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'11 CA K Will Oliver (Signed to Colorado)

Buffnik

Buffnik

Real name isn't Nik
Club Member
Junta Member
Rivals
Scout
ESPN
ChrisSailerKicking

oliver.jpg

Harvard Westlake H.S. (North Hollywood, CA)

Ht: 5-foot-10
Wt: 190 lbs
40:

Rivals rating: 2*-5.3rr; unranked K
Scout rating: NR K
ESPN rating: 3*-75 grade; #31 K
C.Sailer rating: 5* (D1 prospect); #12 K

Reported Offers: Colorado, Maryland, Fresno State
 
Chris Sailer review:

Will is a very talented kicker. He has a strong leg and makes kicks with great consistency. Also solid on kickoffs. A clutch perfomer that does his best when it counts the most. A fine young man with a great attitude and work ethic. Has all the tools to be a great D1 kicker. Is a pleasure to work with. Nice fit for Colorado.
 
[video=youtube;7xOdMeJeYas]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xOdMeJeYas[/video]

[video=youtube;Z0fLaZoX-hk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0fLaZoX-hk&feature=related[/video]
 
He's got his own web site: http://www.kickerwilloliver.com/

Senior Season Kicking Stats
Field Goals: 6/9: 42, 40, 38, 33, 32, 31
FG Get Off Time Average: 1.19 seconds
Average Kickoff Distance: 68
Kickoffs: 85% Touchbacks
PATs: 25/25
Other Athletic Stats:
-Only 3 Sport Varsity sport sophomore, junior and planned senior at school; football, soccer & lacrosse
-Most valuable offensive player on lacrosse team, with 31 goals and 1 assist
 
Video of him making 5 consecutive 60 yard field goals....at sea level.


[video=youtube;wgrqB_M1tcQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgrqB_M1tcQ[/video]
 
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I'll have some time later today to actually look at the tapes, run some stats, comparisons, etc. but overall at first glance, he looks like a solid addition to the Buffs. I'm really glad to see that Embree and crew are taking this position seriously.

Some early interest by Oliver in USC and any interest in UCLA (the local powerhouse for him, being in West Hollywood) would have been diminished when both schools took other players for his spot as a P/K.

Looks like we traded with UCLA: home-grown Oliver for Colorado's Kip Smith. I think we may have the better deal, but time will tell.
 
Even to the completely untrained eye, he seems to run to the ball spot rather than stride.I wonder how that metric (get off time?) compares with others.....
 
I think he looks good. Lets see if he can adjust to kicking off the ground. His toe is a little high on those 60's, he will have to fix that for kicking off the ground.
 
tante said:
The kid looks good, but how many scholarships are we going to use on kickers?
Click to expand...


This makes a total of three, all of whom are (in theory) dual kicker/punters.

No walk-ons were awarded scholarships recently: Kirkwood, Frieberg and Aweida were the three who stayed the longest.
Aweida and Frieberg are gone; no word yet on Kirkwood and if he's staying for his senior year. It's a lot of work to stay on the team and not see the field.
 
New Rivals article up that included this quote from Chris Sailer:

"His kickoffs are good right now but that could get better," Sailer replied. "But he is a very good kicker. He is kind of in that upper-level of kickers that have all the tools, the whole skill set is there. He can continue to get stronger and always improve his technique. But he has all the intangibles that make up a Division-1A scholarship kicker so I think Colorado made a good choice."
Click to expand...

http://colorado.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1181262
 
I looked on Sailers site. Kind of a joke. He rates his kickers by stars and 5 stars are D1 and 4 stars are D2? He has 112 4.5 stars and higher. Of course Sailer only talks about the good, his 112th needs some work but is a D1 prospect. I like this kid but his high school career is 71%. Although a better average then what we are used to, what were the distances on his misses? Eight/nine chances in a year is not a lot and he has to adjust his style to kick off the ground. Is another kicker needed right now?
 
BUFFS14 said:
I looked on Sailers site. Kind of a joke. He rates his kickers by stars and 5 stars are D1 and 4 stars are D2? He has 112 4.5 stars and higher. Of course Sailer only talks about the good, his 112th needs some work but is a D1 prospect. I like this kid but his high school career is 71%. Although a better average then what we are used to, what were the distances on his misses? Eight/nine chances in a year is not a lot and he has to adjust his style to kick off the ground. Is another kicker needed right now?
Click to expand...

Evaluating kickers is a crap shoot. Seriously.
If Mason Crosby was at Mullen, we'd never have heard of him, because they score so many TDs, they rarely KICK field goals. He'd have a big fat zero for his senior stats.
Likewise, a bad snapper or crappy blocking can make a kicker or punter's life h3LL in high school (or college for that matter.) That's why kicking camps come into play to allow kickers to showcase their ability under optimum conditions, removing the other players from the equation.
HS Coaches who ask kickers to attempt long field goals in desperation to get points, can screw with a kicker's statistics --- and a kid who made 7 of 7 all 35 yarders, looks better than a kid who made 6 of 9, and three of those were long. Should he? I don't know.
There are several kicking camps/pro coaches who have different approaches to evaluation. Some weigh the player's game experience and some only use camp stats. I'll try to sort out out the differences, and the three, or maybe two, of you who are interested can read about it later.

But there's nothing to say Will Oliver isn't the cat's pajamas right now. He's a buff, and that already makes him a five star in my book.:thumbsup:
 
AlferdJasper said:
Evaluating kickers is a crap shoot. Seriously.
If Mason Crosby was at Mullen, we'd never have heard of him, because they score so many TDs, they rarely KICK field goals. He'd have a big fat zero for his senior stats.
Likewise, a bad snapper or crappy blocking can make a kicker or punter's life h3LL in high school (or college for that matter.) That's why kicking camps come into play to allow kickers to showcase their ability under optimum conditions, removing the other players from the equation.
HS Coaches who ask kickers to attempt long field goals in desperation to get points, can screw with a kicker's statistics --- and a kid who made 7 of 7 all 35 yarders, looks better than a kid who made 6 of 9, and three of those were long. Should he? I don't know.
There are several kicking camps/pro coaches who have different approaches to evaluation. Some weigh the player's game experience and some only use camp stats. I'll try to sort out out the differences, and the three, or maybe two, of you who are interested can read about it later.

But there's nothing to say Will Oliver isn't the cat's pajamas right now. He's a buff, and that already makes him a five star in my book.:thumbsup:
Click to expand...
Like I said I like his kid. However, there are 5 kickers ranked above him at Sailer we cold have gone after, just curious as to why him and if spending a scholy on him (not just him but a kicker in general)is smart. I know the kickers we have would be fine if they would be coached. They have strong legs, need some work but who doesn't. It's not like this kids was 100% in his career so I am just curious as to the decision. yes he is a BUFF and I am all for him being the next big thing!
My % was around 60% however I had 9 misses over 60 yards, so I know about HS coaches meesing up %. Thats why I asked what his misses were. 100% under 50 yards with misses over 60 is better then 71% under 50 yards.
 
BUFFS14 said:
Like I said I like his kid. However, there are 5 kickers ranked above him at Sailer we cold have gone after, just curious as to why him ...
Click to expand...

Why him? who knows?
I could tell you why you would NOT want a couple of those higher-ranked guys (cough cough Mike Bowlin cough cough.)

There is no way to tell the difference in the top 20 or 25 kickers as to who will do best in college. Number five doesn't necessarily prove any better than number 20 -- their stats are too close to call until they get on the field for real. Sailer's ratings are specifically about how these guys do at camp, Sailer's camp. Period. In fact, one of Sailer's top ten this year was the second-string kicker at his own high school.

We're going to have to assume that Embree and Brookhart looked at tape, statistics, and got coaching recommendations and objective evaluations. Brookhart said he wouldn't offer any kicker/punter unless the right one was available, so he must have felt Oliver was something special.

When I get some time, I'll see if I can find out more about the misses.

So far, I found this: One of his misses was a forgivable 54-yard attempt:
Kicker Will Oliver '11 missed a 54-yard field goal attempt as time expired. Because it was not a league game, no overtime was played.​
 
Well, missing a 54 yarder *might* be forgivable assuming he missed it just a little wide or it hit a crossbar or the upright. If he shanked it and it fell on the 5 yard line outside the hash marks, that's bad.
 
AlferdJasper said:
Why him? who knows?
I could tell you why you would NOT want a couple of those higher-ranked guys (cough cough Mike Bowlin cough cough.)

There is no way to tell the difference in the top 20 or 25 kickers as to who will do best in college. Number five doesn't necessarily prove any better than number 20 -- their stats are too close to call until they get on the field for real. Sailer's ratings are specifically about how these guys do at camp, Sailer's camp. Period. In fact, one of Sailer's top ten this year was the second-string kicker at his own high school.

We're going to have to assume that Embree and Brookhart looked at tape, statistics, and got coaching recommendations and objective evaluations. Brookhart said he wouldn't offer any kicker/punter unless the right one was available, so he must have felt Oliver was something special.

When I get some time, I'll see if I can find out more about the misses.

So far, I found this: One of his misses was a forgivable 54-yard attempt:
Kicker Will Oliver '11 missed a 54-yard field goal attempt as time expired. Because it was not a league game, no overtime was played.​
Click to expand...

You left off the rest of my quote. Not just him ...any kicker for that matter. Nothin jumps out to me as a can't live without. My point was there are kickers ranked higher looking for schools, per Sailer. We can't coach the kickers we have. Yet we bring in another. If he was 100% and some long fg, I would say I can understand. With all our open holes and issues on the team I think this is a wasted scholy. He sounds like a good kid and a ok kicker, I hope he is all Pac 12, just curious as to this decision.
 
sackman said:
Well, missing a 54 yarder *might* be forgivable assuming he missed it just a little wide or it hit a crossbar or the upright. If he shanked it and it fell on the 5 yard line outside the hash marks, that's bad.
Click to expand...

If you put out a video of hitting 60 yarders in pregame is missing a 54 yarder forgivable? If your range is 50 and you miss a 54 thats forgivable.
 
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