The redshirt sophomore out of Honaker, VA, specialized as Virginia Tech's kickoff man during his redshirt freshman season in Blacksburg, finishing fourth in the FBS with a 84.5-percent touchback percentage.
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Damnit.
We seriously own the portal at this point
There's got to be some type of marketing opportunity here to make some money for the Athletic Department
#NBAK /s
He's probably looking to transfer to a major football program closer to home. *checks notes*. Oh wait.
Anyone have more insight into the kicking battle?
Johnson definitely wasn't automatic last season. Stout had a better Spring Game, but from Fuente's comments post Spring Game, it sounded like he was committed to Johnson as PK1.
Hate losing a kicker when the starter has been a little shaky, but maybe that's part of this?
Was Stout that far behind him in the rest of practice?
From what I remember Johnson proved that he was almost automatic on kicks of less than 40 yards in game situations last year. Based on his performance last year I understand why Fuente would look at him as kicker one despite his poor performance in the spring game. Hopefully with another year of experience and development under his belt, Johnson will improve his performance on kicks outside of 40 yards.
Losing Stout's strong leg would definitely hurt. Hopefully he portals himself right back to Blacksburg like McClease and Hooker.
Unlikely. Seems like he wants a scholarship and I imagine someone out there will offer.
Lets just find someone from the soccer team who doesnt play, and make them try out right?
He was by far the best kicker last Saturday. Obviously we don't know how he's fared the rest of the Spring since all info is cutoff from the outside world.
I don't like the idea of only only kicker. Sugar Bowl nightmares.
That is immediately what I thought of!
To be fair, we had three kickers prior to a mass implosion in judgment by two of them. Myer did do a great job that night.
Exactly. Although you could say that this was ultimately the coaching staff who failed by not having addressed the core issue before it manifested in to an emergency situation.
The coaching staff allowing Journell to come back only for him to get permanently kicked off his senior season was fun as well.
I'm not sure I've ever spoken to anyone dumber than Cody Journell. That guy was missing some serious screws.
My wife still refers to him as "the ex con" now and then.
He was at a party in my neck of the woods one night I guess because Giles County is right there on the WV line. He managed to piss off like 5 people somehow and almost got jumped before leaving.
don't worry we can just let bradburn drop kick it through the uprights anyways.
This is a good reminder that what you see in the spring game doesn't always tell the tale. I imagine Stout was largely inconsistent throughout the spring as compared to Johnson if the coaches are still rolling with Johnson after an average performance last season and a below average performance in the spring game.
This is vexing to me. Having all those touchbacks saves wear and tear on your defensive depth. Plus, Stout had a stronger leg and was at least more accurate during the spring game (warm ups and live action.)
This is total conjecture on my part, but either he was told Johnson was the starter, or he wanted to be put on scholarship (Johnson is) and didn't get added. If it is the former, that is a vexing decision. If it is the second scenario, the numbers may just have the staff in a bind. Again, that is total conjecture, but he looked good last Saturday. If you had asked me to predict my top ten post spring game portal announcements, he wouldn't have been in my top 40.
save your riddles for the riddle thread sir. top 10= 40?
in all seriousness id have to agree, maybe they thought theyd have one with the transfers announced in December and then when they pulled in all the JUCO guys and had 2 guys come back from the portal the #s just didn't work out yet. (a lot of times players get schollys during the year but financially maybe stout just couldn't afford to wait)
kicking is a big different between a 6-6 season and 9-3 season for a team like us right now. i hope he comes back and/or we can find a solution to replicate what he did on kickoffs and Johnson shows that he can be consistent and the spring game was a fluke. i remember watching it live and thinking man our kicking game is going to cause us some problems this year, and that thought just got a lot more concerning.
If he's not on scholarship, does that mean there are different transfer rules? Like doesn't need to sit out a year?
The NCAA actually just announced today a rule change on thism and starting this fall, walk-ons do not need to sit out a year when transferring.
NCAA release
Interesting, thanks!
I agree, anytime you got a kid with Big Kick Energy, you gotta keep him around.
This is surprising. The dude was a touchback machine and that was valuable.
Johnson needs to step up. We'll also need to find another kicker. Do we have any other kickers besides Johnson? Walk-ons?
I'm guessing we'll see more transfers now that spring practice is over.
we do have a walk on. i don't know his name but he kicked a FG in the spring game and missed it badly in his only action. i believe he is a true freshman.
Sweet. Time for open tryouts.
Caleb Quick
Looks like Quick was a top 50 kicker out of class of 2017. Not sure why he is a freshman. (Didn't enroll Fall 2017)
i would rather have Brian johnson transfer
Seems to me that's the guy who gets your one kicking scholarship.
You don't need a kicker if you always score TDs
unless the other team does too and they have a kicker.....
Yeah but we will get 8 points per possession
Counter point: If you score a TD every possession, a kicker who can get the ensuing kickoffs to the endzone for touchbacks is pretty useful...
Can we just agree that all kicking should be removed from football, ball starts a the 20, no punts, no fg, always go for 2, I would be much more exciting.
Definitely not #ForTheBrand
#TheAlliance
Well that would certainly make Beamerball a thing of the past
SMH!
I can't remember the new recruited walk ons. Did we recruit any kickers to come in this spring?
Kicking and punting is Shibest' strength. It's on him to get this right.
Last year during warmups, I thought BJ was a notch more consistent and Stout a notch longer. I would rather have both, but I will trade consistent over long every day. I would prefer we go for fourth down a lot more from the 30-50 yard line area. Analytics say go for anything that's under 8 yards I believe. Especially if the offense is improved, giving yourself a chance at 7 is better than pooch punts and low % 50+ yard FGs.
Mark Applegate is coming in as a walk-on in 2019. This coaching group seems to value experience, so doubt that he'll see the field unless BJ and Quick struggle.
Johnson gets a lot of crap from fans, but he was money inside of 40 last year.
Sucks to lose Stout. Scholarship situation is tight for 2019. Looks like they are already at 84 or 85. I'm betting that Stout wanted a scholly and they don't have one to give.
Looks like Quick was a pretty good high school kicker:
https://youtu.be/H-ayGnmcR_k
http://www.espn.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/playerrankings/_/...
http://legacy.kohlskicking.com/recruiting/national-rating-system/kickers...
Yeah, there we go. We got another kid or two in the wings.
Shibest is good. Last year was bad STs across the board. I expect we rebound nicely.
A lot of that is not having the player depth to have too defensive guys on special teams plays like in the past. Although after some things French has said about the shield wall on punts being lineman I a little worried there.
FIFY.
Got a ride at Arkansas. Can't blame him one bit.
I thought I saw a tweet where he was going to Penn State?
Looking a bit more, I see tweets of offers from both, but no commitment to either.
In either case, he's getting a full ride over being a walk-on here. I still can't blame him.
Best of luck!
Our new kicking coach:
How did we let this dude get out of Blacksburg again? Was just announced as a top 3 finalist for the Ray Guy award. Didn't win but good grief
We tried. we sent someone to tackle him before he could get on the plane, but, well... you saw our defense this year.