Alabama kicker Cade Foster has had a tough time in Tuscaloosa. In the extremely hyped #1 vs #2 LSU-Alabama game a couple years ago, Foster missed three rather easy field goals, essentially losing Alabama the game. He missed another 3 field goals in this year's Iron Bowl, and we all know how that ended. Alabama has won 3 out of the last 4 National Championships and is consistently ranked high in the BCS year after year. Alabama leads the country this year so far in 5-Star Recruits (4) and is close in 4-Star Recruits (14). High school kids all around the country dream of playing for Nick Saban's powerhouse. So why can't they get a good kicker?
For some reason, kickers are smart. Three of the top high school kickers in the country are committed to Ivy League Schools. A high school kicker in the area is even committed to Stanford.
Now think about this. 2 kickers were drafted in last year's NFL Draft. In the 2010 NFL Draft - 0. Typically, no more than 2-3 kickers are drafted per year. There's 120 Division 1 FBS football teams. Do the math. On average, 1.6% of college kickers will go pro in a given year. According to the Daily Caller, a poll showed that 4% of the American public believe shape-shifting lizard people "control our world by taking on human form and gaining political power to manipulate our societies." When you compare the two shocking statistics, a higher percent of people believe that President Barack Obama is a lizard than the percent of Division 1 College Football kickers that go pro.
If kickers are smart, maybe they value academics more than a quality football team. If a kicker has offers to all big-time programs, maybe he'll choose Stanford (ranked 5th in US News & World Report university rankings) over Ole Miss (ranked 150th) , because he realizes the minuscule chance that he will be drafted. After all, it's hard to even distinguish the best kickers in college football. Oregon doesn't even kick field goals. Don't be shocked by Cade Foster's lackluster Crimson Tide career. He was a stud linebacker in high school and average kicker. In fact, he's not even the best kicker to come out of his high school - that would be former Saints kicker Garrett Hartley. As important as kickers are to NFL teams, the risk of injury is low, which enables them to have long careers, which means less kickers drafted. Kickers are making the right decision to commit to the best academic school possible.
The ironic part? Cade Foster had four big-time offers in high school to play college football. One from Alabama (where he committed), one from the U, one from Washington, and finally, one from Stanford. Foster is a business major. That finance degree from US News' #1 ranked Stanford Graduate School of Business must look ever so appealing right now.
