On Thursday and Friday I worked with San Diego State's senior kicker, Garret Palmer. Garrett was here about three weeks ago and we had some very productive sessions. I told him to go home to work on a couple of things and see how things work out. Well in the last three weeks he has really improved!
On Thursday we worked on field goals and also some punting. Garrett is about 6'2, 208 pounds and has a strong leg! He has the talent, in my opinion to be in some NFL teams training camp. However, the scouts have missed on another good kicker. What's new?
This year NFL teams are losing 5 roster spots because there is no NFL Europe roster exemptions. Which basically means NFL teams need to chop 5 players from their training camp lists and you can bet the guys that will be effected the most will be the specialists. Already 2 or 3 Special Teams Coaches have asked me about finding a punter that can kickoff or a kicker that can also punt.
Garrett was also a punter in high school so we spent time working on his punting skills. He hit a couple of big punts, however was very inconsistent!
During Friday's workout we spent time on field goals, kickoffs and punting.
Garrett had an excellent day kicking field goals. He made 18 of 21 field goals kicking in both directions, with and against a slight breeze. He hit several kicks over 50 yards with a long of 56 yards. In my opinion it was a very impressive.
He was a little off on his kickoffs today. He had kicked a lot the last two days and his leg looked a little dead. We finished with some punting technique. We went over some basic fundamentals for Garrett to work on the next couple of weeks to get him to be more consistent. He has the leg and I know he will work hard to get better. This might be the best way for him to get more exposure in the future. He will be a combination guy NFL Coaches are looking for to bring to camp.
Garrett's a really nice young man and seems will do whatever it takes to get to the next level. I will definitely recommend him to NFL Special Teams Coaches in the future. If he does not make it to a NFL camp this year I expect him to be in one next year!
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