8years
Joined: 7/10/12 Posts: 1,681
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trtl4x4
Joined: 8/16/05 Posts: 1,061
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
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Posted Mon, Jul 02 3:19 pm
(Edited Mon, Jul 02 3:23 pm)
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In response to Who was UCLA's best kicker? (saturdaysarebetter)
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If you look across all the great Bruin All-American kickers, Lee was the most consistent. Such a weapon for those Bruin teams. Anytime they ventured near the 30 yard line, they knew they had an automatic 3 points in the bank. If he had any issue, it was his range, which would come to the forefront during his brief stint in the NFL. He also didn't kickoff. One criticism I heard during that time centered more on Donahue playing too conservatively because he knew that Lee was Mr. Automatic.
Forbath had the best individual year for a Bruin kicker in his junior season, when he set the single-season percentage record. But, he had a big dropoff his senior season. Between him, Brad Daluiso, and Justin Medlock, Forbath probably had the best range of any Bruin kicker.
Fairbairn had a couple of years that matched well against Lee's stats, and he had that horrendous start to his freshman year. But, I never got the impression that Fairbairn was good for an automatic 3 points. I know he greatly, but I guess I never shook off that first impression of him shanking 3 PATs in his first game.
Merten could have been the greatest Bruin kicker if he'd kept at the level that made him an AA in his freshman year. But, he had mediocre seasons in his soph and junior years, and while he had a decent senior year, it was still a dropoff from what he did as a freshman. |
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wassily
Joined: 8/11/14 Posts: 1,094
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McNown to Farmer
Joined: 2/08/05 Posts: 373
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Posted Fri, Jul 06 7:55 am
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In response to Who was UCLA's best kicker? (saturdaysarebetter)
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That guy was UCLA's best, in my opinion. Accurate with tremendous range. The ball had a different sound coming off of his foot. He was even more reliable that Medlock. I give him more credit since he didn't have the benefit of using a tee for his attempts. |
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True Blue Bruin Fan
Joined: 2/04/11 Posts: 56
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Posted Fri, Jul 06 12:16 pm
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In response to Who was UCLA's best kicker? (saturdaysarebetter)
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Coach Donahue never recruited a Kicker while he was a coach for the Bruins. Bootin Ben Agajanian hand picked each kicker for him. He tells the story of how they would be days away from starting practice and he would be calling Ben asking if he had his kicker picked. They were great friends! If you look up the kickers during Coach Donahue's career you'll see what Ben Agajanian meant for Bruins football! |
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70sDude
Joined: 11/04/08 Posts: 15,123
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Posted Thu, Jul 12 11:24 am
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In response to Who was UCLA's best kicker? (saturdaysarebetter)
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Easy to pick a great one, tough to separate the guys at the top. It's been a position of embarrassingly rich talent here at UCLA actually, at placekicker. I'd have no quarrel with anyone who'd select Kai Fairbairn, John Lee or Jason Medlock. Maybe it's a sentimental choice, but for me it would be Jason as my pick of the Bruin litter to hit one kick for all the marbles, distance and circumstance unknown. No analytics in use, just a gut feel.
"No one can possibly know what is about to happen: it is happening, each time, for the first time, for the only time." James Baldwin
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