Kickoff Specialist on the Way
Greg Guttas (CREDIT: Serra High School)
Bay Area kicking phenom Greg Guttas is headed to Columbia this fall. News of his decision to commit is buried in this article in the Palo Alto Daily News. Just about all of his high school kickoffs have resulted in touchbacks, going about 70 yards apiece, (which is important because his high school conference kicks off from the 40), and many of them almost going through the opposing uprights!
Guttas is also a punter, known mostly for good hang time on his boots. I haven't been able to find out any details about his abilities as a field goal kicker, however.
This brings the number to 13 incoming freshmen that have publicly announced they're coming to Columbia to play football in 2009. At this point last year, we only knew about 5 such incoming freshmen, so we are way ahead of the game.
posted by Jake @ 7:05:00 PM
13 comments
13 Comments:
From today's San Mateo Daily Journal:
"Serra's Greg Guttas, the three-time WCAL kicker of the year, gave a verbal commitment to play at Columbia University next season. 'He was one of our defensive stars' Padres coach Patrick Walsh said on Serrs's web site. "Over the past three years, his booming kickoffs into or out of the end zone took away any chance an opponent had of a long, game-changing return."
Congratualtions to Greg and his family on his becoming a Columbia Lion!!!
Jake, per your field goal inquiry, I just read on line in the Gilroy Dispatch that "...he has the leg to nail field goals up to 50 yards." There is also plenty of detail on Guttas on the Junipero Serra HS website as well as the kicking combine reports on line. Guttas seems to have a "monster leg" on kick-offs, a consistently steady leg for PATS and a good leg for punts.
More on Guttas from SF paper:
Running back Jared Braun has rushed for 687 yards and eight touchdowns, while wide receiver Greg Biddle has 25 receptions. The not-so-secret weapon is senior kicker Greg Guttas, who made be the best combined kicker/punter to ever come out of San Mateo County. Teams have just 34 punt/kickoff return yards against the Padres this season. Utah wants Guttas to walk-on. Guttas, a great student, may go the Ivy League route. Senior left tackle Dave Bakhtiari (6-foot-5, 240-pounds) is a college prospect, Walsh said.
He kicked but one FG last season.
http://www.maxpreps.com/california/football/serra-(san-mateo)/greg-guttas/stats.aspx?athleteid=dc15db21-34a4-4650-a426-c681edbd0d61&ssid=2f36027d-d6f6-4509-aba9-adad5cc85b5e&urpath=,local,player&group=3
If this kid can kick off as advertised, it will improve the Lions quite a bit. LONG FGs will be A BONUS.
Speaking as a west coast Columbian, Greg has made a smart choice. He won't even know how smart this choice was until he has four years of Columbia and NYC under his belt. When he looks back from that vantage he will appreciate what a great opportunity he is about to take advantage of.
Jake, how about doing something to encourage letter writers to flood Spec with pro-football letters? One of the editors is calling for Bollinger to work for $1 a year and for us to drop football. where does the Admissions Office find these people? Do we have a disproportionate number of athletics haters at Columbia? How about some school spirit!
This recruit sounds great. We gave our adversaries a short field all year. I think our opponents started at around the 35 to 40 yard line most of the time. Consider what that means in terms of field position. Even if we can hold an offense to a three and out we will still get mediocre field position. The key to football is field position. Holding our adversaries to a long field will translate to wins.
Jake, you really do have to clarify if the "acceptances" you write about have actually been accepted (via early admissions, I'd then suppose) to Columbia. Or have simply agreed to play for us pending actual admission.
This really is an issue, one that at best has only been hazily delineated so far. I'd also hate to think that, gosh, just because someone is a jock their acceptance to CU is a done deal come April.
Cathar:
You bring up an interesting point... but I will never be able to clarify the issue of early decision as I am just not in on that information.
ALL INFO on incoming freshmen comes from published material elsewhere, (usually a local newspaper). I am culling that info and posting it here, and deeming it reliable or not is my responsibility. I deem these announcements to be reliable every time, and with the exception of 1 recruit last year who eventually changed his mind, none of these public announcements have turned out wrong.
Here's how it works fellas. The staff does it's homework on a recruits eligibility for admissions step one. They pretty much know they can get him admitted and what band he will fall into when they start pursuing the kid. Once they offer the recruit a roster spot and he verbally accepts (they will also follow up with a sort of letter of intent, although it is not binding),the admissions office will send him a letter. This is the "likely to be admitted" letter and it's is pretty much a done deal. The coaches won't tell you during the process that they can get you admitted, but they work with the admissions office and pretty much get the guys they get to commit unless they are really borderline low AI.
fellas....... let's remember that there is a 10 yd difference in where college kickoffs from high school and also that tees/blocks are still allowed for placements in high school. It is great that he has a strong leg but the transition from hs to college for a kicker is enormous. Wish him all the luck in the world kicking at Wein and hope he does well...
Coaches tell them they will get in. It's as simple as that.
This isn't some dark, shadowy process.
Coaches target players who can get in, and then everyone except the most bizarre scenarios (drop outs, delinquencies, drugs, crime, etc) get in.
Relax. If a player says they're coming to Columbia, or Harvard, or Yale- they are fine.
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