Coach Zauner Launches 1st Annual College Senior Specialists Combine In Phoenix, Arizona
In An Effort To Help Talented College Senior Kicking Specialists To Be Seen By The NFL, Coach Zauner Is Conducting His 1st Annual College Senior Specialists Combine In Phoenix, Arizona, February 20-21, 2010.
Phoenix, AZ (PRWEB) February 13, 2010 -- The 1st Annual Coach Zauner College Senior Specialists Combine will be conducted in Phoenix, Arizona, February 20-21, and is currently scheduled to showcase a collection of over 60 of the country’s top college kicking specialists from all college divisions, that have not been invited to the NFL Combine.
Coach Zauner, a former 13 year NFL Special Teams Coordinator, who is considered by many to be the best kicking coach in the country, says he has always wanted to create an event that would assist top college senior kicking specialists to get exposure to NFL teams and Directors of College Scouting. Especially those not invited to the NFL Combine.
“I am hosting a College Senior Specialists Combine as it is my experience the best kicking specialist talent is not always seen at their College Pro Day, or showcased at the NFL Combine,” says Zauner.
Zauner says an example of this is when he attended the NFL Combine in 2008. “At the event, I was immediately struck by the lack of quality kicking specialists showcased there,” he says. Adding, “after the event was over, I left thinking about all the quality kicking specialist talent available throughout the country that should have been invited but were not.”
In fact, Zauner says at that time, he was working and training two kicking specialists who he believed had much more talent than anyone he had seen at the NFL Combine; kicker Garrett Hartley, University of Oklahoma and punter Brett Kern, University of Toledo.
It would turn out that the 2008 NFL season proved Zauner to be right. As did this year’s Super Bowl.
Zauner says during the season, the Denver Broncos called and asked him to find them a young kicker and punter. He says he recommended both Hartley and Kern, and the Broncos signed both specialists to Free Agent Contracts.
Kern made the team and Hartley was released before training camp due to the 80 man roster rule. Hartley later signed with the New Orleans Saints and played 8 games in which he was a perfect 13 for 13 in the 2008 season.
In this year’s Super Bowl, Hartley made Super Bowl history by kicking three 40 plus yard field goals.
Today, both are still on NFL rosters.
Hartley and Kern weren’t the only kicking specialists, not invited to the NFL Combine, who signed NFL contracts that year. In fact six kicking specialists, not invited to the NFL Combine, were either drafted or signed as Free Agents and made NFL rosters.
Zauner says it’s important to note that only two kicking specialists invited to the 2008 NFL Combine, did in fact make an NFL roster that year! Neither made it through the season. And neither is playing today.
“I don’t know why so much kicking specialist talent is overlooked and therefore not invited to the NFL Combine,” says Zauner. “Perhaps it is because there is a general lack of knowledge of what qualities, technique and personality it takes to be an NFL kicking specialist.”
But according to some of the biggest names in professional football, what others may lack, Coach Zauner has.
Indianapolis Colts President Bill Polian recently said, “Coach Zauner has demonstrated he has a reputation for evaluating and finding kicking specialist talent of NFL caliber. His Combines certainly have the potential to discover -or rediscover- quality kicking specialist talent that might otherwise go unnoticed by professional football teams."
That is exactly Zauner’s goal; to bring attention to those kicking specialists who might otherwise be overlooked.
Zauner says organizing his first College Senior Specialists Combine has taken quite a bit of time and effort over a period of a few months, but he felt it was a great investment that will pay off for all those attending the event, and for the NFL teams.
Zauner says he wants to make it perfectly clear, it is against NFL rules to have any NFL coach or scout at an event like this, so he will personally take a DVD -which includes the results and highlight video of those specialists he thinks have NFL potential- and hand deliver this information to as many of the NFL Special Teams Coaches and Directors of College Scouting in attendance at the NFL Combine, that he can.
“Whether it is by personal contact at the NFL Combine, or by mail, every NFL team will receive a copy of the results and the video,” says Zauner. ”The best kicking specialists deserve to be seen by the NFL, and the NFL deserves to have the best kicking specialists on the field on game day. I want to make whatever contribution I can to make that happen.”
Zauner says following the College Senior Specialists Combine, highlight video of the best potential NFL prospects will also be posted to his website CoachZauner.com (unless a participant makes a request to not have their video posted).
Click here for information about Coach Zauner’s College Senior Specialists Combine.
To follow the College Senior Specialists Combine, Zauner will be hosting his 2nd Annual Free Agent Specialists Combine in Phoenix, Arizona March 27-28.
Last year 41 kicking specialists showcased their skills in front of 32 professional football teams including 26 National Football League (NFL), two Canadian Football League (CFL) and four United Football League (UFL) teams. Of the 41 specialists who attended, 17 were signed to NFL, CFL or UFL contracts.
Click here for more information about Coach Zauner’s Free Agent Specialists Combine
For more information about Coach Zauner go to:
www.CoachZauner.com
Contact information:
Coach Gary Zauner
Professional Kicking, Punting, Snapping and Special Teams Consultant
Coach Zauner, LLC
612.239.9529
Stay Tuned for More of Coach Zauner's Blog!
Visit: www.coachzauner.com
Follow Coach Zauner on www.twitter.com
