2019 All-American Bowl Head Coach Team West & The NFL Barefoot LA Rams Kicker

LA RAMS FIELD GOAL KICKER

The LA Rams had one of the most creative genius field goal kickers, as a blister was able to change the flight of the football for Mike Lansford of Los Angeles Rams for 9 consecutive seasons. Mr. Lansford made 158 field goals in his career as an LA Ram, after refusing to quit on his craft after being released several times. Mike makes very valid points about making the transition from using a kicking tee for field goals, instead of kicking off the ground and pretty much dictates the entire NFL 101 interview. Lansford's style of kicking intrigued me one day to test out barefoot kicking and I didn't need a blister to figure out that this was the best way for me to strike a ball, as well as coach football. As Mike stated, "the game does not start until I kick the ball off" which are facts in all of American football today. Watch the video below to read how one of the most clutch kickers in his era was able to figure out a solution that might seem odd to some, but makes perfect sense when talking about how to strike a football. 

---

CLUTCH FIELD GOAL KICKERS

Clutch field goal kickers like Mike Lansford are hard to come by these days, as many do not have the ability to overcome obstacles mentally that can present themselves. Check out some information I found below about how much Mike Lansford really was for the LA Rams football team. 

"he never missed a last minute game tying or winning field goal. His 42-yard field goal in New Orleans in the final moments of the 1983 season's final game gave the Rams a 26-24 win over the Saints and sent the Rams to the playoffs over the Saints. In 1989, he kicked a last second field goal in San Francisco to beat the 49ers 13-12, and in the 1989 NFC divisional playoff game, he made 2 fourth-quarter field goals in a swirling wind at the Meadowlands to enable the Rams to tie the Giants in a game the Rams eventually won in overtime.
He also made last minute field goals to beat the Cardinals in 1984, the 49ers in 1986, the Bears in 1986 (a 50 yarder), and the Cardinals in 1987, as well as an overtime winner vs. the Saints in 1989"

ALL AMERICAN KICKERS

Having been a All-American kicker back in the day, I realize the importance of ball striking and overall kicking technique. When I evaluated Jhaidon Duran personally, I found that when he relaxes and kicks with his body, he is one of the best ball strikers I have got to witness in person at his age. Jhaidon was awarded as an all-star in Texas as a Punter this year and he will be handling the kicking duties for Team West in the 2019 High School All-American Bowl. Jhaidon was able to hit the ball from 50 yards and in with great consistency with me in Colorado, while also showing great ball lift. Click below to learn more about our 2019 All-American Bowl specialist for Team West. 

FIELD GOAL KICKERS

Field Goal Kickers come in all forms and Evan Bates is a extremely athletic linemen on both sides of the football, who also shows outstanding kicking ability in his footage on Hudl. We plan on letting Evan Bates boot the ball on Team East, while also displaying his skill set on both sides of the football in the 2019 High School All-American Bowl at Alfred J Loos Sports Complex in Addison,Texas. Watch even boom a kickoff effortlessly for a touchback below and learn more about 2019 All-American recruit Evan Bates by clicking his Scout Trout All-American picture below his booming footage. 

2019 ALL AMERICAN BOWL HEAD COACH

2019 All American Bowl Head Coach Team West Rudy Hawkins has also served as the head coach of the Texas All-Star game, "The Oil Bowl. Which features some of the top college football recruits in Northern Texas. 

At College Football Today, we look for the best individuals as coaches to move forward in coaching in our All-American Bowl events and we our very pleased to announce that the Head Coach of Team West will be City View High School's Rudy Hawkins. I got to meet Coach Hawkins during a pretty down time in my career, as I had just severely torn my hamstring at a CFL workout and got a call soon after to kick for the Wichita Falls Nighthawks of the Indoor Football League. Knowing they were playing a team I had just been with in the IFL in the Colorado Crush (Ft.Collins,Colorado), we got to come up to Colorado after a week of practice and win in Loveland, Colorado at the Budweiser Events center. Coach Hawkins was actually the first coach that was open to our philosophies in the area, as the ideas around what is known as College Football Today started to evolve. Having spoken with Coach Hawkins over the phone, I can't find a better fit for our East vs West "Battle Of The Best" as the Head Coach of Team West for our 2019 College Football Today High School All-American Bowl. Coach Hawkins will be working with the defense and leading the way for Team West, as we make sure all of the video production of the event goes perfectly. The best College coaches in the game today demand perfection and we will not settle for anything less in our 2019 High School All-American Bowl at Alfred J Loos Sports Complex at 5:00 PM Central Time. Thanks again Coach Hawkins and all of the coaches in Texas who have assisted us this week in preparation for the 2019 High School All-American Bowl! 

---

2019 NFL FREE AGENT KICKERS

The 2019 NFL Free Agent Kickers that sign with teams will be most of the garbage we see recycled year in and year out, which makes you question if they want to eliminate us for good. Many kickers today are too often swinging for the fences, rather then just striking the ball properly to execute a perfect rotating kick that does not differ from point a to point b. In more easier terms, no hook shots or curves, but a ball that fly's directly high and in a straight line. This is why we practice hitting smaller objects at Scout Trout Elite Training, but that is for another day, as their will God-willing be plenty of that going on again this year at the 2019 High School All-American Bowl, as seen in past All-American Bowl events we have hosted. I could write a novel on how to kick a football from watching so many do it the wrong way, plain and simple. 

---

But are NFL Kickers that bad or do we expect too much?

When you look at the statistics, NFL Kickers today are actually doing very well and it is just overdramatized because honestly all that matters in the NFL Today are game deciding kicks. A kicker could score 15 of his teams points and shank the game winning kick and all of the sudden he is the punch line in every bar joke. In 2018 NFL season, there happened to be 11 kickers who had over 30 attempts and were able to convert over 90% of their try's. In 1987, there was not one kicker in the NFL that was over 90% on field goal attempts and the legendary Detroit Lion Eddie Murray was able to convert a astounding 20 out of 21 kicks in 1988, which started to show how accurate field goal kickers could be in modern day football. This year also seen the likes of Gary Anderson only converting 77.8% of his field goal attempts, which starts the debate have American football fans set the bar enormously high for most kickers today? I by no means am defending kickers, if that is what you are thinking, we almost forgot to rank them, wink.