Evan O'Hara was Boone County's most valuable player and he is a Division 1 talent. Evan is raw but he has the ability to both kick and punt on the D1 level and he is the perfect recruit for a school looking to use one scholarship to fill both positions.

 

He is nationally ranked by ProKicker.com:

 

National Top 25 Football Kicker/Punter Combo Rankings - High School | Prokicker.com

 

Hudl highlights:

 

Evan OHara - Highlight Videos, Schedule & Roster - Hudl

Evan O'Hara was Boone County's most valuable player and he is a Division 1 talent. Evan is raw but he has the ability to both kick and punt on the D1 level and he is the perfect recruit for a school looking to use one scholarship to fill both positions.

 

He is nationally ranked by ProKicker.com:

 

National Top 25 Football Kicker/Punter Combo Rankings - High School | Prokicker.com

 

Hudl highlights:

 

Evan OHara - Highlight Videos, Schedule & Roster - Hudl

 

I don't know Evan personaly, but the kids from Highlands who have played soccer with Evan have nothing but good things to say about both him and the O'Hara family. He sounds like a quality young man in addition to an exceptional athlete.

D1 scholly's are hard to come by for kickers/punters. What does being ranked by Prokicker mean?

Wow! I was not aware that he was D1 caliber for football. I just knew him as a heck of a soccer player.

 

Congrats to Evan and Good Luck!

D1 scholly's are hard to come by for kickers/punters. What does being ranked by Prokicker mean?

 

I had this discussion with his parents about "kicking" scholarships being hard to come by. What sets Evan apart is he can kick and punt at a high level.

 

As far as being ranked by Prokicker, no idea, but it's not much different than the Elite QB ratings some people put so much stock into. At the end of the day I was adding a positive about Evan, not claiming that Prokicker is the end all.

Getting scholarships for kicking is tough. Coaches seem to want the kids to prove they can kick FG's so many won't offer a scholarship until maybe their second season (see Popham from CovCath and others who kicked at D1 schools). Evans Talkers had to walk on this year at UC and that kid could kick the heck out of the ball but that is the life of the kicker and I have a hard time understanding the coaches when you see them act on the sidelines when a FG is missed.

 

The Kicking game is so left to chance by many high caliber football programs and it puzzles the heck out of me.

I had this discussion with his parents about "kicking" scholarships being hard to come by. What sets Evan apart is he can kick and punt at a high level.

 

As far as being ranked by Prokicker, no idea, but it's not much different than the Elite QB ratings some people put so much stock into. At the end of the day I was adding a positive about Evan, not claiming that Prokicker is the end all.

 

I understand that completely. I just did not know if you had more insight about Prokicker and how it works is all.

^ No sir.

Prokicker is a company started by Ray Guy, former NFL punter for the Raiders. It is ran by Rick Zang, a former punter from Ashland. As far as I know, Prokicker is the only Kicker/Punter/longsnapper program that provides camps and rankings nation wide.

 

The top ranked kickers/punters from Prokicker normally get D1 Scholarships.

 

Getting a kicking scholarship IS difficult, but at the D1 level it is very possible if the you are the right kicker. Raceland's Aaron Pettrey received a four year scholarship at Ohio State. Most large D1 schools realize the importance of a good kicker. And you are much more likely to receive a kicking scholarship if you are a duel threat as a kicker and punter.

 

Side note: Pettrey now teaches and runs camps for Prokicker.

What schools are talking with O'Hara? I heard one might be UK.

Pro kicker

I'm not sure of the exact history of Prokicker. I do know that Rick Sang is the person who got this whole thing started in, at least, the mid-90s. Rick Sang (with an S) played for at least one of EKU's IAA National Championship teams as a punter and I believe coached there and I'm sure he coached at Arizona State on one of their highly successful teams. Rick's dad was a highly successful high school coach in WV and Rick himself, taught, coached and was the Athletic Director for Greenwood High School in Bowling Green when they first started. I believe Prokicker grew out of Rick's company called American Football Specialists or Specialties offering equipment, camps, scouting and recruiting services. He gained an early affiliation with Ray Guy and I think ex-KC Chief kicking great Jan Stenerud had something to do with the early foundations. I've got great kicking video and long snapping videos from them from back then and still use some of those fundamental techniques today. I've had two kickers participate in his camps and I think both are still in the top ten in KY for FG distance at or over 50 yards each. Evan is as good or better than both and didn't have near the coaching that either of those two. I was blessed with two fantastic kicking coaches for those kids.

That's awesome, I hope Evan gets a chance to walk on somewhere and earn a full ride at a D1 level school, that would be great.

One of my old coaches back home, Joe Spadafino, who played at Eastern Kentucky (and recently elected to their hall of fame) in the early 80's was a long snapping instructor for Pro Kicker. They run great camps.

 

As far as scholly, it is tough, mainly because it's hard to project a kicker because high school kickers use tees on field goals. That's where Pro Kicker is a big help.

I don't know Evan personaly, but the kids from Highlands who have played soccer with Evan have nothing but good things to say about both him and the O'Hara family. He sounds like a quality young man in addition to an exceptional athlete.

 

Nice honor for the young man and hope it helps him. Interesting that he is an OHara and I wonder if he is any relation to the dourerty kid from HHS that kicks as well. He has OHara on his moms side. If HHS ever kicked field goals who knows how many points that kid would have. Not sure but he may have earned the scoring record at HHS on extra points pretty much alone. Not sure how many kick offs he put out of the end zone this year but I know I've seen at least one hit the crossbar. Good luck to both of them and I hope their kicking skills helps them get to the next level.