Specialist’s Corner: Week three
John Michael Crooks | Oklahoma Christian School ’23 5’8″ K Not committed Not ranked Best skill: Distance Favorite pro: Rodrigo Blankenship Goal for 2021: Keep winning Last week, Crooks nailed a career-long 46-yard field goal as the half expired, helping…
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Continue ReadingJohn Michael Crooks | Oklahoma Christian School ’23 |
5’8″ K | Not committed | Not ranked |
- Best skill: Distance
- Favorite pro: Rodrigo Blankenship
- Goal for 2021: Keep winning
Last week, Crooks nailed a career-long 46-yard field goal as the half expired, helping to lift the Saints past rival Crossings Christian.
“I think my best skill would be the distance I can kick from,” said Crooks, who is listed as a Kicking World Hot Prospect, a highly exclusive honor if you know anything about kicking.
He first joined the Saints football team his freshman year.
“I have played soccer my whole life and it wasn’t until the summer of freshman year that I had kicked a football,” Crooks said. “Some of mystery friends had told me how much fun football was and that I should try to be the kicker on the team.”
Crooks was hooked instantly, now thanking his teammates for convincing him to give the gridiron a try.
“As soon as I started, I loved it and began to practice all the time,” Crooks said.
Now with ambitions to play in college, Crooks has been working on his craft non-stop.
Thanks in part to his soccer background, Crooks hits a very forward, powerful ball. Film analysis shows that he takes a very liberal plant, with a very open frame going into impact.
From there, he whips through the ball in the blink of an eye, helping him especially to kick into the wind and hit a lower-trajectory, farther-carrying ball.
https://twitter.com/jmcrooks22/status/1436773342564995073?s=21
Cole Davis | Bishop Kelley ’22 |
6’5″ P | Not committed | Not ranked |
- Best skill: punting
- Favorite pro: Baker Mayfield
- Goal for 2021: Practice on Thanksgiving
\Just a year ago, Davis’s football career was in question.
“I was a bit too over myself, and I thought I was a lot better than I actually was,” said Davis. “I had a crappy two-game span and got benched for the rest of the season.
“I could not ask for anything better looking back at it, because without that I would’ve never humbled myself,” Davis said.
Just a few months later, Davis was onto his senior camp tour, winning punting competitions left-and-right.
“I fell in love with punting and still love field goals,” Davis said of his senior summer. “My punts were starting to turn over and from there on since, they’ve been bombs.”
He started with local Division-II camps, including UCO and OBU, and he started winning.
When it was time for the Oklahoma camp, Davis, a diehard Sooners fan who believes his father is the “biggest OU fan in the state,” was prepared. At first, he struggled during the field goal portion of the camp, but when it came time for business – the punt portion, that is – Davis booted the ball like nobody else was on the field.
“I ended up winning the punt competition, and that’s where I started getting recruited,” Davis said.
The tall, strong senior has since received some interest from Oklahoma, Okie State, Kansas, Tulsa, and Drake, each during camps from those respective schools, as he was able to win punt competitions at each.
Davis credited his coaching from KICK NATION, crediting former teammate and current Poke Cade Davis, who snapped for the Comets, for plugging that connection after Cole’s sophomore season and before his Covid-stricken junior summer.
“During Covid, I kicked everywhere and at any time I could,” Davis said. “I wasn’t very good, but I had a lot of potential.”
Davis got his first career start as a sophomore during the playoffs, after the Comets’ full-time starter went down with injury. The Kelley coaches called Davis up from junior varsity to take over kicking duties the remainder of the playoffs. Now, Davis said his primary goal is to get back to the playoffs and make a deep run.
“I’ve never been on a team that doesn’t practice on Thanksgiving, so I definitely want to keep that up,” Davis said. “From a personal perspective, I want to be All-State, All-District. . . I want to be the best specialist in Bishop Kelley history.”
Davis said, three years from now, he hopes to be punting in college and applying for medical school.
I appreciate the love from @tstepsis and @DrakeBulldogsFB for the love, although it’s a bye week it’s just another day to get better! Ready for the start of district next week! @BKCometfootball @KICKNATION #KICKNATION pic.twitter.com/JguyG53SCR
— Cole Davis (@colerdavis1) September 17, 2021