Packer kicking continues to pop the eyes

Published 8:19 pm Wednesday, November 29, 2017

MOULTRIE – People can watch football games for decades and decades. After all that time, they get confused as to why the placekicker is about to set up for a kick after a fair-catch punt.

If you have heard of the free-kick field goal (and this writer himself only found out about it some four or five years ago but never saw it live until Nov. 24), it did not surprise you to see Colquitt County High’s Ryan Fitzgerald with tee in hand for such an attempt from the 50-yard-line last Friday at Archer High School. The owner of 56 touchbacks – about all of them no-doubters – split those uprights late in the first half for a record 60-yard three-pointer.

The Packers cut Archer’s lead to one, 7-6, for halftime, then go on to get two more Fitzgerald field goals – the more conventional kind with snap and hold – to win 12-7 and advance to this Friday’s GHSA Class 7A semifinals.

One of assistant coach Shawn Sutton’s many labels for head coach Rush Propst – in addition to running the weight room and coaching the running backs – is kicking coach. He said they take a lot of pride in special teams play, not just through Fitzgerald’s kicking/punting but Steven Krajewski’s holds and Noah Hightower’s long snaps.

“Coach (Jason) Nash does a great job organizing our special teams,” said Sutton.

Propst said after the Archer game the free-kick was Sutton’s suggestion. Sutton on Wednesday said it’s something you certainly practice for often, but it’s the first time in 31 years of coaching he saw an opportunity for it to work in a game.

“With the time left on the clock (seven seconds) and where they were punting the ball from, I thought it was a great opportunity for us to catch the ball and try the kick without them trying to block it,” he said. “We didn’t have time to make the field goal shorter. It was a pretty easy call.

“Looking on film, I thought it had another couple of yards in it, but we were blessed to get it in the way we did.”

That field goal actually broke Fitzgerald’s own school record of 52 yards set this season at Camden County. Fitzgerald was 4-for-5 in the Archer game as he missed a 51-yard try in the first half.

“The biggest obstacle for kickers is mental mistakes,” said Sutton. “Trying to forget your last kick if it wasn’t a great kick. I’ve never seen anyone who works harder at his trade than Ryan Fitzgerald does. He’s the first one to go to Noah. It’s teamwork. It’s great when it works; unfortunately there’s another side when it doesn’t work.”

Fitzgerald’s accomplishment is found on the Kohl’s Kicking Camps website, where the Packer junior is listed as a four-star prospect in the Class of 2019. His predecessor, Baby Lou Martinez, is on the roster at Georgia Southern.

“Kicking is not a position where (college) coaches jump out of the woodwork,” said Sutton. “You have a guy like Ryan who can do the placekicking and punting. That takes a lot of pressure off you as a coach not having to find two specialists. To me, somebody who can fill both roles is definitely worth a scholarship.”

But would he placekick or punt at the next level? Sutton said it’s not out of the ordinary for him to do both.

“It’s becoming more common than it used to be,” he said. “It’s a hard trade, soccer-style placekicking and then straight on punt. We directional punt a lot, not rugby punt. He tries to master all kicking phases.”

IT’S A SNAP FOR NOAH

Underrated may be an understated way to describe the contributions of one Packer football senior. At all of 144 pounds, Hightower stands between the regular offensive linemen a handful of times per game with the idea of being perfect.

“It’s a specialty, obviously,” said Hightower. “I started back when I was in seventh grade. One of my coaches wanted me to try out because there was no other position. I wasn’t that good at it. I went to camps, and I got better. Here I am today.”

One of those camps Hightower attended was the Chris Rubio Long Snapping Camp, which is held all over the country including Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Los Angeles and Seattle. Rubio, according to his camp website, did not have one bad snap playing the position three seasons at UCLA.

“It’s basically, you have to have perfection,” said Hightower about getting the ball to Krajewski as a field-goal holder or Fitzgerald himself as a punter. “A bad snap off to the left, off to the right, high, low, could throw everything off.”

All totaled, Hightower’s had more than 120 long snaps through 13 Colquitt County High games. Only one bad one comes to mind.

“At Lowndes, I snapped it over Ryan’s head (on a punt),” he said.

The long snapper’s job isn’t over when his teammate gets a hold of the football. He may not be needed, or be in a good position anyway, to block on a field goal/PAT as the play develops so quickly. It’s not unusual, though, to see No. 43 as the one downing the football on a boomed punt 40 to 50 yards down field.

“Getting down field, getting a tackle, or breaking down and letting the gunners get in on the tackle,” said Hightower about the punt coverage procedure. “Mainly making the tackle.”

He’s a long way from Rashad Revels or Marcus Anderson numbers, but Hightower knows he made two special teams tackles this season.

“I want more,” he said. But he also knows, at the aforementioned weight and being 5-7, the kick returner’s always going to be bigger. “An uneven matchup.

“I’ve been in the drills with coach Nash and the defense, their turnover circuits and everything.”

Looking more at the data from the Rubio Camp website, a number of his snapping students went on to earn full college scholarships. Hightower’s work and progress at the craft could lead to a college football roster spot for himself.

“Georgia Southern’s looking at me,” he said. “I got a few other colleges in north Georgia and North Carolina. I would love to be (a college football player). I’ve been told I’m too little for the field goal and PAT. They’re afraid of the guys jumping over me because they’re so much taller. But the punt, they’re not worried about.”