January 31st, 2012
Last week I did a private punting lesson with Connor Bolduc of Mahtomedi High School just outside of St. Paul. Connor is a big sophomore with an even bigger leg! I would have to say Connor is also one of the most polished punters that I have worked with for his age.
I stressed to Connor the importance of not only having a warm up routine, but also a pre-kick routine, and sticking to it each and every time he punts. He has the tools and foundation to develop into a very good punter in the coming years, so I want to make sure he has all the info he needs in order to reach that potential. We also talked about the mental side of the game and how that can benefit him.
Mechanically, Connor does a pretty good job. He has a drop that is a little different than most punters you see, but that’s fine as long as it works for him and his style of punting. The most important thing is that his drop is consistent and he gives himself a flat drop in the right position on every punt. Connor is not a finished product quite yet but with hard work and the right guidance, he has the opportunity to be a special punter in the coming years! He will be one to keep an eye on. Great job Connor.
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January 26th, 2012
Last week I did a private kicking and punting lesson with Stephen Kohler of Holy Family Catholic High School. Stephen is currently a junior and is hoping to take over the punting duties for his school next Fall.
Stephen is a very athletic punter with a fast and explosive leg. During our workout, I was trying to get Stephen to use all of that leg correctly. Many punters believe that to hit a big punt, they need to swing “out” and drive the ball. We actually want to explode “up and through” the kick by really focusing on swinging up. The ball has to go up and out…not just out. Stephen and I worked quite a bit on his swing. The other thing that held him back was his drop. Stephen had a tendency to bring his drop inside of his drop area, which caused him to chase the ball and swing across his body. We want to be as linear as possible when punting. That will help us to be as consistent and efficient as possible…resulting in the best punts.
I think Stephen has a good understanding of what he needs to do in order to clean things up mechanically allowing himself to just simply use his athleticism. Although his leg was pretty tired, he still punted well at the Minnesota Performance Kicking Event and showed improvement throughout the day. I look forward to working with Stephen in the future and watching him develop into a very valuable punter for his team this Fall!
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January 21st, 2012
On Thursday I did a private kicking lesson with Levi Jarvi of Iron River, Michigan. Levi’s high school and college kicking career has come to an end but he is still passionately kicking for his semi-pro team. I was blown away by Levi’s ability to overcome the things he has physically after being partially paralyzed earlier in his life. It was very inspiring for me to see his commitment to wanting to be a better athlete and kicker!
Mechanically, Levi does a lot of things very well. As a result, he is an extremely accurate kicker. I had him focus on the middle third of the uprights all day during our session. He probably hit that middle third nearly 70% of the time. The one thing Levi can continue to improve upon is his ability to get up and through the ball better. His body placement at impact makes it difficult for him to have a great upswing. I always tell guys that the ball has to go “up” before it goes ”out”. If he can teach himself to stay up and stay back a split second longer, he will allow himself to swing up even more…resulting in a higher, longer kick.
After field goals, Levi and I spent some time on his kickoffs. Again, he did a great job and consistently made good contact with the ball. He has a good approach and does a good job attacking his plant foot. Overall, Levi had a nice day kicking. I’m excited to hear how he does this season!
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January 10th, 2012
On Saturday I did one on one kicking lesson with PJ Butler of Deforest High School. PJ was a junior kicker for his team this fall. After just a couple kicks, I could see that PJ has a very strong leg. I told him, for as much power he has kicking, he still isn’t getting the most out of his kicks. Mechanically, PJ does a couple things that limit him as a kicker.
After we jumped on the uprights to begin the workout, the first thing we did was get rid of the 2 inch block and move to a 1 inch. Where he was planting and the part of the ball where he was making contact showed me that he was ready to be on a lower block. PJ showed flashes of some great kicks with a lot of distance. The main thing I had him focus on was eliminating his “crunching”. This was causing his ball to come out pretty low. If he can learn to stay up nice and tall and stay back a split second longer with his eyes, PJ will be amazed at the things he can do! The ball will jump up much higher and will carry with more distance.
PJ attended the 2012 Performance Kicking Event this past weekend at the University of Wisconsin’s indoor practice facility. He did a great job kicking field goals. PJ scored very well in the charting and was right there until the very end in the Finals round. He made some huge strides already after our first one on one session together. With hard work throughout the off-season and into the summer, PJ has an opportunity to do some very good things for the Deforest football team next fall! Nice job PJ!
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January 10th, 2012
Last Friday I did a private kicking lesson with Garret Wegner of Lodi High School. Garret is an 8th grader who has just recently got into kicking. He has never had any formal instruction and wanted to get some insight on how he was doing.
I stressed to Garret the importance of having a routine and sticking to it every time he kicks. We talked quite a bit of field goal instruction and then began kicking some balls down a line. Because every kick is a straight kick no matter where we are on the field, our goal is to hit it right down that line every single time.
Garret’s first few balls were all over the place! Not only was he “swinging around”, but he looked like he was swinging as hard as he could on every kick. This was causing him to be very inconsistent. When we moved to the uprights, I had Garret really focus on swinging “up and through” the ball on each kick. We also tried to tone it down a notch in an effort to be more fluid.
From that point on, Garret was a completely different kicker! He got into a rhythm and hit some big-time kicks for an eighth grader! We moved all over the field and he routinely drilled them with great height and distance. I was very impressed with what he was doing…especially given the fact that the footballs were about 35 degrees. He hit a handful of field goals from beyond 40 yards in this weather. It’s exciting seeing someone make strides like that in such a short period of time. Garret has a very live leg for someone his age and I expect to see him develop quite nicely in the years to come! Good job Garret.
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December 15th, 2011
Yesterday I did a private kicking lesson with Jon Coppens in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Jon, who just begun kicking a year ago, was a freshman kicker for Holy Family Catholic this season.
We started off our workout talking basic field goal mechanics. I stressed to Jon the importance of having a good warm up routine and sticking to it every time he kicks. With kicking, we want to do the same thing, the same way, every single time. That’s how we will develop consistency. After having Jon do some warm up swings, we transitioned to a set of field goals down a line. We used the end line for this drill. Jon did a great job with this. He was right around the upright every single kick and even hit it on one of the attempts. From there, Jon and I moved to the uprights. We moved around the field hitting from various distances. Jon showed the ability to hit some very good field goals. He has a couple things to work on that will help to develop his consistency. We talked about cleaning up some of his footwork. Jon has a couple jab steps at the beginning of his approach that he can get rid of. Having one jab-step is fine, as long as it plays a positive role in our approach. If the jab-step gets us moving towards the ball, instead of our plant foot, it is probably hurting us rather than helping us. Also, Jon has a tendency to “swing around” a bit on his field goals, which is a result of not being completely disciplined with his eyes on every kick. Every time during our workout that I had Jon focus entirely on holding his eyes back a split second longer, he hit a big-time ball for a freshman! He said he could definitely feel the difference and now it is all about practicing it the correct way through muscle memory drills. Jon has the ability to develop into a great kicker in the years to come. He has the work ethic and drive that it takes to bring his kicking to the next level.
I look forward to following his progress and watching him as a varsity kicker very soon!
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November 27th, 2011
Last week I did a private kicking lesson with Mike Hanrahan right outside of Chicago, IL. Mike is a sophomore kicker at Fenwick High School in Oak Park, IL. Mike has had little kicking instruction and has just relied on his natural soccer kicking skills up to this point for football. He has done a good job of studying other kickers and developing his own unique style of kicking. Mike does a lot of things very well for a sophomore. I wanted to make everything as simple as possible for him. I stressed to Mike the importance of being good with his eyes and having the right type of leg swing for kicking. If you do both of these things well, you will set yourself up for success and make a lot of kicks. The other thing that will help Mike right now with his kicking, is the use of a field goal kicking block. He did a good job during our workout with his field goals from the ground, but I think he will get more height, distance, and consistency by using a block. The block allows us as kickers to make mistakes and still make kicks. It also allows you to hit the ball higher and further. I recommend that most high school kickers use a block until at least their senior year.
After field goals, Mike and I moved to kickoffs. I think he does a great job with his speed and tempo to the ball on his approach. I also like the distance from the ball he begins his approach from. Mike had a good day kicking off. I believe he still has more in him though. I challenged him to focus on really exploding up and through the ball. Overall, Mike had a good day kicking. He definitely has the tools to become a great kicker. With hard work, I expect him to develop into a very reliable kicker for his school next season!
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November 9th, 2011
For those of you that are still finishing up the rest of your season, I wish you the best of luck in the playoffs. For all others who’s season have come to an end, now is a good time to start planning how you are going to approach the off season. The first thing you want to do is give your leg and body some time to rest and recover from the long season. It’s good to give yourself a couple weeks to heal up both physically and mentally. This is even more important if you’ve had a small injury throughout the season. Take time to let it heal!
In the meantime, come up with a strength and conditioning plan. Because a lot of you participate in other sports, this can be specially tailored to your situation. The most important thing is to do something, and do it well. Take advantage of this time to get bigger, faster, and stronger. There are plenty of resources available to you in order to get this done. If you don’t take the initiative, your peers will pass you up and leave you in the dust. If you think you’ll take the next 6 months off and then get serious about your training when June rolls around, you’ll be way behind the curve. Start getting serious now! This is what separates the good kickers from the great ones…doing the little things. For the high school seniors who have just wrapped up their seasons, begin training off the ground immediately! Take advantage of the decent weather if you have it and get a good volume of kicks taken off the ground. For many, the transition off the ground is not easy! For some, they catch on quickly. Either way, begin getting some reps now. This is also important for any off-season camps or showcase events you are attending. It is always important to be in top form and performing well at these events. The bottom line…Do not be complacent! Many of you have dreams and aspirations of playing big time college football someday. It takes a lot of hard work to get there. Put in the time now and you will be rewarded! Also, be patient with the recruiting process. As the college seasons wrap up, recruiting will begin to pick up. Remember, colleges often decide on what they’re doing with specialist positions last. They take care of their other positions first. Often times you will not hear much until later in January. If you have any questions about a Strength and Conditioning program or beginning your transition to kicking off the ground, feel free to contact me. I’ll help you get to where you want to be any way I can! Good luck!
Tags: Taylor Mehlhaff
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November 7th, 2011
Today I did a private kicking lesson in Baton Rouge, LA with Don Oliver of St. Thomas More High School near Lafayette. Don is a senior kicker/punter for his team this fall.
To begin our workout, Don and I moved around hitting field goals. I have to say, he has one of the strongest legs of anyone I’ve worked with recently. He has the ability to hit a really great ball at times. As we were getting started Don, who is right footed, made the comment that he very rarely misses a kick to the right. He said that if he misses, he has a tendency to pull the ball left. Immediately I could see why that was. Don does a couple minor things mechanically that cause him to slightly pull the ball. We talked about these things and I believe he now has a good understanding of his style of kicking and what he needs to do to hit a perfectly straight ball on every kick.
After field goals, Don and I moved to kickoffs. With a slight wind helping him, Don routinely put every single kickoff to the back of the end zone with good hang time. He does a great job with both his line and tempo to the ball. Even though he is already a great kickoff guy, I think he still has more in him. I showed Don his body position when kicking off and how he can improve on that. If he learns to explode up and through the ball a bit more, he will add both additional hang time and distance to his kicks. Overall, I thought Don did a great job today. He has a very special leg and with hard work can develop into a top tier kicker at the next level. Good luck the rest of the season Don!
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November 7th, 2011
Yesterday I did a private kicking and punting lesson with Brader Dufrene of Central Lafourche high school in Matthews, LA. Brader just finished up his freshman season after handling the kicking duties for his team this fall. After seeing Brader hit a few footballs, I was immediately surprised that he had never had any kind of instruction before. Up to this point, he has simply taught himself through trial and error and studying other kickers. Brader does a lot of these very well mechanically and as a result, makes a lot of kicks. I wanted to make everything as simple as possible for Brader. The main thing I had his focus on yesterday was being disciplined with his eyes. I told him that if he is good with his eyes, that he will make a lot of kicks. Not only does this help us to make great contact with the ball, but it also keeps our body in line. Brader was hitting the ball very clean yesterday. At the end of our workout, he showed the ability to consistently hit just inside of 50 yards with a wind at his back. This is a big time kick for a freshman!
After field goals, Brader and I worked on kickoffs. Again I thought he did a great job with his kickoffs. He has a great tempo to the ball and consistently made solid contact. I challenged Brader to continue trying to explode up and through the ball. The ball has to go “up” before it goes “out”. He kicked off well, but I think he still has more in him.
Finally, Brader and I finished up with some punts and onside kicks. He showed me his one-hop onside kick…very impressive for someone his age!
Like most high school punters, Brader has a tendency to want to veer straight off to his right when punting. As he learns to walk a better line to his target, everything will begin to come together for him. Overall, Brader had a great day both with kicking and punting. I think he was able to take quite a bit of valuable information away from our time together. I am very excited to see his growth as a kicker and punter over the course of these next few years. Having experience already at the Varsity level as only a freshman is invaluable. Without a doubt, he has the tools to become something special!
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