The House of Blue

Chris Sailer runs one of the top kicking camps in the country and sees tons of kickers every year.

Isn't Landon Foster (this year's signee) also a Sailer camp guy?

Seriously...this is silly. Low on rides this year...Mansour was supposed to kicker of a generation and Landon Foster last year.

I hope people see thru the smoke screen to failing of this program under Joker. What next another FB?

Mansour will be a Junior and has yet to show he will ever be more than a kickoff guy. The only FG kicker right now will be a Senior. Also, Foster is a punter.

Even though numbers are low, we need a good kicker in this class who can get on campus and sharpen his skills for a year before being thrown into pressure kicking as a true freshman. That killed Mansour as a FG kicker. This guy is supposedly one of the top 7 "specialists" in the entire country. When we can get a kicker of that caliber on schollie AND we can afford to let him adjust for a redshirt year, we would be stupid to say no.

Fantastic pick up.

I have to agree. WIth a dependable kicker, we have 3 wins over UT in the last 6 years. Nobody ever thinks about the kicker.....until he trots onto the field with the game on the line. As you said, Mansour is a junior. and that allows MacGinnis to adjust to the college kicking game without the enormous pressure to produce as a true freshman.

"Kicker U"

You beat me to it. First thing that came to my mind.

Exactly, Also I think the kid is a 4.0 student. Could that possibly become an academic ride?

Didn't Florida State lose a couple National Championships not too long ago for reliance on walk on FG kickers?

Seems like after that, they started offering schollies to kickers.

I understand the importance of ST, particularly the kicking game. But, UK uses too many schollies on these kids, IMO. Perhaps, in the team's position, they have to do it to attract top-flight kickers. Just not a great way to use schollies when you're trying to build a winner in the SEC.

There have been certain posters forced to keep their hate holes sour recently with the watt recruiting has been going. They have sitting eagerly, just itching for something...anything to bitch about. It was only a matter of time. Im not thrilled with the commitment myself, but this class still has potential to finish a top 25 class imo. One commitment does not take away from the class as a whole.

***2006 @ Knoxville - Lones Seiber misses a very makeable FG from 30 something yards in either the 2nd or 3rd quarter. At the end of the game with UK trailing 17-12 (and Seiber also missed a PAT), UK has to go for a TD inside the UT 5 instead of trailing 17-15 (or 17-16 if he made the PAT) and working the clock while setting up for a chip shot game winning FG.

***2007 @ Lexington vs UT - In the 2nd OT, UK has a chip shot game ending/winning FG blocked, and goes on to lose in 3 OT.

***2008 @ Lexington vs MTSU - UK is 2-6 on FG attempts, including one that is blocked in the closing seconds that set up one of the most heart stopping plays I've ever witnessed when Robbie McAtee made a game saving shoestring tackle on the UK 3 with no time left.UK wins 20-14

***2008 @ Lexington vs Carolina - UK is leading 7-0 and the defense playing lights out when a kickoff is returned by Carolina for 84 yards to the UK 16. Carolina, who had yet to muster a 1st down, scores on the next play. In the 2nd quarter, UK sets up for a short FG looking to take a 10-7 lead. Instead, Carolina blocks it and takes it to the house for a 14-7 lead. UK, which also misses a 45 yard FG, goes on to lose 24-17. That was a swing of 20 points in a 7 point loss. All of it on the kicking game.

***2008 @ Lexington vs Vandy - UK roughs the punter not once, not twice, but three times (and had yet another one nullified by a Vandy penalty) to extend Vandy drives and exhaust the defense in a 31-24 loss. The loss isn't on the kicking game, but abysmal special teams player for sure.

***2008 @ The Swamp vs Florida - Two blocked punts in the opening minutes allow Florida to take a quick 14-0 lead en route to a 63-5 laugher. I'm in no way advocating that we would have won, but those two gaffes buried us in an enormous hole and things just snowballed from there. Judging by CRB's "conversation" with Ortmeyer I would have bet money that at halftime, Steve Ortmeyer would have been headed back to Lexington to clean his office out. Also, in the interest of time, I won't go into the other kicks that Florida has blocked against us.

***2008 @ Memphis vs ECU - Two PAT are blocked, leaving us hanging to a 25-19 lead at the end instead of 27-19 and ECU needing a TD & 2 point PAT to tie.

***2009 @ Columbia - Two long kickoff returns by Carolina sets them up with TD drives of 32 and 39 yards. In the 4th quarter and UK trailing 21-20 UK has to punt from the Carolina 44. Instead of pinning them deep, a shanked punt lets Carolina start work from the comfort of their own 39. Cats go on to lose 28-26.

***2009 @ Auburn - A blocked FG and TD return by Auburn turned what was actually a pretty good ass whipping by UK into a game that could have easily been sent to OT.

***2010 @ Oxford - Two UK kickoffs that go out of bounds to set up Ole Miss at their own 40 and a 60+ yard punt return given up to set up Ole MIss at the UK 6 factor in huge in a 42-35 loss.

***2010 @ Lexington vs UGA - With UK trailing 7-3, UGA reutrns a kickoff 100 yards to take a 14-3 lead. UK loses 44-31. Without that return, it's 37-31 and UK still has a chance at the end.

Do special teams matter? Yeah.....and I also might add that these were games that either likely kept UK from better bowl games (not to mention a couple of 9 win seasons) or could have kept UK from going bowling (like the MTSU game).