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jimsumner
10-22-2012, 01:13 PM
"Duke placekicker Ross Martin has been recognized as one of the Lou Groza National Collegiate Place Kicker Award “Stars of the Week” following the Blue Devils’ 33-30 victory over North Carolina this past Saturday in Wallace Wade Stadium.

Martin, a true freshman from Solon, Ohio, became the first rookie in program history to kick four field goals in a game with 43, 30, 28 and 20-yard efforts in Saturday’s win. He became the first Blue Devil to tally four field goals in a game since Will Snyderwine did so against Virginia Tech on October 3, 2009, while also setting a new career-best with a 43-yard field goal in the fourth quarter. Martin was perfect on three extra point attempts to total 15 points in the contest, setting a school record for freshmen while pushing his team-leading scoring total to 74 points on the season.

In the award-winning performance, Martin also extended his own single-season scoring record for Duke freshmen to 74 points, and his own field goals made record among Blue Devil rookies to 14 on the year. He is now tied for sixth all-time in program history in single-season field goals made (14) and in single-season PATs made (32).

College football’s top kicking award, the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award presented by the Palm Beach County Sports Commission, recognizes three of the top kickers each week from FBS division teams as the “Stars of the Week.” "

budwom
10-22-2012, 01:31 PM
With Martin and Monday, we have quietly (and rather quickly) acquired one of the very best kicking games in the country,
and I don't think that's an exaggeration. Both of these frosh are really, really impressive. Those two positions
will win you some games when you have bigtime talent.

Devil in the Blue Dress
10-22-2012, 01:32 PM
With Martin and Monday, we have quietly (and rather quickly) acquired one of the very best kicking games in the country,
and I don't think that's an exaggeration. Both of these frosh are really, really impressive. Those two positions
will win you some games when you have bigtime talent.

Our M&Ms can't be beat!

jimsumner
10-22-2012, 02:06 PM
I think Ron Middleton deserves some kudos. He helped turn walk-ons Will Snyderwine and Alex King into All-ACC players.

Imagine what he could do with elite recruits? Well, he's got them. Both Martin and Monday were considered among the top two or three at their positions in high school.

But it's more than just recruiting. Brent Garber, Alex Feinberg and Joe Surgan were all top five kickers in high school and none of them performed at this level.

Dev11
10-22-2012, 02:15 PM
I think Ron Middleton deserves some kudos. He helped turn walk-ons Will Snyderwine and Alex King into All-ACC players.

Imagine what he could do with elite recruits? Well, he's got them. Both Martin and Monday were considered among the top two or three at their positions in high school.

But it's more than just recruiting. Brent Garber, Alex Feinberg and Joe Surgan were all top five kickers in high school and none of them performed at this level.

As I understand, Zac Roper is really in charge of the kickers and punters, and Coach Mid handles the special teams operations.

budwom
10-22-2012, 02:48 PM
I think Ron Middleton deserves some kudos. He helped turn walk-ons Will Snyderwine and Alex King into All-ACC players.

Imagine what he could do with elite recruits? Well, he's got them. Both Martin and Monday were considered among the top two or three at their positions in high school.

But it's more than just recruiting. Brent Garber, Alex Feinberg and Joe Surgan were all top five kickers in high school and none of them performed at this level.

Yeah, Jim, I've been aware of their recruiting reputations, but didn't get too excited because of the Garber/Feinberg/Surgan memories which remain hideously vivid.
But watching these guys has been a pleasure. It'll be interesting to see how long a FG Martin might try during a game. Watching him kick during warmups, I
suspect his range extends to at least 55 yards, if not approaching 60.

loran16
10-22-2012, 04:08 PM
I think Ron Middleton deserves some kudos. He helped turn walk-ons Will Snyderwine and Alex King into All-ACC players.

Imagine what he could do with elite recruits? Well, he's got them. Both Martin and Monday were considered among the top two or three at their positions in high school.

But it's more than just recruiting. Brent Garber, Alex Feinberg and Joe Surgan were all top five kickers in high school and none of them performed at this level.

Jim, not to quibble with how good this coaching staff is, but I think you're overestimating them here. A more likely reason for the previous failures as well as more recent successes is that fg kicking success is very much random. You see this pretty clearly in the nfl where the same fg kickers get cut then do well elsewhere, sign big deals and then do lousy to start the cycle all over again.

Identifying kicking talent is hard and even the best kickers seem to randomly fail during games- take Saturday when Martin nailed an upright.

This is why big time kicking prospects fail at a higher rate than other positions - see Surgan or the many big major teams with lousy kickers.

Even Martin isn't clearly a gem just yet...duke has been fortunate enough not to need him to try a real difficult or long one just yet. He could hit a bump himself

DukeSean
10-22-2012, 04:09 PM
And I love how young these guys are. I'd feel confident in a tight game letting Martin boot it from 50+. Depending on the situation a 4th-and-whatever that would've been a punt or go-for-it in years past. Now we have a 3rd option: get some points

Acymetric
10-22-2012, 07:06 PM
Jim, not to quibble with how good this coaching staff is, but I think you're overestimating them here. A more likely reason for the previous failures as well as more recent successes is that fg kicking success is very much random. You see this pretty clearly in the nfl where the same fg kickers get cut then do well elsewhere, sign big deals and then do lousy to start the cycle all over again.

Identifying kicking talent is hard and even the best kickers seem to randomly fail during games- take Saturday when Martin nailed an upright.

This is why big time kicking prospects fail at a higher rate than other positions - see Surgan or the many big major teams with lousy kickers.

Even Martin isn't clearly a gem just yet...duke has been fortunate enough not to need him to try a real difficult or long one just yet. He could hit a bump himself

That last field goal on Saturday was no gimme...this isn't the NFL you aren't going to see guys lining up to boot 52 yard field goals very often on any team. You did hit on some good points as far as the randomness of kicking but I think you tend to overstate it a bit. What is certainly true is that the transition from high school to college as a kicker can be tough to make for a number of reasons, including different rules on kicks. This leads to a lot of failed kickers who could not make the adjustment to the college level.

cspan37421
10-22-2012, 08:28 PM
If you think about it, a (formerly) very below-average team getting top recruits at these positions makes perfect sense. Why would a top punter go to a school that almost never has to punt? Why would a top kicker go to a school that is rarely going to call on them for much more than an extra point?

The irony is, if Duke football really arrives, and stays good for awhile, some other cellar-dweller is going to poach our future kicking recruits! A nice problem to have, in a way.

Newton_14
10-22-2012, 09:59 PM
I think Ron Middleton deserves some kudos. He helped turn walk-ons Will Snyderwine and Alex King into All-ACC players.

Imagine what he could do with elite recruits? Well, he's got them. Both Martin and Monday were considered among the top two or three at their positions in high school.

But it's more than just recruiting. Brent Garber, Alex Feinberg and Joe Surgan were all top five kickers in high school and none of them performed at this level.

Agree Jim. The kicking game was the very first piece corrected by Cutcliffe and staff when they arrived. Martin made more FG's in the UNC game, than the entire Duke team made collectively all season in Roof's final season (3). Ponder on that one for a minute. Even in Cut's first season, the staff took the same two placekickers Roof had, and had them making kicks. I could not find historical stats on GoDuke but I do recall Cut's first team surpassing total FG's made in the prior season in like the 2nd or 3rd game of the year. (The last miss in that final Roof season was a very makeable kick that would have beaten UNC at the end of the game. 33 yarder if my memory serves)

The turnaround was remarkable.

towerview road
10-23-2012, 12:03 AM
Vote for Ross! You can vote for your "favorite" Groza Weekly Award winners here: http://www.lougrozaaward.com/12SOTW8.

Currently Ross is in second place to the TCU player.

I believe this plays a role in who they invite to their "final award banquet," but I am not entirely sure.