Rivals Showing New Commit

[H-towngreen]

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recr...hery-Olen-94093

Local kid, anyone know anything about him?

From his Rivals video he was shown kicking off in which he looks to have a leg on him as he put several thru the end zone. Also shown puntng, and most importantly field goals. His longest was from 48, most shown were 20-30 yarders.

Edited December 10, 2009 by H-towngreen

[Mean Green 93-98]

No, but a quick search turned up this:

More than 250 of the nation's top kickers, punters and long snappers were in Las Vegas recently to attend the seventh annual Chris Sailer National Kicking and Snapping Spring Event. In the end, four campers stood out from the crowd. . . .

Some of the other top kickers who stood out included Carey Spear from Mayfield (Highland Heights, Ohio), Zachery Olen of Berkner (Richardson, Texas) . . .

Olen was the winner of the punting portion of the camp.

"Zach is a great overall kicking/punting prospect," Sailer said. "He is a good-looking athlete with a tremendous leg. Zach won the punting competition because he was more consistent and mentally tough than the rest of the field."

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/recruiting/...-snapping_N.htm

EDIT: And here is the list of Rivals' top kickers in the nation.

Notice Zach at #20. A very nice pickup at a needed position.

Edited December 10, 2009 by Mean Green 93-98

[gangrene]

He likes Megan Fox, Victoria's Secret products and shops at the Texas Tech Athletic Department store. I hope he doesn't wear a Texas Tech shirt to class and get labeled a douche!!

Looks like a good pickup, but do we really need a kicker?

The Kohl's kicking camp has him ranked as the nation's #15 kicker (5 star) and #17 punter ( 4 1/2 stars) and said he had a 73-yard kickoff. They also state he has the ability to hit huge punts but his consistency needed improvement. Keep in mind, these comments were made prior to his senior season. He's a lefty and here's some video of him punting and kicking.

I find it odd that I am excited to sign a kicker, but hey...good Mean Green football news is hard to come by these days.

Welcome abroad the Mean Green roller coaster Zach!!

Edited December 10, 2009 by gangrene

[sports1]

A good kicker next year could make a major difference in the win total. Congrats on the pick up.

[Quoner]

He likes beer pong and Bruno -- this bodes well for me.

I'm totally buying him that bicycle.

[FirefightnRick]

Keeps his eye on the placement during his follow-through.

Rick

[Guest JohnDenver]

He likes beer pong and Bruno -- this bodes well for me.

I'm totally buying him that bicycle.

He is friends with "Berkner YoungLife", which doesn't code well for you.

[rcade]

Glad to see a fellow Berkner Ram coming to Denton. It's also the high school of Scott Davis, the UNT quarterback who nearly beat the Longhorns in the '80s.

[Green to the Bone]

He kicks with the devil's foot. We'll need a placekick holder who's also sinister.

[UNT90]

Nice. Welcome aboard.

Now, on to the defensive line...

[FirefightnRick]

Glad to see a fellow Berkner Ram coming to Denton. It's also the high school of Scott Davis, the UNT quarterback who beat the Longhorns in the '80s.

Couldn't resist.

Rick

[rcade]

Couldn't resist.

It was hard to type the word "nearly."

Roll Tide.

[Guest GrayEagleOne]

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recr...hery-Olen-94093

Local kid, anyone know anything about him?

From his Rivals video he was shown kicking off in which he looks to have a leg on him as he put several thru the end zone. Also shown puntng, and most importantly field goals. His longest was from 48, most shown were 20-30 yarders.

I've seen him several times (two grandkids are Berkner grads) and he caught my eye early on. I thought that this kid may be the greatest high school kicker that I've seen. We'll see a lot of touchbacks with Zach kicking off.

[UNTflyer]

If you look at the game films, we were just 4 or 5 kicks away from being 7-5.

[Stan R]

If you look at the game films, we were just 4 or 5 kicks away from being 7-5.

apparently.

[DeepGreen]

If you look at the game films, we were just 4 or 5 kicks away from being 7-5.

We were also a young team....yada, yada, yada.

[emmitt01]

Why did you need to type that? We know that we need a good, consistent kicker and we got one (inshallah). Can't you just be happy that we filled this need.

No, of course not. You had to go all Emmitt on us.

Seriously folks, get over it.

Once again, I aplogize for you just not being my type. Stop with the flowers, the PMs and "accidental" mentions in threads that have nothing to do with me.

Now, on subject, looks like a good pickup. I wonder how much was Knott and how much was blocking though.

[Side Show Joe]

I've seen him several times (two grandkids are Berkner grads) and he caught my eye early on. I thought that this kid may be the greatest high school kicker that I've seen. We'll see a lot of touchbacks with Zach kicking off.

Thanks for the inside info. He looks like a great addition. He doesn't kick low field goals does he? I know alot of people argue about the source of our problems on special teams, but I feel many field goal atempts were low kicks.

Thanks

[NT80]

Thanks for the inside info. He looks like a great addition. He doesn't kick low field goals does he? I know alot of people argue about the source of our problems on special teams, but I feel many field goal atempts were low kicks.

Thanks

Kickers must or should be able to adapt their kicks to location. Short field goals and extra points require a high kick but not the distance. Longer kicks or against a stiff wind require a lower, linedrive type kick to travel further and faster. Defending teams have started using tall players (like smut player = 6'-8") to jump in the center of the line in addition to outside speed rushers to try and block kicks. All the more need for a high kick when able.

[eulessismore]

I've seen him several times (two grandkids are Berkner grads) and he caught my eye early on. I thought that this kid may be the greatest high school kicker that I've seen. We'll see a lot of touchbacks with Zach kicking off.

Well, that could be really great! I do think at least part of the FG/PAT (and also the punting) attempts being blocked were due to poor blocking on the part of our special teams. Whether or not that is the case, kickoffs are not dependant on that; having someone kick them through the back of the end zone would be a big help. I wonder what our stats are for the opponents starting field position after kickoffs; it seems to have gotten worse from about the 3rd game through the end of this season. One thing is that this kid can also punt; Atterberry is good (does better with good protection), but we can't count on not needing a backup. I think that Atterberry was playing hurt after some part of the Arkansas State game.

[Guest GrayEagleOne]

Well, that could be really great! I do think at least part of the FG/PAT (and also the punting) attempts being blocked were due to poor blocking on the part of our special teams. Whether or not that is the case, kickoffs are not dependant on that; having someone kick them through the back of the end zone would be a big help. I wonder what our stats are for the opponents starting field position after kickoffs; it seems to have gotten worse from about the 3rd game through the end of this season. One thing is that this kid can also punt; Atterberry is good (does better with good protection), but we can't count on not needing a backup. I think that Atterberry was playing hurt after some part of the Arkansas State game.

My memory is not what it once was but I'm pretty certain that in a playoff game against Garland in 2008 his opening kickoff went over the goalpost. He did have a pretty stiff north wind behind him but it was impressive nonetheless.

He is a little less impressive as a punter but not much. He has a really strong leg. I expect to see fifty plus yard field goals during his career. He, or anyone else, can't be effective without a good snapper, holder and blockers. I hope that we can remedy that next year.

Atterberry had a great start but seemed a little spooked after getting one blocked. He seemed to rush his punts more and several went off of the side of his foot. He'll have to correct that or Olen may be handling both duties.

[eulessismore]

My memory is not what it once was but I'm pretty certain that in a playoff game against Garland in 2008 his opening kickoff went over the goalpost. He did have a pretty stiff north wind behind him but it was impressive nonetheless.

He is a little less impressive as a punter but not much. He has a really strong leg. I expect to see fifty plus yard field goals during his career. He, or anyone else, can't be effective without a good snapper, holder and blockers. I hope that we can remedy that next year.

Atterberry had a great start but seemed a little spooked after getting one blocked. He seemed to rush his punts more and several went off of the side of his foot. He'll have to correct that or Olen may be handling both duties.

I cannot imagine that the coaching staff hasn't noticed these overall problems with the kicking game. We can only hope they get them corrected, but we'll know for sure by this time next year. We cannot get our won-loss record turned around without fixing the kicking game. This recruitment seems to indicate they take the problem seriously.

Edited December 11, 2009 by eulessismore

[NT80]

Atterberry had a great start but seemed a little spooked after getting one blocked. He seemed to rush his punts more and several went off of the side of his foot. He'll have to correct that or Olen may be handling both duties.

I noticed that too. I forget which home game it was but his first blocked punt seemed to really bother him after that.

[eulessismore]

I noticed that too. I forget which home game it wasbut his first blocked punt seemed to really bother him after that.

Middle Tennessee?

[UNT90]

I cannot imagine that the coaching staff hasn't noticed these overall problems with the kicking game. We can only hope they get them corrected, but we'll know for sure by this time next year. We cannot get our won-loss record turned around without fixing the kicking game. This recruitment seems to indicate they take the problem seriously.

I'm sure after 3 years of the same problem, year 4 will be the magical year everything gets fixed.

I like the signing, but its a kicker. I know it's an important position (assuming you can figure out how to give him enough time to get the kick off), but excuse me for not doing backflips for a player that is on the field maybe 8 plays the whole game.

I'll get excited when we start to see some DL prospects commit or when Javia Hall puts pen to paper.