Practice indicates Michigan kicking game appears to be in great shape again
Michigan has had great success with its past several kickers, with Jake Moody and James Turner playing huge roles on championship teams. Moody captured two Big Ten title rings and Turner at Big Ten championship and national championship ring — if the Wolverines win something this year, chances are kicker Dominic Zvada will have played a huge role.
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He’s off to a great start, Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore told us earlier this summer at Big Ten Media Days. He’d been consistent and long in informal workouts, though everyone was waiting to see how it would translate in practices and games before getting too excited.
First-year special teams coach J.B. Brown offered a positive report after the first few weeks of practice, too.
“He’s done a great job,” Brown said today. “He’s kicked a lot off long field goals this camp. He’s been consistent on short field goals, so he needs to continue to so it. Also, Adam Samaha has been doing a great job, too, so both of those guys are competing at a high level. They’ve done a great job all camp.”
Samaha struggled at times in the spring, including the Michigan spring game in which he missed a short field goal straight away. Zvada, meanwhile, was a Lou Groza Award semifinalist as a freshman at Arkansas St. and made the watch list last year as a sophomore after making 17 of 22 field goals (long of 51) and all of his extra points.
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Some questioned if he had the leg strength to perform at Moody’s level. So far, so good.
“He’s been consistent from long range (too),” Brown said. “I think he’s 6-of-7 from 50-plus, which is nice. But he’s got to continue to do it day-in and day-out. But he’s really good right now. We’re looking forward to keeping him going,”
Veteran Michigan punter Tommy Doman did a great job on kickoffs last year, but Samaha and Hudson Hoillenbeck will be there, if needed.
“We did kickoffs last year, and they all booted it with great hang time, all had really good control. Excited to see how we move through the rest of camp with all of that.”
Doman, of course, will likely be the first called upon to handle the duties.
“Definitely experience will play a factor in that, and Tommy’s been the guy … he was the guy last year,” Brown said. “But if we need to take some off his plate, I think we’ve got really good guys that are behind him, as well.”
Regardless, the Michigan kicking game appears to be in great shape again.
