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The Era of the Barefoot Kicker

14,306 Views | 67 Replies | Last: 7 yr ago by bigblackag12
Lateralus Ag
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libertyag said:

Law Hall 69-72 said:

chilimuybueno said:

I was sitting in the south end zone bleacher seats for this one. My freshman year. What wind there was, was from the north. It was a cool, overcast day.
I really feel old now, being on the losing end of the discussion of which way the wind was blowing!
If it makes you feel any better, I was correct about it coming out of the north but I still feel really old!

The reason I remember it being out of the north was that my girlfriend (now wife) and I had end zone seats and on one of the field goal attempts Tony kicked the ball and it looked like it was going to be wide right by 20 yards! It kept drifting and drifting. Of course it was kicked toward the other end of the field and no way could we tell if it was going to be good or not so I watched the official to see if he raised his arms.


Well, did he?
67walkon
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I know Grant's action to change kicking rules happened 7 or 8 years after Tony kicked two 60 yarder in one game. After that game Grant said my dad told me if you keep them on their side of the 50 they can't beat you. He was still pissed 8 years later.
Now you don't even see teams attempt 60 yarders because the ball comes back to the line of scrimmage instead of the 20. Those of you that were there during Tony's time know how exciting it was when he lined up from 60+ yards out. The game was damaged by grant pushing for that change and pushing to move the kickoff back to the 35 as chairman of the rules committee. The complete volunteer 12th man kickoff team went away with that change.
Lateralus Ag
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67walkon said:

I know Grant's action to change kicking rules happened 7 or 8 years after Tony kicked two 60 yarder in one game. After that game Grant said my dad told me if you keep them on their side of the 50 they can't beat you. He was still pissed 8 years later.
Now you don't even see teams attempt 60 yarders because the ball comes back to the line of scrimmage instead of the 20. Those of you that were there during Tony's time know how exciting it was when he lined up from 60+ yards out. The game was damaged by grant pushing for that change and pushing to move the kickoff back to the 35 as chairman of the rules committee. The complete volunteer 12th man kickoff team went away with that change.


When was that? I feel like I remember when the ball was on the 20 after a FG attempt...
cecil77
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That year an A&M grad student did a study of Franklin, Johansson and Erxlaben (tu).

Turns out that Johansson was classic soccer style, while Erxlaben was traditional straight on. Franklin, it turns out was mostly self taught and didn't kick soccer style. What he did was (essentially) punt the ball off the tee.

And the two inch tee also cut way down on long distance attempts. Another consequence of the rules change (ball back to the LOS on missed FG) was that returning FG attempts used to be much more common. And they were really exciting as it was like a KO return where there was almost no coverage!
RINO Safari
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This video actually seems to have ran on the NFL Network back in 2004, but was recently added to YouTube. Interestingly enough, it looks like Texas A&M place kicker Layne Neumann kicked with just a sock on shortly after this, during the 2006 season.
mesocosm
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Feet
VanZandt92
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67walkon said:

Was there for the Baylor game when Tony kicked a 64 yarder in the first half. Turn to my son and friend and said remember this it won't happen again soon. Then he kicked a 65 yarder in the second half. Which lead Coach Teaff who was on the rules committee to push to change the rule that a miss would go back to the spot of the kick and kickoffs would happen from the 35 due to the success of the 12th msn kickoff team. Gaylor.


Way to take the fun away Grant.
ashley
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Meximan said:

ashley said:

Meximan said:

67walkon said:

Was there for the Baylor game when Tony kicked a 64 yarder in the first half. Turn to my son and friend and said remember this it won't happen again soon. Then he kicked a 65 yarder in the second half. Which lead Coach Teaff who was on the rules committee to push to change the rule that a miss would go back to the spot of the kick and kickoffs would happen from the 35 due to the success of the 12th msn kickoff team. Gaylor.
And the Aggies are still producing top-notch kickers to this day. Lot of good it did Teaff.

I have been at the rules meeting twice and I will assure you one person cannot get a rule changed. That's not how the process works.

I know that. Still didn't do Teaff any good.

My mistake, I didn't mean that for you.
schmellba99
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I can see punting barefoot - hell, done it it several times. But kicking a field goal barefoot just makes me cringe something fierce.....
Gladiator-91
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Quote:

LOL. I was at A&M during the Tony Franklin era. Met him at a bar one night. He actually put his bare foot up on our table and said, "Want to see my foot?"

Isn't that what got Kirk Merritt kicked off the team?
libertyag
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Lateralus Ag said:

libertyag said:

Law Hall 69-72 said:

chilimuybueno said:

I was sitting in the south end zone bleacher seats for this one. My freshman year. What wind there was, was from the north. It was a cool, overcast day.
I really feel old now, being on the losing end of the discussion of which way the wind was blowing!
If it makes you feel any better, I was correct about it coming out of the north but I still feel really old!

The reason I remember it being out of the north was that my girlfriend (now wife) and I had end zone seats and on one of the field goal attempts Tony kicked the ball and it looked like it was going to be wide right by 20 yards! It kept drifting and drifting. Of course it was kicked toward the other end of the field and no way could we tell if it was going to be good or not so I watched the official to see if he raised his arms.


Well, did he?
Still waiting to see, it's a long FG attempt.
stetson
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ChiliBeans said:

67walkon said:

Was there for the Baylor game when Tony kicked a 64 yarder in the first half. Turn to my son and friend and said remember this it won't happen again soon. Then he kicked a 65 yarder in the second half. Which lead Coach Teaff who was on the rules committee to push to change the rule that a miss would go back to the spot of the kick and kickoffs would happen from the 35 due to the success of the 12th msn kickoff team. Gaylor.
I know Grant Teaff is supposed to be this great fatherly figure, but he always struck me as a sore loser who hid behind false piety.
Isn't that Baylor?
94chem
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Quote:

I know Grant's action to change kicking rules happened 7 or 8 years after Tony kicked two 60 yarder in one game. After that game Grant said my dad told me if you keep them on their side of the 50 they can't beat you. He was still pissed 8 years later.

Now you don't even see teams attempt 60 yarders because the ball comes back to the line of scrimmage instead of the 20. Those of you that were there during Tony's time know how exciting it was when he lined up from 60+ yards out. The game was damaged by grant pushing for that change and pushing to move the kickoff back to the 35 as chairman of the rules committee. The complete volunteer 12th man kickoff team went away with that change.
Were you in a coma for 20 years? The 12th Man Kick-off team was instituted by Sherrill, and it didn't go away until the early 90's under Slocum, after Rodney Blackshear for Tech returned a kick-off for a TD in 1990.

In many HS jurisdictions, a field goal is just like a punt, except that it's worth 3 points if it goes through the uprights. If it goes in the endzone it's a touchback. It can be downed by the kicking team or returned by the receiving team. This means that teams could placekick on 4th down instead of punting.
EKUAg
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EKU had a barefoot kicker in 1981. His 3 made FGs in the snow at Boise State got the Colonels to its 3rd consecutive FCS title game.
Johnny2Fan
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Because of tony, I also kicked barefooted in high School, in del Rio Texas. Did pretty well with my longest being 37 yards. We were so bad I didn't get many chances. Only time it hurt to kick was if I went a a few days without kicking. I didn't have a kicking tee on day and I was kicking off a field sprinkler head. I came in to low and kicked the sprinkler, it didn't move but my foot did. Had to wear an ankle rap for weeks and soak my foot in ice all season. Good ol days. Played with lee hays, the offensive coordinater at Texas tech. Good times.
Liquid Wrench
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Quote:

We were so bad I didn't get many chances.
I know what you mean. There was a game my senior year we only had to trot out to protect the kicker once. And they blocker our extra point.
Picadillo
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Was at that Baylor game up on the second deck and can still hear that kick; it sounded like a cannon.
cecil77
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Yeah, Baylor stops us at the 50 and gets scored on. The body language of their players coming off the field was great, like "what in hell do we have to do?"
rrtodds
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Seems like Russell Erxleben had just broke the record not long before Tony broke it twice, but only held the record for just a few hours br gore the ACU kicked the 69 yarder.

Erxleben was probably the last best traditional straight ahead kicker.
Kozmozag
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I was there it was a cool day, wind out of the north. Hasn't they just opened a new part of the stadium.
Psych
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aggiehawg said:

Lateralus Ag said:

AH, now you're just bragging.
What can I say? I was cute back then. Guys hit on me.


I'm gonna need more proof than that.

Rule #1
Homesick Aggie
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aggiehawg said:

LOL. I was at A&M during the Tony Franklin era. Met him at a bar one night. He actually put his bare foot up on our table and said, "Want to see my foot?"

(Disclaimer: It was the night he held the record for a bit.)


Not surprised at this. I met him back in late 70's when he was dating a relative of a friend of mine. He was very cocky back then, hopefully he grew out it!
Saint Pablo
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I have never heard of a high school team being awarded three points for putting a kick off through the uprights
Windy City Ag
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Quote:

Erxleben was probably the last best traditional straight ahead kicker.

And he parlayed that into multiple indictments and jail terms related to securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. I wonder if he is still in the clink.

What a career.
94chem
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Quote:

I have never heard of a high school team being awarded three points for putting a kick off through the uprights
If you were replying to me, I meant "field goal." You can basically place kick instead of punt on 4th down, and if it goes out of bounds, the ball is spotted where it went out. If it goes in the end zone, it's spotted at the 20. If it lands in the field of play, it can be downed or returned. If this rule were implemented in the NCAA or NFL, you still wouldn't see teams place kick instead of punting, unless the kickers could angle kick 60 yards downfield. You would perhaps see more longer FG's attempted, since a miss on a 67 yarder would end up the same as a 30 yard punt (assuming it went in the endzone and wasn't returned).
schmellba99
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Most of the players on the kickoff team that got scored on were actually scholarship players. Slocum was just looking for an excuse to disband the entire 12th Man team, and finally whittled it down to a point where something bad happened and he had his excuse ready made.
aggiehawg
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Psych said:

aggiehawg said:

Lateralus Ag said:

AH, now you're just bragging.
What can I say? I was cute back then. Guys hit on me.


I'm gonna need more proof than that.

Rule #1
There's an age limit on Rule #1. I'm well past that limit. And there are enough oldsters on here if I were to post a picture of myself at that age in college, someone might know me...Biblically. It was the 70s, after all.

LOL.
Lateralus Ag
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Oh *****
aggiehawg
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Lateralus Ag said:

Oh *****
Why I never ran for political office. Large closet, skeletons.
Lateralus Ag
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aggiehawg said:

Lateralus Ag said:

Oh *****
Why I never ran for political office. Large closet, skeletons.


Well, you would always get my vote.
bigblackag12
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aggiehawg said:

Lateralus Ag said:

AH, now you're just bragging.
What can I say? I was cute back then. Guys hit on me.


This thread is doing all kinds of things to me, what with the anectdotes and history lessons but whats all this past tense stuff boo you know you still fine.
Craigy
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As a straight on kicker, Mark Moseley says hello
schmellba99
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I always picture Mrs. Hawg as some cross between Hellen Mirren and Christy Brinkley - likely smoking hot in her 20's, and still that way now. Maybe that's just me.
bigblackag12
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schmellba99 said:

I always picture Mrs. Hawg as some cross between Hellen Mirren and Christy Brinkley - likely smoking hot in her 20's, and still that way now. Maybe that's just me.




Definitely agree on the hellen mirren side. Man that woman has been killing it since the 60s



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