What is Butker's Problem?

[bartoma]

Obviously, he's got a great leg... But why is he so erratic? I thought he was supposed to be so much more accurate...

 

[Tech93]

It has got to be in his head. Some guys have a hard time adjusting to game play vs practice. Hopefully, he will get this corrected. I have watched him miss too many "makeable" FGs...last yr UGA game, Duke, tonight, and I think there was one in VT game.

 

[AlabamaBuzz]

Yep...probably over-thinking everything. It was windy out there today, and I think it was playing with his mind a little.

 

[up state jacket]

Some guys can do it when the lights come on and some guys freeze. He is in the frozen group. The frustrating aspect of this is he was supposed to be the one. Paul has gone through kickers like he has DC's.

 

[takethepoints]

Actually, I think Butker is The One. This is his first year handling all the place kicking. He'll be better then fine eventually. He knows the problem; it's his set-up angle. It's sort of like Tom Glavine in his first year when he couldn't quite bite the corner hard enough to get a strike on his change-up. He learned, so will Butker.

 

[deeeznutz]

Some guys can do it when the lights come on and some guys freeze. He is in the frozen group. The frustrating aspect of this is he was supposed to be the one. Paul has gone through kickers like he has DC's.

You realize he's only a soph, right? Which means he's a 19/20 year old and still growing physically and mentally, and he's already hit some clutch field goals. Why are you ready to write him off so quickly?

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Some guys can do it when the lights come on and some guys freeze. He is in the frozen group. The frustrating aspect of this is he was supposed to be the one. Paul has gone through kickers like he has DC's.

There was a reason he was rated one of the two best kickers in the country in high school. If you watched any of his film you would see that he is the real deal. Right now he is having a streak of bad luck but you can't keep a good athlete down indefinitely.

 

[ramblin_man]

The commentators also mentioned that the wind was gusting at times that was strong enough to cause the bleachers to sway!

 

[Tech93]

In FG % he is ranked #82 in the country. In the top kickers in the country(3 are tied at #10), so out of the top 12 in FG %, 8 are FR and SO. Out of 5 FG attempts from the range of 30-39 yds this year, he has only made 1. Let's hope he can get it corrected soon.

 

[wuzjrbuzz]

Yep, 1 out of 5 from 30-39 is not good at all. Got to make those, or it will eventually bite you in the @$$.

 

[GTech63]

Yep, 1 out of 5 from 30-39 is not good at all. Got to make those, or it will eventually bite you in the @$$.

His misses are from an angle and I believe all have been outside the Goal Posts on the hash mark side from where he is kicking. Seems if he lined up to hit the opposite GP they would be down the middle. He has the leg. They are always long enough. There has to be something, with which to teach him how to properly line up the kick from an angle. Can the holder have anything to do with being off line?

 

[DTGT]

He'll be fine. This year is a character building year for the run we make next year.

I'm sure no one is beating him up harder over those misses than he is. He'll correct it. Give him time.

 

[InsideLB]

I remember people were all down on scott blair for awhile. However he was young and steadily improved. Harrison will too. IMO kind of a sophmore slump. He aint missing by muchwhich is a good sign. Consistency will come.

 

[InsideLB]

Also he is kicking arse on kickoffs which alone is worth his scholarship.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

You realize he's only a soph, right? Which means he's a 19/20 year old and still growing physically and mentally, and he's already hit some clutch field goals. Why are you ready to write him off so quickly?

It's a good thing we didn't give up on Snoddy or Days or Zenon or Perkins.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Also he is kicking arse on kickoffs which alone is worth his scholarship.

Yes, indeed. Imagine our opponent starting on the 40 instead of the 25.

 

[wuzjrbuzz]

Yes, he is great on kickoffs, and no one is giving up on him. Pulling for the kid, but still missing 4 of 5 from less than 40 yards is not good. It will come back to bite us, if not corrected soon. Seems like this should be easily fixable, hope so.

 

[johncu]

Looks to me like he basically kicks it straight every time, regardless of where he is on the field.

 

[Boomergump]

The difference between Butker and Blair is night and day if you ask me. Butker has the stronger leg by 10 yards. Harrison kicks a beautiful ball every time. He gets lift and never mis-hits it with a "hook or slice" if you will. His misses look beautiful and wonderfully struck. It is hard to explain the misses. When you compare it to Blair, there were so many mis-hits it was obvious why he was missing.

Personally, I think Butker is having alignment issues, not kicking issues. He is like a golfer who doesn't trust his read of the break right now. His last couple of chippy misses were barely to the right. Yesterday he overcompensated a little. You could see the little twist in his motion moving into the kick. My advice to him would the same as it would if I was making a trip to the mound. "Son, you have to trust your stuff". "Just follow the process and stop trying to force everything to happen". The kid has as repetitive a motion as you will ever see. You can't "aim" a pitch. You have to throw it.

 

[TampaGT]

I am sure nobody wants to hear this, but the miss at Pitt was heading towards the river. It is the open end of the stadium and when the stadium first opened pro kickers had problems on that end of the stadium. If I remember correct there is something about the wind off the river that doesn't show itself with the flags at the top of the uprights. He has had a rough season but I am sure he will correct the problem.