Packers waive punter Brooks Barnard

Associated Press

GREEN BAY, Wis. - Punter Brooks Barnard was waived by the Green Bay Packers Tuesday, the team announced.

Barnard punted for the Chicago Bears the last two preseasons and was on 53-man rosters of the Bears and New England late in the 2003 season.

He played in one NFL game, punting for the Patriots in a 12-0 victory over Miami Dec. 7, 2003.

New England waived him five days later and he rejoined the bears, then went to the Rhein Fire of NFL Europe.

The Packers have two punters on the roster - second-year man B.J. Sander and rookie Bryce Benekos.

No little feat: Town native boots odds, illness

Jack Karlis
TOWN OF TONAWANDA — The story is eerily similar to many others who have followed the same route.

A kid is a soccer star — but at the urging of his peers, he takes a shot at kicking duties on a football team. The kid’s leg strength gets noticed by area colleges, and soon the player’s kicking prowess gets him noticed by the pros.

Nick Little wishes his story was as easy as the route most professional kickers take.

The St. Lawrence University senior and Kenmore West grad played soccer his whole life and three years of high school soccer (one on varsity and two on JV). Little even knocked in an eye-popping 15 goals during his second year of JV ball. It was his team’s lack of success during his junior year that had Little thinking about dropping the shin guards and donning the shoulder pads.

“I only had one goal in my junior year,” Little said. “We had good talent and we wasted it all.”

So with just one season to pick up another sport, Little walked on to coach Rich Harris’ Kenmore West football squad in the summer of 2001.

“The day he put the foot on the ball — it was unbelievable the power he could generate,” Harris said.

“My stats at kicking weren’t too hot,” Little admitted. “I only had made one field goal.”

Little’s talent, however, landed him a job as an all-league punter and a spot in the annual Lions Club games in front of a host of colleges coaches.

“He really dedicated himself. He came in all winter long and kicked in the gym in the nets. He came in 6:30 a.m. every morning of the winter of his junior year,” Harris said. “Then we took him out to stadium and have him practice kicking out at stadium. He hit the coffin corner kicks.”

Little decided to ply his kicking trade at St. Lawrence, a liberal arts school in Canton. The decision couldn’t have worked out better for Little, since the football team didn’t have a kicker entering his freshman year in 2002.

His start was inauspicious.

“When people ask me what’s harder — football or soccer, I definitely say football. I didn’t get hit too often in high school,” Little said. “My first punt in college I got blocked in scrimmage. The second one, I got run over.”

But Little made the most of his chance, dropping from 215 pounds of baby fat on his 5-foot, 10-inch frame to a sculpted 195 in his first season by doing an inordinate number of squats and bench presses.

“They joke around the weight room that I’m built like a linebacker,” Little said.

Little’s improved strength has scouts turning their heads after his performance with the Saints. In his junior season and his most successful fall to date, he was named All-Liberty League placekicker, a First Team All-East Region (Regional All-American) for Don Hasen’s Football Gazette, a three-time Liberty League Special Teams Player of the Week while having 30 percent of his kicks go back for touchbacks, a 34.1 yards-per-punt average and nailed 4-of-6 field goal attempts from over 40 yards.

But his breakout campaign almost never got off as Little had to fight the toughest battle of his life to date before his junior year.

That April, Little became seriously ill. Lymph nodes in his neck were inflamed and doctors were concerned that Little had contracted Hodgkin’s lymphoma — a type of cancer that develops in the lymph system, part of the body's immune system. Because lymph tissue is found throughout the body, Hodgkin's lymphoma can begin in almost any part of the body and spread to almost any tissue or organ in the body.

“People that hadn’t seen me in a while called and said they were concerned,” Little said. “I had two (lymph nodes) removed from my neck at Sister’s (Hospital) and the doctor said, ‘Don’t worry about football ... you might not play again.’ I was scared.”

“His neck was swelling up real bad. An infection was causing them to swell up,” said Scott Little, Nick’s father. “It was quite a scare because he was at school. The neck doctor basically told us he had cancer. Thank God it wasn’t.”

Luckily for Little, it wasn’t Hodgkin’s. Little, who is checked regularly for the disease, hit the weights and track in a effort to regain his strength after surgery. He spent time with Sam Watts, a renowned kicking guru in the area, and other collegiate kickers in the area and when training camp rolled around, he felt healthy. In season, Tuesday through Thursday, he spend one hour exclusively on just kicking with technique and drills.

“It’s all technique, I’d say. It’s not just kicking a ball. It’s the right timing and right footwork,” Little said. “It’s a big impact getting ready for college. High school (kicking) is off the block and college is off the ground.”

In June, Little traveled with Watts to the 4th Down Sports Pro Training Camps at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. to train with other collegiate athletes get ready for the pros.

“It’s all D-1 kickers. They put on a great camp and they might take over NFL Europe tryouts,” Little said.

All of his work has paid off as Little has garnered interest from the Arena Football League and Canadian Football League. Little has belted a 70-yard field goal in practice with wind at his back and no rush and a 57-yarder with a rush in practice. His longest kick in a game came as a sophomore when his 48-yarder split the uprights.

His 48-yarder is a bit ironic since his hero’s 47-yard attempt veered off its course and kept Buffalo from capturing its first Super Bowl title.

“I’ve liked (Scott) Norwood always. He’s always remembered for that kick, but he was a great kicker. I can’t imagine the difficulty. It was do or die,” Little said of Norwood’s “Wide Right” in Super Bowl XXV.

Even if Little doesn’t make the Super Bowl or NFL, he said he would be happy to kick anywhere.

“If I made it that far, it’s be great career. It all depends on how I finish my senior season,” Little said. “I’ve always liked to kick field goals. I’d kick in Albuquerque or back in Buffalo ... anywhere.”
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Reader Comments

Mike W (7/19/2005)
You truely are amazing. A hero to us all. BUT..its crazy how a 165 lb kid (me)can shut such a "powerful and sculpted" kid (you) down in water-basketball. Get back in the weight room.

Greg Franklin (7/18/2005)
The story hardly mentions the young man's illness - that may be more interesting than Scott Norwide. Not than the Snews would know a great story.

Ernie (7/18/2005)
Leave it to the idiots of the Tonawanda's to downplay a story like this. It takes 11 people to make a football play work, but only one to bring himself from near-death to realize his dream you morons!!! Great story Jack.

All-Star friends get collegiate preview

By Justin A. Cohn
The Journal Gazette

Friendships can start in the strangest of ways. Jon Rocholl and Michael Brune can attest to that.

Their relationship began with Rocholl rocketing his leg toward Brune’s head Oct. 1, 2004. At the time, they were enemies, football gladiators warring at Spuller Stadium in a pivotal in-conference game.

Snider was pinned near its own goal line and Rocholl, the punter, faced the monumental task of booting the ball into safe territory as the Concordia defensive line barreled in on him. One member of that line, Brune, dove toward the ball as it touched Rocholl’s foot.

Brune was too late; the kick sailed a whopping 78 yards downfield.

It was a minute portion of a 56-7 blowout for Snider, but in it laid the foundation for a friendship.

Rocholl and Brune didn’t speak for several weeks after that; it was at the all-SAC banquet that they had their first conversation. Both were being recruited to play college ball for Columbia and since they were both from Fort Wayne, why not make the trip to New York together?

“It’s really worked out great,” Brune said. “We met each other knowing we each were thinking of going to Columbia.”

Of course, it didn’t take long for Rocholl’s punt to come up in conversation.

“I felt like I was close to blocking it,” Brune said. “But you never know. It would have been great to block him.”

Rocholl isn’t so sure it was that close, and he’s quick to bring up the length of the punt and the outcome of the game.

But that was the last time Rocholl and Brune found themselves on opposite sidelines. Today, for the first time, they will be teammates, for the North Team in the Methodist Sports Medicine Center All-Star Classic.

Rocholl will be a kicker in the game. Brune will play offensive line. And they will be joined by 10 other players from northeast Indiana, plus assistant coaches, Joe Rietveld of Wawasee and Bob Yager of Heritage.

“I’ve heard a lot of good things from people who have played in (this game in) the past,” Rocholl said. “I’m looking forward to hanging out with guys and meeting good people.”

The game will be at North Central High School in Indianapolis, beginning at 1:30 p.m.

For most of the players, this will be their first game since the fall and their last before departing for college, so it’s a good opportunity to get into game shape and shake off the rust.

“I’m definitely going to use it as a tune-up, as an early start to college football,” Brune said. “It kind of gets long doing work outs, it’ll be fun to get in and play some before I go off to college.”

Speaking of college, both Rocholl and Brune settled on Columbia and they’ll be roommates there this year.

“It’ll be great to have someone from the same city there; it’ll make it feel more like home,” said Brune, who also considered attending Hillsdale and Indianapolis. “Most people haven’t even heard about (us rooming together). It’s kind of neat that two guys from the same city will be at Columbia.”

Rocholl, who had Ball State among his considerations, agreed.

“I’m really glad that there’s someone else coming (to Columbia) from my area, so we can talk about Fort Wayne,” he said. “We’ve shared some similar experiences and backgrounds growing up.”

Apparently, they also share some smarts, getting invited to an Ivy League school. Rocholl, also a soccer player in high school, scored a 1,440 on his SAT. Brune had a 1,450.

Their intelligences and work ethics have paid off on the football field, too.

“(For Rocholl), it starts from the basis of athleticism and then the art and skill of kicking and punting,” Snider coach Russ Isaacs said. “It’s solely dependent on his willingness to put in the time. It’s a lonely proposition. … He’s put the time in to make himself a Division I punter and kicker.”

Rocholl is 6-foot-2, 170 pounds. Brune, who is 6-foot-4, 240 pounds, expects to play defensive line at Columbia.

“(Brune) is everything you want in a player,” Concordia coach Dean Doerffler said. “He’s a student of the game and a coach on the field.”

Rocholl and Brune, both 18, are hoping that when they leave Columbia they will have helped transform the identity of the football program – Columbia was 1-9 last year, including 1-6 in the Ivy League – and they want to earn prestigious degrees.

“I’m really looking forward to going there, helping turn around the program,” Brune said. “It’s a program on the rise. Really, Ivy League football is improving. It’s some great football and the biggest thing is going out there and getting an education.”

Rocholl agreed.

“(In picking that school), I just decided that 10 years down the road, being at Columbia and having a degree from there would be worth it,” he said.

But first, they will suit up for the North Team today.

“I think winning’s probably not the most important thing,” Rocholl said. “It’s just about having fun and getting to know everybody in the week-long (practices leading up to the game).”

Said Brune: “It is a big deal (to win). You take a little pride in (representing) your side of the state. But definitely, I’m going down to have fun. And we want to win, just for pride.”
All-Star Classic

Methodist Sports Medicine Center All-Star Classic

When: Today, 1:30 p.m.

Where: North Central High School, Indianapolis

Local participants: Brody Dixon, East Noble, OL; Michael Brune, Concordia, OL; Ryan Kauchak, Wawasee, TE; Selwyn Lymon, Harding, WR; Doug Wasylk, Heritage, FB; Daniel Stauffer, Southern Wells, RB; Jordan Swain, Wawasee, RB; Jon Rocholl, Snider, K; Travis Craven, Snider, DE; Matt Michuda, Norwell, DE; Josh Doctor, Bishop Dwenger, DL; Mike Woods, Northrop, CB

Local coaches: Joe Rietveld, Wawasee; Bob Yager, Heritage

Vols Eye Elite Kicker

Vols Eye Elite Kicker
Nathan Franklin

By Jeffery Stewart Sportswriter
Any punter/place kicker that pops up as a Scout.com “Hot News” item has got to be hot prospect.

After all, fewer scholarships are awarded to kickers and punters than prospects at any other position. Typically a starting D-I kicker, or punter, is more likely to have started his collegiate career as a walk-on rather than a scholarship athlete.

Four of Tennessee’s last six punters dating back to 1990 were originally walk-ons who earned scholarships, while two of the last five place kickers dating back 15 years were non-scholarship players in the beginning.

It’s highly unusual for a team to have more than two scholarships invested in kicking specialists. However it’s quite common for a non-scholarship punter/place kicker to unseat a full-ride competitor. The Vols have had a few such busts in recent years.

These numbers tell us a couple of things: (1) It’s hard to evaluate kicking specialists on the high school level. (2) Once you prove yourself as a collegiate kicker — the job is yours.

For instance: If James Wilhoit keeps the starting place-kicking job as a junior and senior, he will be the fourth straight UT kicker to have held the starting job four straight seasons, following on the heels of Alex Walls, Jeff Hall and John Becksvoort.

Will Nathan Franklin, of Wilmington, N.C. be the next name in that legacy of longevity?

Undoubtedly, he fits UT’s profile for place-kickers. He’s talented, hard working, intelligent and a solid citizen. In way of a bonus, he’s also a good athlete with 4.65 speed to go with surprising strength. At 5-foot-11, 160 pounds he bench presses 210 pounds or some 30 percent more than his body weight. That’s roughly the equivalent of a 300-pound lineman benching over 400. Additionally, Franklin squats 345 and power cleans 190, all of which is a benefit on kick coverage where the kicker can become the last defender in an instant.

The greatest attribute for a kicker is consistency and reliability, and that’s what makes Franklin such a prospect of interest. He made 7-of-10 field goal attempts as a junior including a long of 47 yards. Furthermore, he put a nifty 90 percent of his kickoffs into the end zone for John T. Hoggard High School. Franklin averaged 39 yards per punt, but reportedly launches the high coverage kicks so many college special teams prefer.

An accomplished student with a 3.2 GPA and a 1680 score on the new version SAT, Franklin is fully qualified and as low a risk as you can find in a kicker. He’s already been offered by North Carolina State and UTEP and is being actively recruited by Georgia, Tennessee and USC. The fact the Trojans are going coastal in their pursuit of a place kicker when there is enough acreage in California soccer fields to make a 51st state.

It’s not even a sure thing Tennessee would sign a kicker this season since Wilhoit has two seasons remaining and scholarships aren’t plentiful. But it would make sense to sign a place kicker and give him a gray shirt, followed by a redshirt. That would give him a year and a half on campus and in practice before he has to wear an an Orange shirt in the pressure cooker that is SEC football. It would also give UT an insurance policy in case Wilhoit, who has played through injuries his first two seasons and missed spring practice due to surgery, is put on the shelf as a senior.

Franklin has been impressive on the spring/summer camp circuit during stops at Tennessee, LSU and North Carolina State. He’ll cap it off with a trip to Georgia this weekend followed by a trip to Los Angeles for the top 12 Elite Kicking Camp. Franklin is regarded as one of the country’s top five kickers in the Class of 2006 and has been rated as high as No. 2 by kicking guru Chris Sailer, who said: "Nathan is an incredible talent, a sure fire D1A scholarship kicker/punter."

"Nathan has a powerful leg and tremendous potential to be a D-I kicker,” Haggard head coach Scott Brasswell told Scout.com’s Steve Williams. “If you look at Nathan, you see these skinny legs and you wonder how he makes the ball explode off his foot the way it does. He has really stepped up his work ethic and I think he will be the top kicker in the state and one of the best in the country."

Franklin lists his four current favorites as USC, Georgia, Tennessee and N.C. State.

"I really liked a lot about Tennessee's program,” he told Scout.com’s Allen Wallace. “The town and the atmosphere there are great, and the facilities there are great too. Plus, the coaches and the players there are all real nice and friendly — they were all real personable and easy to talk to. It's also a good academic school.”

If the Vols decide to go for a field goal kicker, they might just split the uprights.

soccer punter

soccer punter