What Colleges are Looking For
Lance Ortega
Article posted on 5/8/2007

Parents are constantly asking me what the colleges are looking for from a kicker or punter. First and foremost, the colleges look for someone who will represent the school and the university well. They are looking for kids of character. They are looking for scholar-athletes. A college wants a return on their investment. They want to know the athlete they are recruiting is not going to get in academic trouble or in trouble with the law.

Most of this goes without saying.

What parents don't know, what the student-athletes don't seem to realize, is that the specialists (kickers, punters, snappers) are held to the same strength and conditioning standards of the rest of the team. In college, gone are the high school days when the kicker or punter kicks a few balls, plays catch for about half an hour, then sucks on a water bottle and watches the rest of practice. College specialists still kick, play catch, and drink water but what goes unseen is the strength and conditioning component of a college football program.

San Diego School of Football's many years of experience have compiled these benchmarks of entry-level college strength and conditioning standards. A high school student athlete does not necessarily need to meet every single criterion but they need to be able to perform the majority of the tasks and at least come close on the unmet standards.

These standards include, by or before the senior year of high school;

SPEED / EXPLOSIVENESS

440 yds. under :60

Sub 5-second 40 yd. dash

28" vertical jump

8' Standing Broad Jump

STRENGTH

Bench 225 lbs.

Squat 225 lbs.

FLEXIBILITY

Seated, legs at 90 degree angle: two hands on same foot w/ knees flat

Standing, knees locked, fingers (preferably palms) flat on ground / head to knees

Punter needs to be able to do the splits

Punter needs to be able to get kicking foot to kicking ear w/ no breakdown on non-kicking side

PUNT

Punter needs to spiral 7/10 with a 43 yard, 4.3 hang formula

Punter needs to be able to stand at end line of the field and hit AT LEAST 2/5 past midfield

KICK

Kicker needs to make 10/12 randomly scattered balls between 40 and 48, 1" tee

Kicker needs to have 70% range up to 45, OFF THE GROUND, by end of senior year

Kicker needs to be able to make a 50 yard field goal from a 1" TEE

KICKOFF

Kicker needs to kickoff 5 yds. deep, from a 1" tee, between 3.7 and 3.8 hang time

Kicker needs to kickoff outside the hash, inside the numbers, to the three, 7/10, 3.6-3.7

GPA

You should strive for a 3.0 minimum GPA. It is highly likely that if a college is looking at two comparable student athletes, the one with the higher GPA will be the one they choose.

Good Luck, train hard, study even harder.

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