Baby-faced and deadly from long range
Written By: Robert Klemko, USA TODAY Sports
9:13PM EST October 2. 2012 - EMORY, Va. – Justin Tucker's NFL odyssey began here, in the foothills of sparsely populated southwest Virginia, on a small college campus beset on one side by stomach-churning mountain roads and on the other by a scenic interstate. Excerpt:
LONGER AND MORE ACCURATE ...
Gary Zauner has privately coached 22 NFL Pro Bowlers and, by his count, eight kickers currently in the league, including Josh Scobee and Sebastian Janikowski. He runs a kicking academy in Arizona, tutoring kickers as young as junior high age. He remembers when high school kickers were the kids who couldn't play a more popular position.
"The kickers are no longer the nerds -- the guys who couldn't play football," he said. "Now soccer is such a popular sport that some of the good athletes went out for soccer and then, all of a sudden, you have football coaches looking to soccer athletes for kickers. The quality of the athlete is much better."
Visit: www.coachzauner.com
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