Control What You Can Control!


By Taylor Mehlhaff on Sep 7, 2014

Today’s message for our young kickers is to “control what you can control”. I had the privilege of being coached in the senior All-Star game by NFL coaching legend Dick Vermeil. He used the acronym: Alignment, Assignment, Technique, Execution, & Finish. It doesn’t matter what position you play on the football field, it all starts with your alignment!

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So many high school and college kickers miss kicks simply because of their pre-kick alignment. Remember to control what you can control. From a coach’s standpoint, these would be considered MA’s (missed assignments) or ME’s (mental errors). You should NEVER miss a kick because of your alignment. Alignment and steps are the foundation of every kick. If your foundation is off, chances are the kick is going to be off. This is especially important in high school where the hash marks are very wide. There are very large angles on shorter field goal attempts. This means that young kickers need to be extremely disciplined in their alignment

There are a lot of variables that can contribute to an unsuccessful kick…wind, bad holds, bad snaps, poor field conditions, etc. Control what you can control, and that is your steps. TAKE, YOUR, TIME! Use nearly the entire play clock to set up your field goal attempt. Do not rush yourself! The average kicker gets maybe a couple extra points and one field goal attempt a game. You might have three opportunities to kick the ball through the uprights. Take your time and make sure you are lined up directly where you want to aim while keeping the wind and other variables in mind!

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To learn more, visit TMKicking.com.

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