Football Preview: Kickers

What an oxymoron the kicking position can be.  They don't usually get any credit when they do their job but are absolutely vilified when they miss an important late game field goal.  Most people seem to write off kickers as just an afterthought as they don't throw, run, block, or sack.  In the end though a bad kicking game will crush any team.

John Clay had a very good break down of Kentucky kickers the past decade.

With all the hype Joe Mansour received before he even stepped foot on campus you'd expect the kicking job would have been handed to him on a silver platter.  Not so fast...Joker stated that Mansour still had a lot of maturing to do and in the end Craig McIntosh came out of nowhere to win the job.  Even though Lones Seiber became the all time leading scorer in UK history most people still were never confident and comfortable when he was coming in for a field goal.  McIntosh was a surprise as he posted the second highest  FG% the past decade behind only Taylor Begley's phenomenal 2005 season.  McIntosh will be first on the depth chart for kicking, but if there are any slip ups look for Mansour to get a look.  With McIntosh a junior and Mansour a sophmore this is a position battle that could last for the next 2 years.  In the end I don't care who wins the job as long as they can chip in 3 pointers at an 80% clip.