Barefoot kickers
- Thread starter Glenn's take
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I know one who kicked for UT in the early 70's when the soccer style kicker was just beginning, which he was. He always said it gave him a better feel on the ball. He was a good kicker in college, it didn't work out for him in the league, but I think he was AA at UT.
With kickers being a little odd, I think it's because he started kicking barefoot and didn't have the confidence with a shoe.
The messes me up about it is that they wouldn't have both feet bare. Just the kicking foot. I've tried to walk with one shoe on and one off and it's not smooth.
That isn't the one I know. But seems like it would throw you off a little with only one shoe. The guy I know was also an all state an in Georgia, so in high school after a score he had to get his shoe off making even more odd feeling. I understand the need for the shoe on the plant foot, but like you say, seems like it would mess with your balance
My guess is that bare there wasn't material to get in the way of compressing the ball & thus reducing distance.
You can kick it further barefooted than with shoes on. The specific bone in your foot that you want to contact the ball is the hardest bone in the foot and so it doesn't hurt at all to kick barefoot, although your skin will start to sting and get irritated after 10 or so kicks. The reason most kickers don't kick barefoot is that you will not make perfect contact with the football every time. If you mis-hit the ball while kicking barefoot, it is very painful.
In the history of the NFL, there were only 9 kickers & punters who kicked barefoot. Tony Franklin came to the NFL from Texas A&M with the credentials of 65 & 64 yard goals in the same game. He played in two Super Bowls & a Pro Bowl. Rick Karlis played in the NFL fom 1982-1990.
Seems to me that compressing the ball would increase the impulse time (the time the foot is in contact with the football) which would transfer more energy into the ball. That is why a golf club shaft bends at the time of contact with a golf ball. A shaft that does not bend will not hit a ball as far as one that does.
I could be wrong, but I thought back in the 70’s or way early 80s we had a kicker on the roster who kicked barefoot but painted his foot up to look like a shoe. Not sure if he was the regular kicker or a backup, I was pretty young then so my memory is a bit foggy on it.
You'd think with only one shoe that they would just punt in circles.
Yeah, that's him, knew Ricky pretty well back in our HS days, didn't play with him but graduated same year. His first cousin was the QB at the school I attended. He was near as big as Ricky who back then looked like and still does a LB. Athletic family he had an older brother who I didn't know very well who went D1 somewhere but I don't think it was UT. But Dalton High in North Georgia has been too kind to UT, couple 3-4 AA from Dalton,went there, another who played 4 years in the NFL and 3-4 more who didn't see much time. Another from same county went there about 15 years ago and his dad disowned him. I guess it's blowed over, but Dad wasn't happy.
Def remember barefoot kickers and as a youngster I would kicker around a football barefooted. Did not like it in the winter but I could boom one around in the summer. One thing I noticed just playing around is my foot speed was much greater barefoot.
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