Kickers With the place kickers only really North Carolina State’s kicker Steve Hauschka stands out as anything more than a 7th round pick, he doesn’t have amazing leg strength however this is supplemented by his excellent accuracy from distance and the fact that he appears to be practically unaffected by the pressure of place kicking. Doesn’t have a massive amount of experience especially in big games having really only played one full season of division one football. Best kicking prospect in this draft and by quite some distance. Other kickers that might get consideration late in the proceedings of the draft could be Louisville’s record holding kicker Art Carmody and Georgia Bulldog Brandon Coutu. Coutu has probably the best range of any of these three kickers and while he plays for one of the more successful teams in college football he has rarely had to make game winning kicks, looks to have the makings of an NFL kicker, he tore his hamstring early in his career this would probably be a concern with any player at this position. Carmody is very accurate within 50 yards and is the NCAA record holder for the most points by a kicker. He is quite small and it’s difficult to know what the extent of his range is. His accuracy is not in question but lack of leg strength should keep him from earning an NFL job. Punters Again one prospect stands out as infinitely more draftable than the rest of his class, Georgia Tech’s Durant Brooks has the potential that could warrant a mid round selection and is probably on par with some of the recent punters who have been drafted. Brooks has a very strong leg and at times he out kicks his coverage, when required he can place the ball with great accuracy. Over half of his punts in the last two years have been downed inside 20. Brooks has a great combination of power and accuracy, if for some reason this is a position that you want to draft, this is the punter that you want, his only real negative is his tendency to put too much on the ball. Mike Dragosavich (North Dakota State) is the other punter that stands out from the pack, he has a very strong leg, possibly stronger than that of Brooks, but he doesn’t have the technique or the placement of Brooks. Unless he can improve this quickly I can’t see him winning a battle for playing time in an NFL camp. His ability to boom the ball downfield is very impressive but I’m not sure it’s impressive enough to justify using a draft pick on him. Long snappers Really the day that I get excited about the draft prospects of a long snapper is most likely the day I stop writing about draft prospects. In all seriousness not one of the specialist long snappers is worth drafting, if you want one they’ll be available in free agency, that said the pick of this year’s class would be Indiana’s Tim Bugg. When it comes to long snapping that all he does but he does it well, he’s accurate although has a tendency to low snap on a few occasions, not much of an athlete. Punt and Kick Return Specialists Increasingly college coaches are giving out scholarships to players who are unlikely to contribute as a starter however can be a weapon as a return man. Junior running back at Florida Brandon James is an example of this, he is unlikely to contribute as a running back but in the return game he can have a dramatic impact on a games momentum. In the same way that this is happening in college it can be seen in the pro’s, would Dante Hall or Devin Hester be on a team for their skills as a wide receiver alone? The problem here is that NFL teams tend not to be fans of giving one of the much valued roster spots to a player who will just return kicks, using the Hall and Hester examples, they offer enough in terms of offensive playmakers that when combined with their return capabilities it justifies a roster spot in Hesters example it probably would not matter if he never played a snap. So for returners you need to look at draftable position players who offer help in the return game. For me DeSean Jackson, Leodis McKelvin and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie all offer a high level of skill in both a primary position of need and a rare weapon in the return game. East Carolinas Chris Johnson has been moving up many a draft board since his performance at the combine and he has shown that because of his speed he can be very effective when returning kicks. A wide receiver with tons of speed like Houston’s Donnie Avery can be a threat returning kicks, Avery is a raw receiving talent and may be overdrafted because of physical skills so his ability in the return game will be key to early results in the NFL. Other wide receivers like Eddie Royal (Virginia Tech), Arman Shields (Richmond), Kevin Robinson (Utah State) and Lavelle Hawkins (Cal) all have potential to provide a spark to the special teams unit however the questions is because these are probably not elite returners do they provide enough to the receivers to gain a wr/kr/pr position on the team, if they are not going to contribute to the wr’s it could be a wasted pick.