Kicking For Scouts

The past several months I have been preparing to kick for a 15 minute slot in front of NFL scouts.

This past Thursday I kicked at the Georgia Tech pro-day. A pro-day is very much like the NFL combine on tv, but exclusive to former Georgia Tech players that are trying to make it in the NFL.

Throughout the day, NFL scouts analyze prospective athletes height, weight, jumping abilities, speed, and skills they bring to the table. As a kicker, I was patiently waiting my turn to show them what I had.

Then it came, my time to kick in front of 30 scouts and NFL coaches.

I will tell you one thing…no matter how hard you try to put pressure on yourself in practices, it just doesn’t compare to when the moment actually comes. Nerves started to kick in, and I finally got that game feeling that I hadn’t felt since my last game at GT.

I started by kicking two extra points for the scouts, and then followed their lead. As they placed the ball down where they wanted me to kick, I would go through my pre-kick routine, take a deep breath, and begin my steps to kick the ball.

I was going through their gauntlet and making my kicks…then they attempted to freeze me.

Freezing The Kicker

I was ready to kick and one of the scouts stops me and says “will you move the ball over, I want it in the middle.”

I look at the ball, up at the uprights, then back down at the ball and think to myself, “it is in the middle.”

The scout points to his right, so I move the ball over an inch or two and check for verification from the scout and he simply says, “perfect.”

I take my steps and kick the ball and hit it right down the middle. Now I don’t know about you, but I get a lot of satisfaction from overcoming adversity, trash talk, or any other obstacle. At that moment, I couldn’t help but have a little grin on my face.

Unfortunately, my next few kicks did not go my way, missing from 45, 50 and 53. Knowing I still had to kick for the scouts, I had to keep the mindset that I would drill my next kick. I proceeded to kickoff six times for them to close out my kicking session.

What an experience the entire process was. My advice to you when you go through kicking combines or college camps is to take your time and learn from the experience. Figure out what you could do better next time and keep fine tuning your abilities.