Videos of JJ McGrath: We may have hit jackpot

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Originally Posted by messageboardsuperhero

I am definitely pleased/happy with the addition- Mullen is at least making a good effort at shoring up a huge hole in our team.

That being said, I can't force myself to get more excited than just "cautiously optimistic" about a guy who has yet to attempt a live field goal at the college level- especially after the awful kicking we had last year. He sure as hell can't be any worse than what we already have though.

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I'm with you, but at least this guy has kicked some monster FGs in high school, and he apparently was 7-11 his senior year. That means most of those were probably from a pretty good distance, and he still made more than anybody we had last year.

Obviously that's HS and it's different, but he has a better resume than anybody we currently have.

And he looks like he can boom some kickoffs, too. I say let he and Bell battle for kickoff, let he and Graves and Sobiesk battle for FG, and let Bell and Cook battle for P. It is interesting, though, that we will now have two scholarship K/P on the team and yet they are probably just going to battle it out for P.

we do have a kicker who has never missed in a game - he's 1/1 ..... I think he is more of a position player than a kicker ... Earhart

I still haven't seen it mentioned as to why this kid is leaving Michigan and coming to State. I assume he didn't win the job at michigan?

Lets just hope that he's as good as a former nice sized left footed kicker that came out of Michigan State years ago. If he was from Denmark I'd feel real good about him.

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Originally Posted by AlSwearengen

I still haven't seen it mentioned as to why this kid is leaving Michigan and coming to State. I assume he didn't win the job at michigan?

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Evidently there is a scholarship kicker already on campus and another one coming in 2015, so he probably felt like they were looking at other guys to start. He redshirted last year, was just a true freshman walk-on.

But there are probably about 100 D1 schools that have a backup better than anybody we have.

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Originally Posted by messageboardsuperhero

I am definitely pleased/happy with the addition- Mullen is at least making a good effort at shoring up a huge hole in our team.

That being said, I can't force myself to get more excited than just "cautiously optimistic" about a guy who has yet to attempt a live field goal at the college level- especially after the awful kicking we had last year. He sure as hell can't be any worse than what we already have though.

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Fair enough. Can't say as I blame you for that approach.

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Originally Posted by Todd4State

I do agree that range matters and it definitely makes it a lot easier on an offense when they only have to get to say the 35 as opposed to the red zone- but I value accuracy over range. It just seems like Dan is the opposite and is more enamored with leg strength than anything- even if the guy struggles with accuracy in high school.

Kickers are weird in general. I go back to when Madison Central had Stephen Gostkowski and they ended up having to bench him in high school and now he's been kicking with the Patriots for awhile and has had a nice career. It's almost a total crapshoot and personally I think the best way to go about it is to let the guys that want to come play for MSU all walk-on and tell them that whoever performs the best gets the job. Like Sobiesk and Bigham. And I'm not opposed to a guy like McGrath throwing his hat in the ring- I just think that typically we can find a guy that is a decent kicker that wants to play for us from Mississippi that can do a good job. Scott Westerfield comes to mind.

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To be fair, Bell was primarily a punter in HS. He had very little experience kicking FGs. Same for Logan Cooke coming in this fall. Mullen should be shot for trying to make a punter into a kicker.

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Originally Posted by FISHDAWG

we do have a kicker who has never missed in a game - he's 1/1 ..... I think he is more of a position player than a kicker ... Earhart

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Earhart was a SR. And he only got the kick in garbage time of the bowl game as a reward. The fact we never even gave him a look during the season with the disaster that was Bell/Sobiesk should tell you all you need to know about how good he probably was.

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Originally Posted by AlSwearengen

I still haven't seen it mentioned as to why this kid is leaving Michigan and coming to State. I assume he didn't win the job at michigan?

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From his commitment interview, he said Michigan told him he would come on as a preferred walk-on with the promise of a scholly the following year, because they already had a senior that has the kicker scholly. Then this year, they offered a scholly to another recruit. I'm assuming that's why he's leaving. I'm also guessing that means we've either offered him a scholly, or the opportunity to earn one.

Anything walking and breathing with a K next to his position is good news.

What's the story with this guy?

I guess that he can play immediately since he was a walk on and didn't play any?

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Originally Posted by deltadawg99

What's the story with this guy?

I guess that he can play immediately since he was a walk on and didn't play any?

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Yes.

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Originally Posted by blacklistedbully

From his commitment interview, he said Michigan told him he would come on as a preferred walk-on with the promise of a scholly the following year, because they already had a senior that has the kicker scholly. Then this year, they offered a scholly to another recruit. I'm assuming that's why he's leaving. I'm also guessing that means we've either offered him a scholly, or the opportunity to earn one.

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That's a pretty fu*king big deal to tell a player you'll get a scholarship after waiting a year and then not follow up on that. I'm guessing the cost of tuition alone at Michigan for only one year is more than four years at State if out of state is waived. Most would be forced to leave. Michigan's tuition fees are closer to Vanderbilt's than MSU. Good for him to telling them to shove it.

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Originally Posted by Dawg61

That's a pretty fu*king big deal to tell a player you'll get a scholarship after waiting a year and then not follow up on that. I'm guessing the cost of tuition alone at Michigan for only one year is more than four years at State if out of state is waived. Most would be forced to leave. Michigan's tuition fees are closer to Vanderbilt's than MSU. Good for him to telling them to shove it.

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Michigan is only $12,800 for in-state students, which is only 1,800 more than the national average, but 38,928 for out of state students.

When it's all over this kid may have a chance to be the most important JJ we've ever had. Of course, I'm comparing him to JJ Johnson, the running back that carried us to our last SEC Championship berth. Kick a couple of game winners and he could be one for the ages.

I looked up Michigan's kicking stats yesterday. I font remember the exact numbers but I do remember only seeing one bad year in the last 10 years. That would leave me to believe that with the stats and with Michigan's reputation that they bring in a lot better talent at K then we do. That alone has me optimistic about him.