Younghoe Koo Makes Los Angeles Chargers Final Roster
In 2015 I received a phone call from Younghoe Koo after his junior season at Georgia Southern University. He was inquiring about Coach Zauner's Kicking Programs after hearing from one of his teammates about my kicking, punting and snapping Lessons, Camps and Combines.
After we talked I checked out Younghoe Koo and noticed he was already a very good and accomplished college kicker. However, like most college specialists that might be NFL prospects, they want to make sure they have the best possible senior season preparing for the upcoming 2017 NFL Draft.
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| Younghoe Koo Kicking at Coach Zauner's 2016 July PRO Development Camp in Wisconsin |
At my 2016 July PRO Development Camp in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for Kickers, Punters and Snappers Younghoe Koo showed me he was an extremely accurate kicker. However, he needed to improve his kickoff technique.
At the end of all my PRO Development camps there is a field goal competition in which Mike Geiger (Michigan State) and Younghoe Koo (Georgia Southern) competed against several other top collegiate kickers from all levels of competition. Both these kickers went back to 60 plus yards before missing to tie for the camp winners.
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| Younghoe Koo - Co-Winner of Field Goal Competition |
After the camp we talked about his senior season and what he could do to get the best exposure to NFL Teams. I said kick well!
Kick well he did! He was 19 of 20 missing only one field goal (a 54 harder) his senior season ( 95%). He set a new Georgia Southern school record for career field goal percentage, hitting 31 of 35 for a career (88.6 pct.).
His kicking performance his senior season earned him many honors, one of which was a spot as a finalists for the Lou Groza Award as the top college placekicker. The winner of the Lou Groza award was Zane Gonzalez (Arizona State) who by the way was draft in the 7th round (224th overall) by the Cleveland Browns.
Younghoe was not invited to the NFL Reese's Senior Bowl or the NFL Combine. He was unable to attend my 2016 College Senior Combine because of a leg injury but I did have several teams ask me about his NFL potential.
All I could say was his numbers and career speak for themselves.
The biggest question NFL coaches and teams had was his kickoff leg strength. In his senior season the coaches at Georgia Southern did not let him kickoff because they wanted him to concentrate on just field goals. Well, sometimes this can hurt a kicking specialists but in his case it didn't stop him for getting into a training camp.
After the 2016 NFL Draft he was signed as a Free Agent with the Chargers. He had a great rookie camp. Was invited back to training camp and had an outstanding pre-season and beat out veteran kicker, Josh Lambo. Today he is now the starting kicker for the Los Angeles Chargers.
Once again, congrats to Younghoe Koo (Georgia Southern) for his hard work, passion for kicking and outstanding college career. I wish him the best of luck this season with the Los Angeles Chargers and in the future.
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