Westerville (OH) South punter Brad Robbins
Westerville (OH) South punter Brad Robbins was offered by Michigan and committed to the Wolverines on Wednesday. He chose the Wolverines over offers from Illinois Navy, Nevada, and Rutgers.
Robbins is 6’2″, 180 lbs.
RATINGS
Kornblue Kicking: #1 P
ProKicker.com: #3 P, #6 specialist, #7 combo kicker
Rivals: 2-star K
247 Sports: 2-star, 73 grade, #7 P, #3232 overall
Hit the jump for more on Robbins.
Robbins was mentioned just in the past couple weeks as a possible addition when it looked like Michigan wouldn’t be able to reach its reported goal of landing 30-32 commits. In fact, he didn’t receive an offer until National Signing Day, but the coaching staff clearly apprised him of the situation. When a couple players went off the board to other schools, the coaching staff saw they would have room to extend an offer.
I’m admittedly not an expert on punting, kicking, and long snapping, so I generally just look to the specialist-specific recruiting sites for guidance. While 247 Sports ranks him as a 2-star and the #7 punter, a couple kicker-centric sites have him ranked as #1 and #3. Kornblue Kicking gives him a 5-star ranking, which means they think he can start at the FBS level as a true freshman.
Michigan needs an immediate contribution at punter, whether it comes from Robbins, a walk-on, or redshirt freshman Quinn Nordin. Kenny Allen pulled triple duty last year doing punting, placekicking, and kickoffs, so nobody is proven. Even if Robbins ends up in a backup role, he might be able to take some of the weight off the shoulders of Nordin (or a walk-on) in blowouts or certain situations.
Michigan now has 30 commits in the 2017 class, and that seems like where they’ll wrap things up.
TTB Rating: N/A. I generally don’t rate specialists.
You can find highlights here (LINK), but this is the fun highlight I’ll embed:
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I’m no expert either, but to my eye it looks like he’s not extending his leg … his kick looks a bit like he’s kicking from the knee-to-the-foot rather than the full leg. But he seems okay at fielding bad snaps, and it seems like he can run.
I wonder who on Michigan’s staff is the guy to work on kicking mechanics?
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Punting is somewhat like pitching:
Theres’ more to it than just throwing a 98 mph fastball:
Is one punting for distance or hang time?
Squib or pooch?
right or left?
End over end or backward?
bouncing forward roll or die where it hits?
Each requires its own leg & foot action.
There’s more to it than simply trying to kick it 60 yards…….. If KK has him at 5star he’s good at pretty much all of the above.
IMHO…………..INTJohn
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From the Kornblue Kicking website:
“Earning our highest ranking includes strength, consistency, operation time, athleticism, and character. Brad has all these traits. His operation times and consistency improved after recent private training in Florida, where we shortened his steps and adjusted to more of a two-step approach. Bradley has a punter’s frame but also has the ability to kick FG’s and kickoff. He has several FBS options to choose from. Holds scholarship offers from Nevada, Illinois, Navy, & others.”
The list of attributes is interesting.
“Athleticism” maps to something Harbaugh is on record as valuing.
“Consistency” is something I would think is important for a punter. A punter that booms one punt but shanks the next is problematic.
Also interesting that the last sentence does not mention Michigan, so whatever took place on NSD was very definitely last-minute or private between Robbins and Michigan.
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Interesting browsing the KK website … I came across Kyle Seychel, another “5-rated” player. PWO at Michigan in 2014, saw no game action that year, then disappears from the 2015 and 2016 rosters. Could be that he just had a change of heart and decided not to pursue football any more.
Fickle business. Probably explains why there’s a reluctance to offer scholarships to kickers and punters.
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Seychel was the placekicker during the spring game in 2015 when Harbaugh first arrived. Then he got beaten out by Kenny Allen near the beginning of the season and disappeared from the roster.
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