By Mark Maynard / Prokickernews.com
HATTIESBURG, Miss. — The Ray Guy Prokicker.com coaching staff found no shortage of talent in Hattiesburg.
Ten players were included in the staff’s talent search, including eight rising seniors.
There kickers, punters and long-snappers who made impressions on the coaching staff.
Jacob Claycomb found four long-snappers who he believes can snap at the college level.
“They all have the ability but they’ll all have to work at it,” he said.
Luke Burnham, a rising senior at Oak Grove High School in Hattiesburg, was one of those. He’s a veteran of Prokicker camps and some other camps as well.
“I started changing his stance and he definitely made some improvements to where he was when we started the camp,” Claycomb said. “If he keeps working at it, it’ll open a few doors for him.”
Evan Chancellor of Madison Central High School in Madison, Miss., is another rising senior with a bright future.
“This kid had a good build on him, about 6-1 and 215 pounds,” Claycomb said. “He had a lot of fundamentals that were exactly what you want.”
Chancellor is unusual in that he’s a long-snapper only on his high school team, which plays at the top 6A level in Mississippi.
“I made a couple of minor changes on his stances and the difference it made was unbelievable,” Claycomb said. “I was impressed with this kid’s improvement. He has a really good knack for long-snapping. He was throwing a great PAT snap.”
Jamie Stuart, a rising senior from Pervis High School in Mississippi, made great strides in the two days, Claycomb said.
“He has good size and you could tell he wants to play football somewhere and it doesn’t matter what level,” Claycomb said.
Michael Pate, another rising senior, was a long-snapper who has a tremendous upside.
“He’s got the opportunity to do something,” Claycomb said. “Every time I see him he’s getting better. He needs to keep working at it.”
Pate, who attends Centerville Academy, said he started camp off “pretty rough but gradually got more accurate.”
A veteran of Prokicker.com camps, Pate said he takes a little something back with each one he attends. When he goes back to his high school, he puts those drills to good use.
“The (high school) coaches can’t tell me anything I haven’t already heard at camp,” he said. “My goal is to get a scholarship. I’ve gotten some emails, but no firm offers.”
Pate and Chancellor charted 20 of 30 and Pate had the fastest single snap at 0.75.
Prokicker.com staff coach Nick Pollard worked with three combo kickers who stood out – Joey Silvani, Grant McLaurin and Jonathan Wallace.
Silvani, who is from South Florida and is a rising senior, was consistent on his field goals and kicked off the ground.
“He didn’t have a cannon of a leg but he was pretty consistent on his field goals,” Pollard said. “He made 80 percent of his field goals. His kickoffs were decent, about 60-plus, which is not bad. His punting was good and the hang time was around the fours.”
McLaurin was much like Silvani with strong field goals, decent kickoffs and solid punting.
“They’re both good character kids who want to get better,” Pollard said. “They wanted to learn, wanted to be there.”
Wallace is a 2013 grad who has the potential to be exceptional, Pollard said.
“As long as you’re learning, having fun and seeing progress that’s good,” he said. “He’s got a good future.”
Prokicker.com staff coach Josh Raphael also had three kickers, all rising seniors, on is talent search list.
One was Evan Russell, a rising senior from St. Joe High School in Greenville, Miss. “He charted well – 70 percent on field goals – and defensively has a strong leg. He gets the ball up real well.”
Ralph Freibert, a combo kicker from Louisiana, showed off a powerful leg. “He had a great leg, which is what I really liked about him,” Raphael said.
Austin Franklin, a rising senior, was another kicker who Rafael liked. Despite a foot injury suffered in soccer, he still made 70 percent of his field goal attempts.
Reece Everett, who is in the class of 2013, and A.J. Wells in the class of 2014 were also listed in the top prospect list from the camp.
Combo kicker Trent Dominque, a rising senior, also performed well and was identified in the talent search. He won the Long Distance Kickoff with a 65-yard kick (3.67 hang time) and also the Hang Time Punt competition with 4.64 on a 42-yard boot.
