Coach Zauner's Blog...: Matthew McCrane Oakland Raiders Kicker

Matthew McCrane Kansas State University and now Oakland Raiders Kicker

Coach Zauner's College Senior and Free Agent Combines are

'A Specialist's Path To PRO Football"®
"Congrats To New Oakland Raiders kicker, Matthew McCrane"

This year Matthew McCrane (Kansas State), Trent Sieg (ColoradoState), Corey Bojorquez and Jason Sanders both from the University of New Mexico, along with Brett Maher (U. of Nebraska) and Hunter Bradley (Mississippi State) all made 2018 NFL Rosters from Coach Zauner's Programs.

Coach Zauner's Programs consist of not only the College Senior and Free Agent Combines but also ONE on ONE Lessons and PRO Development Camps. Brett Maher attended three of Coach Zauner's Free Agent Combines and Hunter Bradley has taken ONE on ONE Snapping Lessons and attended my Snappers ONLY 'Vital Man' Snapping Camps both in Arizona and Wisconsin. Congrats to all these specialists for making NFL final rosters this year.

In February, Matthew attended Coach Zauner's 2018 College Senior Combine in Gilbert, Arizona with (70) other College Senior Specialists.

Matthew competed for two days with (22) other College Senior Kicking Specialists. During the Combine all the snappers, punters and kickers are evaluated with respect to their NFL potential. Kickers are evaluated and tested in several areas, field goal form, technique, accuracy, consistency and kickoff potential. Matthew's performance over three days caught my eye.

As I tell all the specialists attending my combines, winning a contest doesn't mean you have NFL potential it just means you won a field goal, kickoff or punting contest and congratulations. My bottom line and goal is to find NFL prospects and give their names to NFL teams so these specialists that might be overlooked get exposure to NFL teams.

Matthew didn't win any of the combine contests but showed me he has NFL potential and thats all that counts. He along with (4) other kickers, (8) punters and (7) snappers were recommended to NFL teams as having NFL potential. He was ranked in Group 1, a kicker that is an NFL Prospect.

Coach Zauner's College Senior Combine in the past (9) years has produced Exposure and Results for many College Seniors. Coach Zauner's 40 plus years of coaching, training and "Eye" for special teams talent and my recommendation to NFL& CFL teams has resulted with (79) specialists signing NFL contracts, and many more have been invited to mini-camps. To date (29) of these specialists have made NFL rosters and (8) CFL rosters.

After the 2018 College Senior Combine and NFL Draft, Matthew signed a Free Agent Contract with the Arizona Cardinals. He went to training camp and did very well in preseason.

On September 23, 2018 veteran NFL kicker, Mike Nugent was hurt during the Oakland Raiders game vs the Cleveland Browns. Matthew had a workout on Tuesday September 25 and was selected from a excellent group of kickers to replace Mike Nugent.

Like many kickers in the NFL, they received their opportunity because somebody got hurt. It's too bad that Mike Nugent got hurt. But as they all say "Injuries are big part of the game." However, this is an opportunity for Matthew to make his mark as a starting kicker in the NFL and he has earned it.

Both Matthew McCrane and Snapper, Trent Sieg (Colorado State) attended my 2018 College Senior Combine. Both are now with the Raiders replacing specialists that got hurt in early season games.

Congrats to Matthew and I wish him and Trent the best of luck in their upcoming games for the Oakland Raiders.