It's early Friday morning and the Head Coach in our family, Michelle and I are getting my mom and dad ready to go back to the frozen tundra of Milwaukee Wisconsin. It was great having them here for 10 days. Mom and Dad are both in their mid 80's and doing quiet well. Dad worked on a couple of projects in the office to make my video set up better. He's a real handy man!We drop them off at the airport and immediately pick up Brett Kern who just flew in. Brett was the University of Toledo punter for 4 years. Brett was 2nd in the nation in both gross and net average. He punted 52 times with a 46.1 yard gross and a 39.5 yard net punting average.
Nick Jarvis the long snapper from Wake Forest who was here two weeks ago just raved about Bretts punting ability. They played together in the Hula Bowl and East / West Shrine games.
I now get to see his punting form and hear first hand, those balls booming off his foot.
The lesson starts with his exercise warm up. It doesn't take long because it's about 78 degrees today at 11:00 a.m. in Scottsdale.
Brett tells me he went to one punting camp in his life and really never learned one thing to help him. He's pretty much self taught. The lesson starts.
Brett, doesn't do many drills and just starts punting. I ask him questions and he gives me answers. I always like to interrogate all the punters and kickers to find out how much they really know about what their doing.
I've been around several great punters and kickers that didn't have a clue about what they did when they kicked. However, they were still great kickers.
As soon as Brett starts hitting some balls, my ears start to ring. I say to myself "This kid's got a leg!" During the course of the lesson he hit several high 4.9 and 5.0 plus hang time punts.
OK, why wasn't this kid invited to the combine? What's new, the combine missed on another good punter or kicker.
I stop the lesson after about 20 minutes and ask Brett some more questions. Brett is an excellent athlete that played soccer, lacrosse, and football. He's got a great upside.
I ask myself "How much information do I want to give this kid in two days?" We talk and decide he needs to have a better warm up and work routine, plus needs some drills. He has some minor flaws in his technique and drill work will help.
I teach him the one step drill. Like most punters he struggles with the drill early, then hits some 50 to 55 yard punts with 4.7 to 4.8 hang times. His eyes light up and says "I hardly even hit those balls!" I have him sold on my favorite drill.
I introduced him to a couple more drills and we finished up the lesson.
It was now time to give him a real lesson. We hit the golf course for a quick 9 holes. We went to my club, FireRock, which is in Fountain Hills AZ. Mike, who is one of the assistant pros played with us. Mike's a scratch and Brett's a 4 and I'm a 12 handicap. We play a little skins game. The final score was? Ask Brett. I don't like to brag, however, I did win all the money.
We finish the evening with a good video lesson. Brett seems to enjoy being coached. We'll see tomorrow when and if he gives me a testimonial.
