May 18, 2013

Kick Starting

July 14, 2010 by

After kicking woes plagued the Hogs in 2009, two freshmen are poised to enter stage right and contend for starting positions this season.

Alex Tejada (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)The Incumbents

In 2009, the Hogs ranked dead last in the SEC, and 108th out of 120 Division I schools in net punting at 32.6 yards per punt.  Punter Dylan Breeding beat out scholarship kicker Briton Forester before the season and, at times, showed a big leg.  But Breeding did not consistently get the ball to ‘turn over,’ which meant low, line drive, returnable kicks were the norm last season.

As for placekicker Alex Tejada, he had a decent year in 2009 by the numbers: 16-22 FGs and 58-59 PATs.  Both are respectable stats, but clutch field goals (at Florida and LSU) eluded the junior from Springdale until the game-winning kick vs. East Carolina provided a 20-17 Liberty Bowl overtime win.

The Newcomers

Enter stage right this year’s contenders: Zach Hocker (6-0, 170) from Russellville, and Eduardo Camara (5-8, 160) from Cedar Hill, Texas — both on scholarship.  All indications are that the Hogs would like for Hocker to take the punting job and let Camara duke it out with Tejada for the placements.  All three will vie for kickoff duties.

Hocker averaged 45.0 yards per punt as a senior, while kicking a school record 15 field goals.  His long field goal was 52 yards, and 58 of his 61 kickoffs were touchbacks.

Camara, who was injured some during his senior year, finished as one of the top kickers in Texas.  Five of Camara’s 15 field goals were from 40+, including a 49-yarder.

Competition is good for everyone.  On the special teams front, keep your eye on Hocker and Camara as fall camp begins.

Filed Under: Arkansas Razorbacks, Football Tagged With: ,
  • GolfHog

    Great News!!!!!!!

  • http://www.arkansasexpats.com ArkansasExpats

    Also, no more Trindon Holliday at LSU, which bodes well.

  • Ward_Hog

    I second that! I think this will be HUGE if our kicking game gets better. It sure could help our defense out. Can’t wait!!!

  • TexasHog

    I’m feeling excited about these 2 guys coming in and making an impact in special teams. It is bound to help out the defense!

  • T-towner

    Hardly anyone since Orville Henry moved on to Hog Heaven has expounded properly on the value of field position football, because the modernists all like 54-52 games and lots of fireworks. Let me tell you this, field position enhances your potential to win by more than most will say and kicking is a very key component thereof. We have been sucko deluxe at field position football for about two decades.

    There was a time, say about 1975, when we would beat a #2 Texas A&M by gradually backing them into an inescapable hole with Steve Little kicking, solid defense and a no mistakes offense. Boring? No one was bored by that 31-6 beatdown.

    • GolfHog

      Houston Dale knew a bit about field position football. Boring or not, I did get pretty tired of it.

      Of course there is field position football and then there is field position football. Lou Holtz was not immune to playing field position. He just wanted to play football too. If Mallet will throw to the tight end we can play a little ball control this year. It is hard to play field position when you score every possession.

      • Jimdogg

        Houston Nutt’s idea of ball control was when his running backs failed to get a first down on 1st and 2nd then on third down he would expect his QB to get 7-10 yards. If I could figure out Nutt’s strategy then how hard was it for the other SEC coaches? It always seemed strange to me that an ex-QB like Nutt would consider the position something of an afterthought – unless he could run like M. Jones. I’m curious. I wonder if the QB problems at UA and the somewhat inexplicable decline of Snead at Ole Miss has been used by opposing recruiters to discourge QB prospects from going to the Rebs? Ran into a nice young man named Marshall in Fayetteville who was from Little Rock, (he was my grandson’s roommate at Camp), who went about 320 and is a top offensive line prospect. He was the lead blocker for the State’s top rusher last year. He’s committed to Ole Miss. Nutt knows what he wants for his team : Blockers for his two yards and a cloud of Astroturf and a Hail Mary pass.

    • Jimdogg

      I agree with you Towner. Field position is very important. But get used to it Towner, Petrino is a “Modernist”. “Modernism” arose when certain coaches realized that man for man they couldn’t compete with the Woody Hayeses or Bear Bryants. So, concentrate on skill players and execution. Sure, you give up a lot of points but at least it’s a 54-52 loss and not 54 – 0. You’ll even steal a victory here and there.* A “modernistic” tendency shown by Petrino last year was the instructions to the punt returner which was to “just catch the ball son and down it” to eliminate turnovers. Petrino was confident that his offense could move the ball 80 yards almost as easily as 10-15 on a punt return. Mallet’s low interception numbers justified that confidence. One of the major deficiencies of the special teams not discussed herein is kick and punt coverage which was terrible last year. Even when Breeding got off a good kick tackling or the attempts at tackling looked high school. Some of Tejada’s kicks were reaching the end zone and the opposition was still starting at the 40. I jokingly remarked to my son at one game that Tejada should just kick it out of bounds and at least prevent a really long runback. (Other good strategies for last year would have been to kick onside more or to kick high bounders just pass the upmen – too radical maybe but if you don’t have a good kick coverage game, you never know what might work).

      It is weird, in retrospect, to realize that if Tejada had made those critical field goals and without one of the worst calls in modern college football, along with better special teams kick and punt coverage, that the HOGS would have been in a BCS game. However, on the other hand the HOGS escaped a mediocre season by the strange incompetance of another special team player, the kicker for East Carolina. Nevertheless woulda and coulda can’t replace what wasa.

      *Northwesten U. rise to middle of the league prominence in the Big Ten (or is it Big 11; or Big 12?) was due to NU’s offensive resemblence to the Western schools wild West shows on turf. Modernism works. Ask Boise, Utah, and BYU.

  • http://GonzoHog GonzoHog

    Jimdogg,

    I’ll expound on your comment by adding the fact that OL coach Markeson is also titled as the co-OC, along with the new OC, coach Radar, on HDN’s staff. What does that tell you?

    Radar has a lot of experience with conservative play-calling and “bus-driving” QBs. The only problem with that is this isn’t 1992 and Ole Giggity isn’t coaching Alabama.

  • Jimdogg

    Gonzo: Glad to know that people who know more than I have come to the same conclusion about Nutt’s tendencies. It is interesting that the article previously here on betting money have placed Ole Miss at the bottom of the SEC West. I wonder if some of these predictions are based on the assessment of the coaches rather than the team’s future potential and abilities. In other words, Ole Miss’ ranking(behind MSU no less) may not have been just due to the leaving of McCluster,Snead, and others but moreso to the lack of confidence in Nutt. LSU has a presumable Heisman Trophy candidate in Jefferson. (I am an LSU grad, but I don’t think so). So, with a presumably outstanding QB they rank below the HOGS and others? Is the betting line actually reflecting the feelings about Miles’ inability to coach (or manage a game)? I think that the bettors are also not entirely sold on Petrino which may be why Arkansas is not ranked higher with the gamblers. Remember Phil Steele’s conundrum, that his stats said Arkansas #1, but his gut says not so fast. Of course there is Tennessee with all that baggage and the bettors still like them? Conversely, the high ranking of Auburn must relect the confidence about Chizcik (?) or more likely, Mahlzahn, certainly not because of a proven QB. Of Course, the expectation, probably based on sympathy,is that the “Ole Ball Coach” now has the tools to win it all, despite the failures of the past. Of course, after the first two games these lines will change, but it seems that the betting prognostication for the Vols is really going to test that system early in the season.