We believe Kellan McLaughlin may be the best PK in Kentucky, particularly in his graduating class. Having a guy who can go get you three points when needed and is automatic from a PAT standpoint is like finding money in the pocket of your dry cleaning; you forget about it until you have to have it and then, boy howdy, does it hit the spot.
Fletcher W. Long, Chief Scout and KPGFootball Editorial Board Member
Football is a three-phase sport. The phases are offense, defense, special teams. Believe it or not, the team with the most points on the scoreboard at the end of the allotted time wins the game EVERY TIME.
We thought we would provide a refresher on football, 101. The reason…so many people who coach the game around Kentucky tend to completely ignore special teams in weekly game preparation. Sadly, those of us who regularly cover the game don’t afford special teams the coverage it deserves either.
In a sport where place kickers are routinely among the ball club’s leading offensive scorers, it is amazing how little time is spent on that phase of the game. We strive to be different around KPGFootball.
That is why we regularly feature punters and placekicker. We have even before featured long-snappers, holders, and returners.
With the graduation of Jackson Smith, and his matriculation to UK, we believe Kellan McLaughlin is left the unquestioned leader in the clubhouse among statewide place-kickers. McLaughlin, in ’21, had quite the junior year.
McLaughlin played in 13-games and scored 91-points to lead Trinity in offensive scoring by nearly 20-points. McLaughlin converted 15 of his 19-attempted FG’s for first in the commonwealth in both number of FGs and conversion rate (78.9%).
McLaughlin converted on 46 of his 48 PATs. That is a conversion rate of 95.8%. We’re going to call that money.
Think about this for one second; McLaughlin averaged 7-points a game over 13-games for 91-points. If we could offer your team a position player, non-specialist, and we could guarantee this player would average one-TD per ball game for 15-games (TD=6-points times 15-games equals one point less than McLaughlin scored in ’21 or 90-points), would you take him?
Ask your program’s head football coach how fast he would jump all over that arrangement. I think you’ll find it would be in a New-York minute.
Why do we write features about football players like Kellan McLaughlin? They win games…and championships!
This is Coach HB Lyon, reporting for KPGFootball, and we’re JUST CALLING IT LIKE WE SEE IT!
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I love this. Very much appreciate you recognizing the value of a place kicker!!
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