RunYouOver
04-22-2008, 02:51 PM
Here's an article on the kicker...you decide...I think it'd be worth a 7th round choice.
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With the wind behind it, the ball curled smoothly inside the right upright. From 50 yards away, it was good.
"You've got that natural little draw there," a Colts scout said. "That's excellent."
From 56 yards out, the ball traveled almost the same path.
"Draw in," the scout said. "That's great."
Finally, from 59 yards, the scout had no words. Well, just one.
"Damn," he said.
The rest of the players, coaches and family members applauded from the sideline. Piotr Czech had just made 12 consecutive field goals on a recent blustery morning at Staten Island's Wagner College, his college team. The last one, with two cell phones ringing as he approached the ball, left the Indianapolis scout -- as well as representatives from the Giants and Eagles -- amazed.
Still, to close out an impressive pro day workout, the 6-5, 210-pounder needed to show that his long leg could drive the ball through the 15-mph gusts.
From 55 yards, with the Indy scout rushing him by noting that the women's lacrosse team was "running us out of here" to prepare for their game, Czech nailed it.
At that point, the Keyport High graduate -- once among the biggest secrets in the preparation for next month's NFL Draft -- had kicked his way onto the draft boards of a few more teams. Now, after 15 teams scouted him during the season, he has private workouts scheduled with the Giants, Patriots and perhaps the Dolphins -- with more likely to be set up in the coming weeks.
So while questions about his big body, his small college and his lack of experience linger, Czech's name continues to be on the lips of personnel evaluators who didn't even know about him at the start of his senior season.
"I'm hungry for this. I want this more than anything," Czech said the other day while sitting in his SUV outside his alma mater. "It used to linger in my mind in high school, like, 'Can I really do this?' In college, it was more of a reality. Now, it's more real than ever.
"And I know I can do it."
Czech's determination shouldn't be doubted. Not after everything his family has been through since his father Zdzislaw moved his wife Grazyna and children from Poland to America 20 years ago as communism fell in Eastern Europe.
For two years, six members of the Czech family (including Grazyna's mother and brother) crammed into a studio apartment in Jersey City, where the parents slept on the fold-out couch while the children shared small mattresses. The Czechs then moved into a two-bedroom unit in Keyport that provided only a little more room for a family that by then included a baby girl, Anna. Eventually, Zdzislaw (known to his American friends by his middle name, Eugene) had earned enough money as an auto mechanic to buy a partially condemned house that was covered by overgrown shrubbery.
Only recently has the home been finished after years of hard work by the men of the Czech household.
"We were always in survival mode," said Arthur Czech, the oldest of the family's five children. "But our parents made sure we never went hungry. And now we're able to help them out."
That's exactly what Piotr is hoping to do. By making the NFL, he can help Zdzislaw, who was laid off late last year after taking a medical leave to undergo surgery on a knee that had ached him for years.
"Do I want to help him out?" Piotr said. "Hell yeah."
Piotr believes his father has helped his chances of reaching the NFL. A former member of the Polish Army soccer team who was honored as krol szczelcow ("king of goals"), which was the title for the league's MVP award, Zdzislaw nudged his boys toward soccer. The family couldn't afford video games, so the Czech boys spent most days playing the game outdoors. On rainy days they wrote letters to their friends in Poland.
As a sophomore in high school, Piotr played soccer as part of Keyport's collaboration with Henry Hudson High School. This came after his initial attempts at being the football team's kicker were denied after he shanked his first (and only) kick in an audition for the coaches during his freshman year. But by his junior year he won the job after spending a "summer of frustration" being coached as a kicker by Arthur, who kicked at William Paterson.
At Wagner, Piotr continued to improve while tailoring the basics of what Arthur taught him to what felt comfortable for him. As a junior, he was sent on to try a 54-yarder just before halftime against Sacred Heart -- the first time Wagner coach Walt Hameline had called on him from that distance.
It was good.
"From then on, everything 50-plus, he was like, 'All right, we're doing it,'" said Czech, who also punted for Wagner the past four years.
Of course, Czech hasn't been perfect. He missed a 42-yarder in overtime during a loss to Iona last season when the opposing coach, copying a trend that was sweeping the NFL at the time, called a timeout just before the snap on Czech's first attempt. But he had a 56-yarder against St. Francis of Pennsylvania and made a record five field goals in November's East Coast Bowl, an all-star game for small-school football programs.
Czech appears capable of playing in much more important games -- if he can keep his long frame in check, that is. Unlike shorter kickers, a small break in form can have a big result on the flight of the ball.
"He has to stay down all the way through the kick," said Pat Sempier, a local kicking coach who once worked with former Giants kicker Brad Daluiso and has volunteered as a tutor for Czech. "If he comes out of it a little bit, he'll pull off it completely."
Czech's build could be a red flag for some teams, even though Mike Vanderjagt -- once the most accurate kicker in NFL history -- stands at 6-5. Plus, Czech's long leg helps him quickly get the ball into the air and over the outstretched arms of opposing rushers. But teams might also be worried about how he'll handle the spotlight of playing in the NFL after four years of playing in front of small crowds at Wagner.
Those who know Czech say that shouldn't be a concern.
"He's got 100 percent confidence all the time. That's something I never had," Arthur Czech said. "What separates him from other guys is that I never see any doubt in his eyes.
"He brings that to kicking, but he also brings that attitude toward life."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
With the wind behind it, the ball curled smoothly inside the right upright. From 50 yards away, it was good.
"You've got that natural little draw there," a Colts scout said. "That's excellent."
From 56 yards out, the ball traveled almost the same path.
"Draw in," the scout said. "That's great."
Finally, from 59 yards, the scout had no words. Well, just one.
"Damn," he said.
The rest of the players, coaches and family members applauded from the sideline. Piotr Czech had just made 12 consecutive field goals on a recent blustery morning at Staten Island's Wagner College, his college team. The last one, with two cell phones ringing as he approached the ball, left the Indianapolis scout -- as well as representatives from the Giants and Eagles -- amazed.
Still, to close out an impressive pro day workout, the 6-5, 210-pounder needed to show that his long leg could drive the ball through the 15-mph gusts.
From 55 yards, with the Indy scout rushing him by noting that the women's lacrosse team was "running us out of here" to prepare for their game, Czech nailed it.
At that point, the Keyport High graduate -- once among the biggest secrets in the preparation for next month's NFL Draft -- had kicked his way onto the draft boards of a few more teams. Now, after 15 teams scouted him during the season, he has private workouts scheduled with the Giants, Patriots and perhaps the Dolphins -- with more likely to be set up in the coming weeks.
So while questions about his big body, his small college and his lack of experience linger, Czech's name continues to be on the lips of personnel evaluators who didn't even know about him at the start of his senior season.
"I'm hungry for this. I want this more than anything," Czech said the other day while sitting in his SUV outside his alma mater. "It used to linger in my mind in high school, like, 'Can I really do this?' In college, it was more of a reality. Now, it's more real than ever.
"And I know I can do it."
Czech's determination shouldn't be doubted. Not after everything his family has been through since his father Zdzislaw moved his wife Grazyna and children from Poland to America 20 years ago as communism fell in Eastern Europe.
For two years, six members of the Czech family (including Grazyna's mother and brother) crammed into a studio apartment in Jersey City, where the parents slept on the fold-out couch while the children shared small mattresses. The Czechs then moved into a two-bedroom unit in Keyport that provided only a little more room for a family that by then included a baby girl, Anna. Eventually, Zdzislaw (known to his American friends by his middle name, Eugene) had earned enough money as an auto mechanic to buy a partially condemned house that was covered by overgrown shrubbery.
Only recently has the home been finished after years of hard work by the men of the Czech household.
"We were always in survival mode," said Arthur Czech, the oldest of the family's five children. "But our parents made sure we never went hungry. And now we're able to help them out."
That's exactly what Piotr is hoping to do. By making the NFL, he can help Zdzislaw, who was laid off late last year after taking a medical leave to undergo surgery on a knee that had ached him for years.
"Do I want to help him out?" Piotr said. "Hell yeah."
Piotr believes his father has helped his chances of reaching the NFL. A former member of the Polish Army soccer team who was honored as krol szczelcow ("king of goals"), which was the title for the league's MVP award, Zdzislaw nudged his boys toward soccer. The family couldn't afford video games, so the Czech boys spent most days playing the game outdoors. On rainy days they wrote letters to their friends in Poland.
As a sophomore in high school, Piotr played soccer as part of Keyport's collaboration with Henry Hudson High School. This came after his initial attempts at being the football team's kicker were denied after he shanked his first (and only) kick in an audition for the coaches during his freshman year. But by his junior year he won the job after spending a "summer of frustration" being coached as a kicker by Arthur, who kicked at William Paterson.
At Wagner, Piotr continued to improve while tailoring the basics of what Arthur taught him to what felt comfortable for him. As a junior, he was sent on to try a 54-yarder just before halftime against Sacred Heart -- the first time Wagner coach Walt Hameline had called on him from that distance.
It was good.
"From then on, everything 50-plus, he was like, 'All right, we're doing it,'" said Czech, who also punted for Wagner the past four years.
Of course, Czech hasn't been perfect. He missed a 42-yarder in overtime during a loss to Iona last season when the opposing coach, copying a trend that was sweeping the NFL at the time, called a timeout just before the snap on Czech's first attempt. But he had a 56-yarder against St. Francis of Pennsylvania and made a record five field goals in November's East Coast Bowl, an all-star game for small-school football programs.
Czech appears capable of playing in much more important games -- if he can keep his long frame in check, that is. Unlike shorter kickers, a small break in form can have a big result on the flight of the ball.
"He has to stay down all the way through the kick," said Pat Sempier, a local kicking coach who once worked with former Giants kicker Brad Daluiso and has volunteered as a tutor for Czech. "If he comes out of it a little bit, he'll pull off it completely."
Czech's build could be a red flag for some teams, even though Mike Vanderjagt -- once the most accurate kicker in NFL history -- stands at 6-5. Plus, Czech's long leg helps him quickly get the ball into the air and over the outstretched arms of opposing rushers. But teams might also be worried about how he'll handle the spotlight of playing in the NFL after four years of playing in front of small crowds at Wagner.
Those who know Czech say that shouldn't be a concern.
"He's got 100 percent confidence all the time. That's something I never had," Arthur Czech said. "What separates him from other guys is that I never see any doubt in his eyes.
"He brings that to kicking, but he also brings that attitude toward life."