to a 50 yarder in WS to beat Wake. I was at the game. It was about 100 years ago so I could be making stuff up. LOL