This past Friday, JUCO kicker Jamie Sutcliffe pledged his commitment to the Huskers and will enroll this Summer as a walk-on and compete for place kicking duties in the fall. Sutcliffe will join senior Mauro Bondi, junior Spencer Lindsay and sophomore’s Drew Brown and Grant Schumacher on the Husker Fall Camp roster. Listed as the 10th ranked kicker by Chris Sailer, the 6’2″ 195 pound junior announced his decision via his twitter account.
Sutcliffe originally committed to Utah out of High School, but later transferred to Pierce College where he’s worked his way into becoming one of the top ranked Junior College kickers. Sutcliffe, also an excellent student, becomes the 5th place kicker to compete for the starting job this Fall. Husker Special Teams Coordinator, Bruce Read won’t have an easy job.
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Last season the Huskers, as a team, converted 14 of 21 field goals, and a long of 45 that Bondi converted in his only opportunity against Florida Atlantic in the home opener. Brown on the other hand, went 8-10 in his first 6 games as a Husker, which included a career long of 44 on his very first attempt. During the last 6 games of the season, Brown seemed like he had hit the freshman wall, only connecting on 6 of his final 11 attempts.
Big Red recruit Sutcliffe converted 5 of his 9 field goal attempts with a long of 51. Jamie’s 56% conversion percentage doesn’t look that great on the surface, however if 2 of those 9 attempts hadn’t been blocked, we could possibly be looking at a kicker who connected on 78% of his kicks. Jamie’s reportedly connected from 65 yards and feels his range is inside of 50 yards. Jamie is a confident kid which is an important quality to have, playing that position and he feels that he’s received great tutelage under Chris Sailer.
Sailer is well-respected in the coaching world for his work with young kickers. He’s also worked with Coach Read in the past and it looks like that relationship has helped the Huskers land another quality kicker in Jamie Sutcliffe. Whether or not Sutcliffe unseats incumbent Husker Drew Brown, remains to be seen. However, a little competition never hurt anyone and I’m sure Drew will have a lot to say about that. Outside of the battle for starting I-back, the kicking position could be one of the most competitive duels we hear about this Fall.
It’s not long until Spring game. Go catch a baseball game in the meantime at Hawks Field and GO BIG RED!!!