Brenton King

[tech_wreck47]

Regarding the player doing the kicking (#88), CPJ said he all makes the kicks in practice. So, I'm just hoping it's just nerves and that he'll get calmer each game. It sounds like the other kicker could be a while yet healing up.

I am concerned about the hangtime of lack thereof. There was one KO that went to the 5 yard line, but there wasn't a defender within 15 yards when the returner caught the ball. If it were possible, I'd rather see him kick high hangtime kicks to 20 yd or 25 yd line instead of trying to kick it long with minimal hang time. I don't think he has the leg to do touchbacks since his KO's after 15 yd penalties only go to the back of the end zone.

Noticed the same thing. I would like to see the ball get up quicker on field goals as well. Hopefully that will get better as the season goes and nerves will settle down.

 

[takethepoints]

Given the improvement Davis made from game 1 to game 2, he'll be an AA by the time we play Pitt. Let's hope he'll keep making progress.

I think he had a case of big game nerves. Happens to the best of them.

 

[CuseJacket]

C'mon 'Cuse, D+? Glad you weren't my prof. If you get the touchback, whether wind aided or not, that is the best you can do for that kick. If you kick it 3 rows deep into the stands it still comes out to the same yard line. The kick out of bounds and the missed extra point blemishes lower the grade from an A, for sure. I'm going with C+, B-. There is a heck of a lot more that could have gone wrong out there than actually did.

I am far from convinced he is our kicker for the future, but the game stats are what they are. He had a max potential of 11 points to produce out there and scored 10/11. Just because 3 got pulled off the board after the roughing call(a decision I would not have made at the time), he still made the kick. What was their average starting position after KOs?

Maybe I am being harsh, but I didn't think so. I tried to make sure my post wouldn't be interpreted as some exagerrated reaction.

Here's my "grading" methodology:

1. I expect kicks in the 35-yd range to be automatic in college, especially P5. If not automatic, the misses should be an exception.
2. I included his FG that was pulled off the board in my comment about 2 made FG attempts.
3. Primary reason for my "grade"? Making your extra points and keeping the ball inbounds on kickoffs seem like bare minimums for P5, don't you think? It doesn't really matter to me that he made other extra points, connected on 2 chip shot FGs, and had a few touchbacks, wind or no wind.

I am happy to concede the wind-aided touchbacks as a job well done I guess, but as I project that forward it doesn't give me much hope. Believe me, I am pulling for Shawn Davis to continue his improvement. Couldn't have been easy to hit 1, let alone 2, FGs after the opener, and for that I give him a lot of credit. I know I would have been a head case on the first approach this past Saturday.

 

[AE 87]

Fwiw, Butker's first attempts (vs Duke 2013) made 49yd, missed 40 yd, and had 30 yd blocked

 

[wreckrod]

Maybe I am being harsh, but I didn't think so. I tried to make sure my post wouldn't be interpreted as some exagerrated reaction.

Here's my "grading" methodology:

1. I expect kicks in the 35-yd range to be automatic in college, especially P5. If not automatic, the misses should be an exception.
2. I included his FG that was pulled off the board in my comment about 2 made FG attempts.
3. Primary reason for my "grade"? Making your extra points and keeping the ball inbounds on kickoffs seem like bare minimums for P5, don't you think? It doesn't really matter to me that he made other extra points, connected on 2 chip shot FGs, and had a few touchbacks, wind or no wind.

I am happy to concede the wind-aided touchbacks as a job well done I guess, but as I project that forward it doesn't give me much hope. Believe me, I am pulling for Shawn Davis to continue his improvement. Couldn't have been easy to hit 1, let alone 2, FGs after the opener, and for that I give him a lot of credit. I know I would have been a head case on the first approach this past Saturday.

Have you ever played golf? The wind at your back doesn't help that much. For him to get 10 extra yards on the kickoff you'd need like a 40 mph gust.

 

[CuseJacket]

Fwiw, Butker's first attempts (vs Duke 2013) made 49yd, missed 40 yd, and had 30 yd blocked

Good to know and gives reason for hope.

Not that you were refuting my post... I'd also grade that a D in the kicking game.

 

[Boomergump]

Maybe I am being harsh, but I didn't think so. I tried to make sure my post wouldn't be interpreted as some exagerrated reaction.

Here's my "grading" methodology:

1. I expect kicks in the 35-yd range to be automatic in college, especially P5. If not automatic, the misses should be an exception.
2. I included his FG that was pulled off the board in my comment about 2 made FG attempts.
3. Primary reason for my "grade"? Making your extra points and keeping the ball inbounds on kickoffs seem like bare minimums for P5, don't you think? It doesn't really matter to me that he made other extra points, connected on 2 chip shot FGs, and had a few touchbacks, wind or no wind.

I am happy to concede the wind-aided touchbacks as a job well done I guess, but as I project that forward it doesn't give me much hope. Believe me, I am pulling for Shawn Davis to continue his improvement. Couldn't have been easy to hit 1, let alone 2, FGs after the opener, and for that I give him a lot of credit. I know I would have been a head case on the first approach this past Saturday.

It would be interesting to see what the actual overall percentage of FGs made in P5 from each of the ranges possible. I would expect misses to happen a little more frequently than you have characterized. If forced to guess, I would say 75% of 35 yard FG attempts get converted at the P5 level, while a quarter of them don't. I share your disgust when I see a KO go out of bounds. It drives me crazy. However, we have to understand that it is a long kick and these guys are not trying to split the fairway like a golfer at the tee box. They are trying to kick outside the hash and create a 12th defender out of the sideline. That doesn't leave a ton of room for error. If we were to give up a TD on a kick that was caught dead center of the field, that would be pretty annoying too.

BTW, there is zero doubt in my mind that you are rooting for the kid. I am too, just like the rest of the guys. Appraising performance is by no means "hating" on a player.

 

[bob4gt]

Forget kickoffs into the end zone - how is his onside kick?

Bob

 

[thebull35]

You guys are too generous...I can only give that portion of the kicking game a D minus at best. That's only because he made two field goals. The kickoffs were wind-aided, we MISSED a PAT, and had a ball kicked out of bounds. It's like when my students come me complaining that their grade hasn't moved a whole lot because they did all their work for a week, but forget about the first four weeks of school when they were hot garbage.

 

[DCSS]

Given the history of using athlete names as thread titles, I almost expected to open this to a Kelly Quinlan tweet saying King was planning on transferring due to lack of playing time. I don't know why I assume the worst.

You assume the worst because you are a Tech fan. It's similar to learned helplessness.

 

[GTRanj]

Maybe I am being harsh, but I didn't think so. I tried to make sure my post wouldn't be interpreted as some exagerrated reaction.

Here's my "grading" methodology:

1. I expect kicks in the 35-yd range to be automatic in college, especially P5. If not automatic, the misses should be an exception.
2. I included his FG that was pulled off the board in my comment about 2 made FG attempts.
3. Primary reason for my "grade"? Making your extra points and keeping the ball inbounds on kickoffs seem like bare minimums for P5, don't you think? It doesn't really matter to me that he made other extra points, connected on 2 chip shot FGs, and had a few touchbacks, wind or no wind.

I am happy to concede the wind-aided touchbacks as a job well done I guess, but as I project that forward it doesn't give me much hope. Believe me, I am pulling for Shawn Davis to continue his improvement. Couldn't have been easy to hit 1, let alone 2, FGs after the opener, and for that I give him a lot of credit. I know I would have been a head case on the first approach this past Saturday.

I may be mistaken, but was it not the JSU kicker that kicked it out of bounds? If not, then was it both of them?

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

I may be mistaken, but was it not the JSU kicker that kicked it out of bounds? If not, then was it both of them?

Both kickers had a kick go out of bounds.

 

[Eastman]

We all need to remember one thing he is a SA and a true SA that is not on scholarship and paying his way to Tech and to be a member of our team.

AGREE!!! Given the fact that our scholarship kicker has been injured, we ought to be glad that this Tech student without a scholarship stepped up to the plate. He evidently has been the best option and I am sure he has done his best. if he were my son I would be very angry with some of the glib criticism.

 

[CuseJacket]

I may be mistaken, but was it not the JSU kicker that kicked it out of bounds? If not, then was it both of them?

Our kickoff after we went up 10-7 was kicked out of bounds.

Have you ever played golf? The wind at your back doesn't help that much. For him to get 10 extra yards on the kickoff you'd need like a 40 mph gust.

Whether the wind aided it 5 or 10 yards, we certainly weren't hitting the back half of the end zone. Much like the kickoff toward the north end zone that hung in the air that Jax St. fumbled at their own 10.

It would be interesting to see what the actual overall percentage of FGs made in P5 from each of the ranges possible. I would expect misses to happen a little more frequently than you have characterized. If forced to guess, I would say 75% of 35 yard FG attempts get converted at the P5 level, while a quarter of them don't. I share your disgust when I see a KO go out of bounds. It drives me crazy. However, we have to understand that it is a long kick and these guys are not trying to split the fairway like a golfer at the tee box. They are trying to kick outside the hash and create a 12th defender out of the sideline. That doesn't leave a ton of room for error. If we were to give up a TD on a kick that was caught dead center of the field, that would be pretty annoying too.

BTW, there is zero doubt in my mind that you are rooting for the kid. I am too, just like the rest of the guys. Appraising performance is by now means "hating" on a player.

Thanks for that last comment. I hope others understand that's where I'm coming from. I am absolutely a Davis fan. I'm a fan of everyone on the team. Much like I was a huge Bay Bay fan, and he had his wtf moments too.

None of this is meant to disparage the kid or his character. Nor am I criticizing him for doing his best. If he's what we got, then let's roll with it. It took a ton of guts to hit that first FG Saturday, after what I'm sure was a difficult few days prior.

The point I'm making is everyone can see the result of the plays. For all I know the results could be on the holder or the coaches. For example re: directional kickoffs... if that's what the coaches asked him to do, then I would instead question the decision of the coaches to attempt that, based on kickoff results to that point in the season. Of course they've seen more in practice.

I'd also be interested in the P5 stats you mentioned from that FG distance. Those might help me form a new opinion. Even if I take the success rate at 75%, my point stands that a minimum threshold for a B grade includes making extra points and not kicking kickoffs out of bounds. It's a completely objective grading system for sure

 

[alentrekin]

Looks like boomer's gut was about right, though this doesn't have a full breakdown.

 

[Boomergump]

Just to add a little clarity after looking at the box score for the first time:

7 Kickoff attempts, 4 Touchbacks, ave net gain on KO 45.3 yards (19.7 yard line) includes the penalty.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Just to add a little clarity after looking at the box score for the first time:

7 Kickoff attempts, 4 Touchbacks, ave net gain on KO 45.3 yards (19.7 yard line) includes the penalty.

Good info. It's also fair to say that the OOB kick was offset by the KO from the 50 as well.

 

[GTG768B]

I wish he had kicked out of bounds every kick vs. Tennessee... Would have helped our average starting field position a great deal.

 

[Dave.S]

Noticed the same thing. I would like to see the ball get up quicker on field goals as well. Hopefully that will get better as the season goes and nerves will settle down.

I noticed the same on the ball getting up in the air quicker, seems a second slow to me, something to keep in mind. Wouldn't be surprised at all if he has a kick blocked from the outside rush.

 

[Tech93]

Definitely agree that he seems very slow to kick the ball when attempting FGs. He better correct this or there will be more blocks.