My favorite part of Day 8 Practice Report

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Justin Sorensen, however, connected on a 45-yard field goal attempt.

Seconded. I have waited more anxiously for this guy to come back from his mission than anybody in recent memory. I always think about Louis Sakoda and how Utah's undefeated 2008 season would probably have had five losses were it not for him and I just think how awesome it would be to have a really great kicker. Remember how many times he kicked it out of the back of the endzone his freshman year?

taekwondave wrote:
Seconded. I have waited more anxiously for this guy to come back from his mission than anybody in recent memory. I always think about Louis Sakoda and how Utah's undefeated 2008 season would probably have had five losses were it not for him and I just think how awesome it would be to have a really great kicker. Remember how many times he kicked it out of the back of the endzone his freshman year?

Until stupid Max Hall had to score so many touchdowns that Sorenson's leg got tired.



I hope the same thing happens this season.

Sorensen wasn't a very good place kicker for BYU before he left on his mission. He really only attempted the long ones and wasn't very accurate at them. He was amazing at kick offs though and helped the team a ton in that department. If he can be both long and accurate this year that will be very helpful.

Payne was good, but I am excited to have him back. Payne caused me a lot of inner pain.

I'm also hearing that he hasn't missed a FG during practice sessions, which is amazing. We could barely hit 40% last year at this time.

jonnylingo wrote:
Payne was good, but I am excited to have him back. Payne caused me a lot of inner pain.

Which is amazing for the school's all-time leading scorer. You'd like to think the all-time leading scorer would have a more solid reputation. But I guess .746 FG conversion percentage will do that. And he missed 8 XPs, which just sounds like a lot. Those should be automatic.



Some FG% comparisons:

Matt Payne .740

Kurt Gunther .574

Owen Pochman .835

Ethan Pochman .674

Jared MacLaughlin .757

Leonard Chitty .723

Lee Johnson .600

Earl Kaufmann .629



It is me or are those a bunch of mediocre kickers?

The NFL just changed their rules to move the kick off back up to the 35 yard line. If the NCAA follows suit and also moves the ball up I doubt that there would be more than a handful of balls that don't go through the back of the end zone for the next three years.

I was watching the 1983 Holiday Bowl on TV on Saturday night (thank you BYUtv!) and they mentioned that Lee Johnson, the kicker, was 11 of 23 on field goals. That's not even 50% I was pretty shocked by that.

Lee Johnson had a monster leg, but accuracy was an issue. This is why the guy only punted and did kickoffs in the NFL. Of course, he made a ton of $$$ for several years in that role, so could have been worse.



BYU generally has slightly above average kickers. Pochman is the best we have ever had, imo. Stats back it up, but he had a really strong leg as well. Sorenseon can be similar. Strong leg for sure.

SpiffCoug wrote:

Payne was good, but I am excited to have him back. Payne caused me a lot of inner pain.

Which is amazing for the school's all-time leading scorer. You'd like to think the all-time leading scorer would have a more solid reputation. But I guess .746 FG conversion percentage will do that. And he missed 8 XPs, which just sounds like a lot. Those should be automatic.



Some FG% comparisons:

Matt Payne .740

Kurt Gunther .574

Owen Pochman .835

Ethan Pochman .674

Jared MacLaughlin .757

Leonard Chitty .723

Lee Johnson .600

Earl Kaufmann .629



It is me or are those a bunch of mediocre kickers?

He was clearly good but the 2009 season seems to stick in my head. He almost single handidly lost us the oklahoma game and coming out of spring ball he was just awful. I should give him more props though. he was a good kicker. easy to focus on the negative. but it is nice to have someone that is more consistent from further out. payne seemed more reliable close in. it was as if the offense new unless we get near that magic line we go for it or punt.

Lee had many years in the pros. 22 if I recall.

Pochman had a trial period with the 49ers. Went 3 of 8. got cut

sage wrote:
Lee had many years in the pros. 22 if I recall.

Pochman had a trial period with the 49ers. Went 3 of 8. got cut

Pochman was too busy [moderated] hanging out with Playmates to focus on the NFL.

Sorensen really just needs to find his groove like he had with Bingham. You'll see plenty of accuracy to go with the leg when he's the sole placekicker. I mean, he holds the state record for longest field goal at 62 yards. Think about that. 62 yards. The holder is putting the ball down on your own 48 on that kick. He had several from 50+. And I know that the high school posts are wider, but I saw him nail a 59-yarder right down the middle. In the video below, you can see it, too, at the 4:41 mark. In fact, in the video you can see him put several of his kickoffs through the goalposts, right down the middle.



[youtube]u0leH_LykgA[/youtube]



Justin is going to be a fantastic kicker. I just hope we use him for extra points a lot more than field goals. :D