Week 4- Special Teams Player of the Week

Last Friday night we saw another amazing kicking performance. St Thomas Academy Senior Kicker Wyatt Schmidt had another busy night for the second straight week.  Besides playing both ways on Offense and Defense, he is the team's kicker and punter. Wyatt had only 1 PAT, but had an amazing 4 for 4 Field Goal performance, with yardages of 40, 37, 27 and 28. The 28 yard field goal was a game winner (27-25) with 4 seconds left.  He also kicked 4 of his 6 Kickoffs for touch backs and had 1 punt of 37 yards.  His 4 Field Goal performance also ties a Minnesota State Record. Wyatt was the easy pick for our Week 4 Prep Special Teams Player of the Week.

Honorable Mention Performance:

1. Matt Glasenapp- Lake City- Jr- 7 for 8 PATs- 7 points
2. Bobby Rukavina- Holy Angels- Sr- 6 for 6 PATs-6 points

Congratulations!

-Coach Chris Husby & Special Teams Football Academy
www.SpecialTeamsFootballAcademy.com

Week 3- Special Teams Player of the Week

In week 3 of the high school football season, we saw a number of high scoring games, and a number of specialists stayed busy.

Our Week 3 Prep Athlete Special Teams Player of the Week is Wyatt Schmidt of St Thomas of Academy.  Wyatt is a Senior and has positioned himself at the top Senior kickers in the state of Minnesota, and if not one of the top kickers in the state of Minnesota overall.  Wyatt went 4 for 4 on PATs and 2 for 2 on FGs of 46 & 27 yards, scoring 10 points for his team.  STA had a big win 44-0.  He also had 1 punt for 47 yards and 6 of his 8 Kickoffs were touchbacks.  He was a big contributor for his team.   Congratulations on your performance!

Honorable Mention Performances

1. Patrick Lecorre- Edina- Soph- 1 for 1 PATs & 2 for 4 FGs (39 & 46 yards)- 7 points
2. Clay Elmore- Wayzata- Soph- 7 for 8 PATs- 7 points
3. Sam Mouanoutoua- Champlin Park- Jr- 7 for 8 PATs- 7 points
4. Marco Sanchez- Burnsville- 4 for 5 PATs & 1 for 2 FGs (25 yards)- 7 points
5. Matt Glasenapp- Lake City- 6 for 6 PATs- 6 points

Thank you.

Chris Husby
Professional Kicking Coach and Owner
Special Teams Football Academy
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Week 2- Special Teams Player of the Week

In Week 2 of High School Football, we saw another batch of great performances by a number of  specialists.  Our week 2 Prep Athlete Special Teams Player of the Week hails from Lyons Township HS (IL), Jake Elliott.   He had a big day for his team kicking 7 for 7 on PATS and also going 1 for 3 on FGs (27 yards) and scoring 10 points for his team.

Honorable Mention

1. Alex MacGregor- Zimmerman HS (MN)- Jr- 7 for 8 PATs-7 points
2. Jon Coppens**- Holy Family HS (MN)- Soph- 3 for 5 PATs & 1 for 1 FGs (37 yards)- 6 points
3. Patrick Lecorre- Edina HS (MN)- Soph- 2 for 2 FGs (34 & 31 yards)- 6 points

**Jon Coppen's 37 yard field broke the school record for longest varsity Field Goal at Holy Family

Punter of the Week

1. Austn Moon- Moorhead HS (MN)- 54 yard punt average.

Honorable Mention

1. Brock Skow- John F Kennedy HS (Montreal)- 5 punts for a 51 yard ave with 1 punt I-20 

Thank you.

Chris Husby
Professional Kicking Coach and Owner
Special Teams Football Academy
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Minnesota Football Kickers Dominate!

Special Teams Football Academy is PROUD to announce that after 2 weeks of Minnesota High School Football, 9 of our students are ranked in the Top 11 for Total Points Scored.  Congratulations to the following kickers:

Top Ten
1. Reid Taubenheim- Farmington- Jr- 20 points
2. Patrick Lecorre- Edina- Soph- 16 points
2. Clay Elmore- Wayzata- Soph- 16 points
4. Alex MacGregor- Zimmerman- Jr- 15 points
6. Bill Leitch- Mankato West- Sr- 14 points
8. Wyatt Schmidt- St Thomas Academy- Sr- 10 points
9. Alexi Johnson- Shakopee- Sr- 9 points
9. Josh Rouse- Cambridge- Sr- 9 points
11. Jonathan Coppens- Holy Family- Soph- 8 points

Here are a few action shots of some of our students.

Reid Taubenheim

Patrick Lecorre

Clay Elmore

Jon Coppens

Special Teams Football Academy, Coach Husby and his staff produces results!  Contact Coach Husby for more information about future camps, private lessons and small group training.

More information: www.SpecialTeamsFootballAcademy.com

Thank you.

Chris Husby
Professional Kicking Coach and Owner
Special Teams Football Academy
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CoachHusby@gmail.com
651-353-2660   

Week 1- Special Teams Player of the Week

In the first full week of play for most high school football programs, we saw a lot of great performances. There were 4 stand out performances, but nothing stood out more than Junior Reid Taubenheim of Farmington High School in MN.  Reid had a State Record tying 4 FGs in one game.   He went 4 for 4 on Field Goals with distances of 43, 33, 21 and a school record breaking 48 yard FG.  I am very proud of Reid as he's been a kicker I've had the privilege to train since his sophomore year.

The 48 yard School Record breaking Kick

Getting a little Press!

Honorable Mention Performances

1. Colt Sirstins- Herriman High (UT)- 9 for 9 PATs, 1 for 1 FG (30 yards)- 12 points
2. Clay Elmore**- Wayzata High (MN)- Soph- 7 for 7 PATs, 1 for 1 FG (30 yards)- 10 points
3. Michael Loncar- Hudson High (WI)- Sr- 2 punts of 52 and 35 yards with 1 punt I-20

**Clay Elmore tried out for the team this year having never played football before to earn the starting FG spot.  Congrats on doing so well in your first ever game.

Thank you.

Chris Husby
Professional Kicking Coach and Owner
Special Teams Football Academy
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651-353-2660   

Zero Week- Specials Team Player of the Week

Zero Week is the week that is leading up to the first official week of the high school season.  It's a chance for teams who may have had trouble scheduling a game during the season, to play a game during the preseason.  There were only 13 games in MN going on during "Zero Week."  Our Prep Athlete Special Teams Player of the Week is Patrick Lecorre of Edina. Patrick kicked 4 for 4 on his PATs.

Congratulations!


Chris Husby
Professional Kicking Coach and Owner
Special Teams Football Academy
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Featured Guest Writer on YouthFootballOnline.com

This past month I was asked to be the Featured Guest Writer on "Youth Football Special Teams" on the YouthFootballOnline.com Blog.

I was pretty excited to be asked and felt honored to be a Featured Writer on the site.  It's a great site that teaches the basic fundamentals on Youth Football, and I was extremely happy to be able to give back to the youth football community.

I was asked to explain the basic step by step approach to Field Goal/PATs, Kick offs, Punting and Holding.

Here is the link to the article, of which you can also explore more of the website.  I've also pasted the article below too.

Youth Football Kicking- Guest Article by Expert Coach Chris Husby

Aug14, 2012

Expert Coach Chris Husby from Special Teams Football Academy, breaks kicking down for us. Like the article below for more articles like this! 


Youth Football is a very fun and exciting time in many young athletes and parents lives.  For many of them, it’s their first introduction to playing competitive football.   Many kids have dreams of playing in the NFL, and also on down to playing under the Friday Night Lights with their local high school.  At the youth level of football much time is focused on just teaching kids the terms and plays on offense and defense.   Often times special teams, kicking and punting is overlooked, or just given to the kid that can naturally kick the ball the farthest.  In most youth leagues a kicking a PAT/extra point can be worth 2 points because it is rare that you have a youth kicker that can make a 20 yard extra point.

Personally, as a private kicking instructor, I really enjoy working with youth athletes and teaching them the proper techniques for kicking, punting, holding and snapping. With Youth, you have to play to their strengths.  Many times they can’t quite physically do everything needed to kick, punt, and snap that you see at the High School and College level, but you need to keep things simple and work with them on the basics.  Below is a basic step by step approach to Kicking, Punting, Snapping and even Holding.
PAT/Field Goals

• Typical distance form snapper is 7-8 yards deep
• Let your Kicker place the holding block, not your holder.
• Kicker should line up body facing target (Uprights)
• Plant foot should be approx 1 shoe length from kicking block
• Kicker should take 2-3 steps in backward approach.
• Make sure kicker is squared up and facing uprights.
• Take 2 steps 90 degrees to the left (for right footed kickers) or 90 degrees to the right (for left footed kickers).
• Once kicker is ready he should nod or give a signal to the holder, who then gives a signal to the snapper.
• Once snapper snaps back and holder firmly has hold of ball, kicker should make his approach to the holding block.  *Note- you can speed up the process for the kicker to start as your snapping unit is comfortable and fluid.
• Kicker should make his approach toward the “plant foot” area.  This forces the kicker to swing up through the ball utilizing kicker’s quad in the swing.
• Kicker’s leg, ankle and foot should be straight and locked.
• Foot contact on the ball should be the “instep” of foot making contact on the bone that connects to the big toe, but closer to the ankle.
• After contact, the kickers leg should swing up through the ball and toward the uprights.
• If physically possible, kicker’s plant foot should skip forward after kicking ball.  Alleviates stress on ankle and knee.  *Sometimes young athletes aren’t able to do this.

Kickoffs

• Kicker should line up body facing target (Uprights)
• Plant foot should be approx 1 shoe length from kicking block
• Kicker should step back 5-9 yards backward approach depending on comfortability.
• Take 4-7 steps 90 degrees to the left (for right footed kickers) or 90 degrees to the right (for left footed kickers).

• Ideally the angle/approach the kicker takes on a Kickoff should be similar to that of a FG approach. This allows for having the same kicking swing for both kicks.

Punting

• Feet Parallel and shoulder width apart
• Catch the ball with hands out away from body
• Mold ball with laces up, with arm extended over kicking leg
• Take 2 or 3 steps to get punt off
• Flat Drop
• Drop the ball between 11-12 o’clock for right footed punters or 12-1 o’clock for left football punters
• Lock out (point toe) foot.
• Ball contact on laces of shoe/cleat
• Swing leg up through ball.

Holding

• Holding for Right Footed kicker
• Right knee down, left knee up
• Align kicking block 2-4” from left foot
• Keep left hand/fingers on block as a guide.
• Use right hand to give single to holder.
• Voice prompt as well for team
• Bring both hands up to catch ball
• Use left knee as back stop and guide to bring ball down onto block
• Hold the ball with left hand (thumb, index and 2nd finger) or whatever is easier; just don’t put too much pressure on the ball.
• Use right hand to rotate the ball to get laces out.
• For left footed kickers, reverse the following steps.

Coach Husby owns and runs Special Teams Football Academy.  He is a Professional Kicking, Punting and Snapping instructor and a former NFL Free Agent Punter of 6 years.  He trains athletes of all levels (youth, High School, College and Free Agent Specialists), and holds one on one lessons, small group lessons and clinics, Special Teams camps, and National Camp Series evaluations and camps for kickers, punters & snappers.  For more information check out www.SpecialTeamsFootballAcademy.com!

Thank you.

Chris Husby
Professional Kicking Coach and Owner
Special Teams Football Academy
Join our Facebook Fan Page!
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CoachHusby@gmail.com
651-353-2660