NFL Draft-Specialists

Former NFL General Manager Charley Casserly says that "the 2010 NFL Draft might be the most talented since 1983." The talent of this draft, which was aided by the addition of 53 underclassman leaving school early, makes the chances of this year's specialists being drafted that much more difficult. NFL teams are accumulating the talent that is available at other positions before taking a specialist.

So far three specialists have been drafted; Zoltan Mesko-(P-Michigan) (pictured above) in 5th round and Brent Bowden (P-Virginia Tech) at the top of the 6th round, and Matt Dodge (P-East Carolina) by the Giants in the 7th round. The reason that these three punters have been drafted is because they are the top punters coming out this year. I believe that there is a big drop off in the eyes of the special teams coaches after these punters.

There is quite a bit of depth at kicker and long snapper, which could make for a very interesting situation after the draft. I believe that by watching College Football this season, all the major post season all star games, and seeing over 63 specialists at the NFL Combine I think that there are at least 6 of 7 long snappers, 2 or 3 punters and 6 or 7 kickers that could compete for an NFL job this year including a few friends of mine like Will Batson (P-North Alabama), Kenny Spencer (K-North Alabama), and Morgan Cox (LS-U. of Tennessee).

Brent Bowden (pictured above) in my opinion, is the best punter I have seen this year. As an intern at the University of Tennessee, I got to meet Brent and watch him warm up. He hit punt after punt and almost each punt was a spiral nose over punt. He hit quite a few 5 second hang times including one punt I had timed at 5.5 seconds. This is the highest hang time I had witnessed in person since watching Jon Ryan at the U. of Wisconsin River Falls kicking camp last year.

Will Batson attended Coach Zauner's College Senior Specialists Combine and was one of two punters that was recommended by Coach Zauner to the NFL. Will (attempting an Aussie drop punt above) has worked very hard since I first saw him last year and I believe the fact that he can be a good kickoff guy could help him get a chance to get into NFL Camp this year.

Kenny Spencer is a sleeper in this draft as he has performed very well at Coach Zauner's and Louie Aguiar's combines. He and Will just recently worked out for the Atlanta Falcons Special Teams Coach, Keith Armstrong. He is a very smooth field goal kicker and solid with his kickoffs. I think he has a chance to be picked up as an undrafted free agent.

Finally, there is Morgan Cox. Morgan has been a three year starter at Tennessee and attended this year's Under Armour Senior Bowl. He is another guy that will be a borderline draft/free agent prospect. I will be writing a story about Morgan on Monday on my weekly blog James Wilhoit's On 'A Specialist's Path'.

I wish all the specialists in this draft the best of luck and I will be following closely to where Will, Kenny, and Morgan end up today.

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