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| SD Championship Camp Competition Winners |
Last week was the NCS San Diego Championship Camp. This was a full day camp that started out with an official evaluation charting using our Kicking Index. Following the evaluation charting, NFL punters Sav Rocca and Mat McBriar provided a pro demo for all of the campers. Along with Mat and Sav was Daniel Zychlinski, current pro free agent who punted for Stanford University last season. Snapping to the punters was Braedyn Eagle, current pro free from Portland State.
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| Sav Rocca |
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| Mat McBriar |
After the pro demo, there was professional instruction in all areas of the kicking game, field goals, kickoffs, punts and long snapping. The NFL coaches on hand to help me with the coaching were Mitch Palmer and Darren Bennett.
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| NFL Punter Darren Bennet providing valuable instruction |
This is one thing that I like about our Championship Camps is that we have NFL players who now coach as the main instructors. Not only are we providing proper technique in the sessions, but we are also sharing with these athletes, our experiences as NFL athletes. The good, the bad and the ugly.
At this camp, there was nothing but good. We were impressed by some of the athletes participating in this camp. As always, in San Diego, the conditions were great for kicking, punting and long snapping. Many of these athletes came ready to showcase there talents.
The overall camp standout was Zach Olson. The 2014 senior from Mission Viejo High School once again demonstrated that he has what it takes to kick at a high level in college. This left footed kicker took 1st Place in the Upperclassmen FG Competition by calmly drilling a 50 yard field goal out of a snap and hold. He also took 1st place in the Upperclassmen Kickoff Competition. He had kickoffs with 3.86 hang time that traveled 69 yards. He also kicked on that traveled 68 yards with a hang time of 3.85 seconds.
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| Zach Olson |
This is the second NCS event where Zach has demonstrated his ability to win in a competition environment. We expect Zach to have an excellent season this fall and I think that any FBS team would be fortunate to have him on their roster.
Another excellent kicker that continues to impress is Jake Bailey from Santa Fe Christian HS in Solana Beach, CA. Jake is in the class of 2015 and demonstrates that he has what it takes to kick at the FBS level. He gets great height on his field goals and has no problems kicking touch backs. Expect big things from Jake this fall and keep an eye on him next summer as he travels to college camps. Jake took 2nd Place in both the FG and Kickoff Upperclassmen Competition.
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| Jake Bailey |
As for punters, we were impressed with 2015 Brandon Heicklen and 2014 Corey Bojorquez. Both of these punters demonstrated the ability to hang the ball up in the air. Each are continuing to hone their craft and picked up some valuable tips from Darren Bennett that when implemented will only improve their game. When it came to the competition Corey Bojorquez took 1st place in the Upperclassmen Punting Competition.
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| Brandon Heicklen |
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| Corey Bojorquez |
In the long snapping competition Matt Foley, 2015, displayed excellent long snapping skills that allowed him to take 1st place. Two other snappers that were impressive were 2015 Zach Reiner and 2016 Conner Kirkegaard. Conner took 2nd place in the long snapping competition.
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| Matt Foley watching as Rami Lieberman kicks during the competition |
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| Kyle Coale |
Kyle drilled 9/10 field goals during the morning evaluation charting and took 1st place in the Underclassmen Punting Competition. Kyle has good technique on field goals and will only get better as he continues to grow.
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| Rami Lieberman |
Rami made 8/10 field goals during the morning evaluation and kept that momentum by taking 1st Place and both the FG and Kickoff Underclassmen Competition.
Eric Daniels has very smooth technique for his age and will only get stronger as he gets older. Eric showed great poise by taking 2nd place in both the FG and Punting Underclassmen Competition.
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| Eric Daniels |
Overall, the inaugural NCS SD Championship Camp was a big success. Between the level of talent and the coaching staff and pro demo, everyone had a great experience. We are convinced that we all walked away better students, coaches and overall athletes.