Ribeiro & Foster Excel at NCS Super Camp

Michael Husted with Tennessee Kickers and James Wilhoit

This weekend was a busy weekend for Tennessee football kickers Henrique Ribeiro and Hayes Foster as they excelled at the 6th annual National Camp Series Super Camp in Orlando, FL.

Anyone who reads my blogs knows that I think Henrique is an undiscovered talent and he certainly did nothing to change my perception this weekend. Henrique won the kickoff competition for the college division and another one of my kicking students, Hayes Foster, placed third in the kickoff competition for the freshman division. You can see both Ribeiro and Foster in the picture (above) along with myself and the founder of the National Camp Series Michael Husted.

Henrique Ribeiro kicking field goals off the ground

One of the main explanations for Henrique not getting a scholarship was his inability to attend any of the summer kicking camps. The university camps in the Summer are important because it gives a college coach the chance to evaluate a kicker in person to see if he can make the transition to kicking off the ground. Also, it gives a coach a chance to see how a kicker does in competition. Kickers need to thrive under pressure and the great ones do!

Henrique was not told much about the recruiting process last year and so he missed out on the opportunity to attend those camps. I suggested that he attend this camp in Orlando and during the camp he proved why he was named the Mr. Football Kicker of the Year in Tennessee this past season.

He charted 8 of 10 on field goals at the camp with a long of 52 yards even though this was his first time to kick on college field goal posts. His kickoffs were even more impressive as he averaged 73 yards a kick with 3.8 hang time. He is still a little bit raw on his kickoff steps or he would have kicked the ball even farther. He has so much upside and has a great attitude. My heart goes out to him and I fully believe he will be starting for a college no later than 2013.

On a side note Henrique kicked 49 of 53 kickoffs last season and was using a half inch tee! He didn't know much about kicking and he was using the Toe-Tal-Kickoff Tee . If you use this previous link you will see that this 1 inch kickoff tee breaks apart and Henrique was only using the half inch insert. This explains coaches complaining about his hang time. At the Super Camp this weekend he kicked numerous kickoffs of 4 second hang time or higher.

Pictured (L to R) Tom Foster, Hayes Foster, and James Wilhoit

Hayes Foster also performed well this weekend for the freshman division. He kicked for the freshman team at Siegel High School in Murfreesboro and participated alot with the varsity team. He actually kicked off once during the team's second round playoff loss to Mt. Juliet.

He charted well on field goals at the camp and excelled at kickoffs. His best kickoff was a towering 71 yard kick with  3.76 hang time. I have explained to Hayes that his best football is ahead of him though. He has some mechanical adjustments that need to be made that can take him from good to great. I am excited to see his progress as a kicker. I have seen him grow up so much over the past year and I expect that to continue.

James Wilhoit & Mr. Football Kicker of the Year Henrique Ribeiro

In closing, it was a great weekend for Tennessee football kickers and as a Tennessee football kicking coach it makes me very proud to have these two young men be representatives of me as a coach.

Visit: www.jameswilhoitkickingcoach.com