Saw elsewhere Matt Ruffalo will return for his 6th(Covid) year so UK keeps an experienced kicker. Good move.
Ruffalo returning
- Thread starter mrschwump
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Low key big news. Also, UK has way too many K/P on scholarship. Not sure how that is going to shake out, but the numbers are way off.
We have to be towards the tops in the country at having specialist on scholarship. It's pretty crazy
I'm sure one of them will be kicked to the curb by the time August rolls around...
Three is a lot and right now, Kentucky is scheduled to have FIVE headed into the 2022 season.
PK Ruffalo - Super Senior
PK Poore - Senior
PK/P Smith - Freshman
P Berry - Sophmore (or RS Fresh)
Am I missing anybody? is Goodfellow returning too? Is Graham Wald on Scholly? Is he any good?
Well, I don't think anyone expected Ruffalo to return, but glad he is so we don't have to either throw the freshman into the fire or rely on Chance Poore for field goals (though I think he's capable as long as he has matured out of the yips that plagued him his freshman year). Goodfellow is gone and I hope Berry is recovered from whatever ailed him last year. I think it was his back. So Punter is a little up in the air unless Jackson Smith takes over that role if Berry can't. Not sure who else we have beyond that. Ruffalo and Poore will be gone after next year, unless Poore takes a super senior year. That will leave us with Jackson Smith as the lone scholarship place kicker in 2023. Seems like that would make a spot available for my nephew.
Yes. He entered the portal looking for a scholarship and UK gave him one to return.
No one anticipated the NCAA offering an extra year due to Covid. Had it not been for that UK would be on target numbers wise. After decades of a poor kicking game I'm glad UK now has these options. Beats mid-season tryouts that other schools were forced to have.
That's news I wasn't aware of. I thought he went through Senior day. But so did Ruffalo for that matter. I assumed both were gone. Wonder if there's some concern Berry's back issues may be something that plagues him long term.
On target numbers wise, yes, but might be ugly on the field without Ruffolo/Goodfellow. It's just not ideal when you give out scholarships to a punter and kicker and they can't beat out the walk-ons. Then, you have another guy that does nothing but kick-off. I have to admit, I have concerns with what UK has at K/P moving forward after this year as well.
Could be. Or, it could be that the staff thought/hoped they might get another Max Duffy and he isn't. We'll eventually find out.
And that's fine if that player is a walkon. Not ideal having a guy taking up a scholarship and that's all he does, especially when you will have four other K/P on scholarship.
I saw the Smith kid play a few times at Boyle County . I thought he was impressive.
Hopefully he will be. I just know that he missed several XP last season for Boyle and if I'm not mistaken, high school goal posts are wider than college.
Didn’t realize about the missed pat’s. I was mainly going on watching him kick before the games I saw .
Seems like I saw something when goodfellow announced he was returning that the scholarship was only for the spring semester
That was one report, but it sounded more open than that IMO. Hard to imagine him going back off scholarship in the fall. Otherwise, it would seem he would have stayed in the portal. Guess we will see.
Kickers are key contributors who play every game while out of the 85 scholarship players a number never see tbe field. Keeping a 3rd scholarahip kicker to avoid the agony of not having reliable special teams is not bad idea. Having only one kicker and one punter on scholarship puts too much pressure on the team. UK has dine well on punting, good FY kicker coming in so hopefully can win a close game or two from special teams. Bengals drafted a good one that sure helped their playoff run.
Yet the majority of college programs only have 2-3 K/P on scholarship at most. Five is simply unheard of.
My nephew was Second team all-state. Had better stats than Smith. Led the state in Field goals as a Junior with a long of 54. His mom sent me a video of him setting one up on the 50 yard line in a practice and drilling it. Proud of the kid. Selfish me and most of his family wants him in blue, will see what the next year holds, but as long as Brohm is at Purdue they will be putting the full court press on for his services. He’s probably doing an OV up there this spring.
Kick for Trinity? If, so he’s really good and can bomb it. Already a great kicker under pressure as well. Ball has a different sound off his foot.
Yep, that’s my sisters boy. I asked him how he thinks he would handle a situation like where he was in Sanford Stadium lining up to kick a game winning field goal to send UK to the SEC championship. The crowd would be deafeningly loud. If that would make him nervous. He said no, he actually hates kicking when it’s quiet.
So UofL is out of the question. Lol. Even though they’ve been in his ear too.
I hope either Berry improves or Smith turns out to be a viable option at punter. Goodfellow has a leg and we’ll miss that when he’s gone, the Berry I saw early last year is not what we need to take over. Maybe if Smith can punt at this level, Berry would end up leaving.
Poore is a senior this year and I’m assuming he doesn’t take the extra year Covid option. If that’s the case, we definitely lose Poore and Goodfellow after this season with a chance of losing Berry if he doesn’t work out. That would leave us at 2/3 in scholarship for ‘23.
Poore is a senior this year and I’m assuming he doesn’t take the extra year Covid option. If that’s the case, we definitely lose Poore and Goodfellow after this season with a chance of losing Berry if he doesn’t work out. That would leave us at 2/3 in scholarship for ‘23.
THis is pretty simple...and Rock is right you don't need 5 scholly kickers...that is sort of nuts to a degree
1. Chance Poore isn't better than Ruffalo...which is mostly on Chance...as Ruffalo isn't exactly amazing at FG. He gets a fair amount of block due to low trajectory and we don't even line him up past mid forty yard attempts.
2. If Berry can't beat out Goodfellow....same kind of thing as above. It's not like Goodfellow is elite punter...he's decent but not amazing.
Our talent evaluation of kickers needs some changes. And this is on top of Grant McKinnis was hear and booming his 30 yard punts before he transferred. So we've been crapping the bad at kicker evaluation of late.
1. Chance Poore isn't better than Ruffalo...which is mostly on Chance...as Ruffalo isn't exactly amazing at FG. He gets a fair amount of block due to low trajectory and we don't even line him up past mid forty yard attempts.
2. If Berry can't beat out Goodfellow....same kind of thing as above. It's not like Goodfellow is elite punter...he's decent but not amazing.
Our talent evaluation of kickers needs some changes. And this is on top of Grant McKinnis was hear and booming his 30 yard punts before he transferred. So we've been crapping the bad at kicker evaluation of late.
Don’t doubt it. I think he hit an over 50 yard game winner on the road at the buzzer against Ohio’s #1 ranked team on a bad weather night. That’s takes talent.
Hope UK grabs him.
You ought to call the football office and ask for the recruiting coordinators email and phone and send his name up to UK.
Yep, 54 yarder, a Trinity School record, to go along with three other field goals in that game.
Update on my nephew... getting feelers from Notre Dame now and Wisconsin has invited him to camp there this summer. Told him if he makes an OV up there to make sure it's for a late November game. Sent his videos to Virginia Tech too, that one was kinda out of the blue, but apparently the Special teams coach from UofL that was in his ear is there now.
The kid is dedicated. He's on spring break in Florida this week. Took his practice gear down there with him and sought out a park with some fields near where they're staying to practice.
I don’t mind giving out Scholarships to K/P, but you can’t miss on them. Our problem is we’ve missed on many of them and our walk on’s are better. Therefore, you gotta give them scholarships too.
for all the great evaluations our staff has done, they haven’t evaluated kickers well.
for all the great evaluations our staff has done, they haven’t evaluated kickers well.
These added COVID years are going to cause problems for players graduating High School in 2023. The Stars will be fine, but the guy who fights his way on the team as a walk-on is not going to get their chance for the next few years. Glad to see our kicker staying, but in general future NFLers wont be taking that opportunity away from the next guy.
nice write up about my nephew.
https://kentuckyprepgridiron.com/ke...ky-1776bank-maxpreps-prepspin-kyhighfootball/
https://kentuckyprepgridiron.com/ke...ky-1776bank-maxpreps-prepspin-kyhighfootball/
Update. Kellan will be visiting Norte Dame for a spring practice next week. And is planning to camp both there and Wisconsin so far.
Sorry to keep dredging up this old thread. But like keeping the Lair up to date on my nephew's recruitment. He went to a spring practice at Notre Dame, came away somewhat unimpressed. Their coach actually told him "We're Notre Dame, we don't need to kick 54 yard field goals." kindof a crappy thing to say to a kid, hopefully that mindset comes back to bite them someday.
He got called out of class the other day. Dukes (Just threw up in my mouth a little) Special Teams coach came to Louisville specifically to see him. They invited him to their camp, which happens to be on the same day as UK's camp which he's already signed up for. What makes me sad though is he was told through the grapevine that Stoops said he wasn't giving any scholarships to kickers in the 2023 class. I don't think his parents would be opposed to a preferred walk-on sort of thing if it kept him closer to home and he had a chance at a scholarship though. His older brother and two of his cousins, (my sons) attend UK. Told her maybe if he shows well at the camp they could make an exception.
Regardless, at the moment, Purdue is the clubhouse leader, especially with the Brohm/Trinity connection. He has a Kohl's Showcase Camp this coming weekend, anxious to see how he fares there. It's a competition/Ranking camp.
He got called out of class the other day. Dukes (Just threw up in my mouth a little) Special Teams coach came to Louisville specifically to see him. They invited him to their camp, which happens to be on the same day as UK's camp which he's already signed up for. What makes me sad though is he was told through the grapevine that Stoops said he wasn't giving any scholarships to kickers in the 2023 class. I don't think his parents would be opposed to a preferred walk-on sort of thing if it kept him closer to home and he had a chance at a scholarship though. His older brother and two of his cousins, (my sons) attend UK. Told her maybe if he shows well at the camp they could make an exception.
Regardless, at the moment, Purdue is the clubhouse leader, especially with the Brohm/Trinity connection. He has a Kohl's Showcase Camp this coming weekend, anxious to see how he fares there. It's a competition/Ranking camp.
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