Specialists Path Kicking Footballs

This week's On A Specialist's Path is on the specific types of footballs that are used for NFL, College, and High School kicking specialists.

I learned at a young age that broken in footballs went much farther than brand new footballs. When would I kick a brand new ball for about a week I could see the ball started to jump off my foot. The ball would become darker and would sometimes go as much as 6-10 yards farther when it was broken in compared to a brand new ball.

What I didn't know in high school was that not only is it important to break in a football but it is also vital to choose the right type of football. As a kicking coach in the state of Tennessee I see the difference in footballs almost everyday with Tennessee kicking and punting lessons .

This is On A Specialist's Path-Choosing the Proper Football.

When it comes to a kicking ball Nike is king. The Nike football is what 9 of 12 SEC schools use on game day. Alabama, Florida, LSU and Georgia have used the Nike ball for quite some time and the Aero Elite Collegiate (pictured above) is the football of choice.

If the Nike ball is king than Wilson GST is the court jester.

Kickers and punters across the country have had to deal with this football for the past 6 to 7 years. In my opinion this is by far the worst kicking ball on the market. A brand new Wilson GST compared to a brand new Nike football is at least a 5 to 7 yards difference on a field goal or kickoff.

I experienced the difference first hand when I was entering my senior year of college and my friend Jad Dean, former kicker at Clemson and 2005 Lou Groza Finalist, came to Knoxville to kick with me in the Neyland Thompson Indoor Practice Facility.

Jad was using the the Nike balls that Clemson had provided him while I was using the Wilson GST football. As we started the workout I could see that Jad had a little more "pop" on his field goals than I did.

As the kicking workout continued we backed our way to the 40 yard line and attempted some 50 yard field goals. I was making my kicks by a few yards and Jad was making his half way up the uprights.

Finally I became curious to see if he was that much better than me or was the football making a difference? I finally decided to ask him if we could switch footballs.

I started kicking the Nike balls and he used my Wilson GST football. The moment we switched balls I could tell that the tables had turned in my favor. I moved all the way back to a 63 yard field goal and Jad was struggling to get distance from 55 yards!

The University of Tennessee is the only school in the SEC, to my knowledge, that still uses this football. Auburn and South Carolina use a different type of Wilson football rather than the GST.

I have seen some Tennessee fans on the message boards of Volquest.com ask why incoming freshman kicker Michael Palardy has had trouble kicking his kickoffs into the endzone.

In my opinion the problem is not with the kicker but with the football. When I saw Palardy's highlight tape I saw an extremely talented kicker but I saw him kicking a very old and broken in football. If I was a special teams coach in college I would always take that into account when evaluating a specialist.

I think that someone at Tennessee should take a hard look at using the Wilson GST football and make sure that other teams aren't gaining a competitive advantage.

My suggestion for college teams that are under contract with Wilson is to use the Wilson 1001 football. Wilson has tried to promote the 1005 football for some reason but the 1001 is a little fatter and has more surface area to kick.

A worn in Wilson 1001 is almost equivalent to a Nike football.

I personally don't have a dog in the hunt in regards to what football is used in high school and college but my suggestion is to have one standardized ball in high school and college similar to the NFL. This would help maintain the integrity of the game.

The NFL is very different from college and high school because they use one standardized football.

Over the past 6 to 10 years the NFL has tried to find ways to limit the distance of kickers through a few rule changes.

First, was moving the kickoff from the 35 yard line to the 30 yard line. Kickers have answered the bell and have started to increase their kickoff distance through additional technique work and weight training.

The other rule is making all the kickers use the same football called a "K" ball. The "K" ball has made a big difference in the game as kickoff distance has been decreased because of the ball, which has allowed for many more kickoff returns.

Before the standardized ball there use to be quite a few kickers and punters that were breaking in the ball by using alternative methods like putting the ball in the dryer.

I prefer the NFL's use of footballs because at least each specialist is on a level playing field.

In conclusion, I have had first hand experience with all types of footballs and what there affects are on kicking specialists. You will notice that at Tennessee football kicking camps the kickers and punters will gravitate towards the broken in Nike footballs and stay away from a brand new Wilson GST.

College and high school coaches should at least be aware that there are advantages to using one ball compared to another and should try and give their kicking specialists all the advantages they possibly can!

Visit: www.jameswilhoitkickingcoach.com

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