Colorado Prep, K Zach Grossnickle, Commits to the Buffs

by Bob_Bell on Jan 18, 2009 4:45 PM MST

Once again, like TE DaVaughn Thornton, we expected K/P Zach Grossnickle to pull the trigger today. That has happened according to rivals.com. The Buffs have now signed their 5th in-state prospect and hopefully, fill a big void in their kicking game. Not many things frustrated Colorado fans more last year than the disappointing special teams performance. The Buffs missed more field goals than they made, punting wasn't exactly superb and kickoffs were very erratic. Hopefully, Grossnickle can be the solution to the Buffs problems in all three areas. That is what makes Zach valuable and why CU was interested in him. Colorado has more than their share of kicker/punters on scholarship so trying to address all the issues with one stone was imperative. Scout.com really likes what Grossnickle brings to the table, ranking him the 10th best kicker in the country and #1 in the state of Colorado. This is the Buffs 13th verbal of the 2009 recruiting class and the second verbal of the day.

Here is the breakdown of Zach Grossnickle that we did earlier in the week.

Zach Grossnickle's vitals:

Position: K
Scout Profile
Rivals Profile
ESPN Profile
Ht: 6'3"
Wt: 175 lbs
High School: Denver East (CO) Denver

Congrats to the staff and Zach for the commitment. Go Buffs! This is defintely a thing the Buffs needed to address and I know this will make our reader, justmyop, very happy.

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great news, but...

what do they do about all of the other K/Ps on scholarship?

by MDBuff on Jan 18, 2009 4:58 PM MST reply actions

tough subject...really tough subject

I really don’t know. There are different ways of handling a situation like giving a kid a non football related scholarship if he isnt cutting it. I don’t think Hawk would remove a scholarship. It is just really important that Grossnickle can handle both punting and kicking…at least punting as P Matt DiLallo is a senior and we don’t want to have to sign a fourth again next year…

The Ralphie Report - Go Buffs!...All Colorado Buffaloes on SBNation - http://www.ralphiereport.com/

by Bob_Bell on Jan 18, 2009 5:02 PM MST up reply actions

hopefully our current guys step up and do

their job, figure it all out and let Grossnickle redshirt and develop…personally I don’t want a freshman kicking in Big 12 games next year. that is another recipe for disaster…

The Ralphie Report - Go Buffs!...All Colorado Buffaloes on SBNation - http://www.ralphiereport.com/

by Bob_Bell on Jan 18, 2009 5:07 PM MST up reply actions

Great get, sorry it had to come to this

"Me fail english, that unpossible" - Ralph Wiggum
"Duffman is thrusting in the direction of the problem" - Duffman

by Broncoman on Jan 18, 2009 5:04 PM MST reply actions

great news - welcome Zach!

Nobody knows if he’ll redshirt or not — depends if the competition pushes Goodman back into top form, which is win/win for CU. Gives Grossnickle a year to get acclimated to Big12. If so, we have a punter/kicker who redshirts behind senior diLallo and is back-up to Davis and Goodman. It’s a lot of kickers but if he punts, it’s a necessary decision for at least a year.

If he’s better than any one of the three we have, then the coaches have a decision to make about who starts. But Hawkins doesn’t pull schollies, as far as we’ve seen.

Hey, top ten kicker by Scout, not a bad get.

by JustmyOp on Jan 18, 2009 5:22 PM MST reply actions

Nothing like good competition.

I think that Zach will help push both kickers. I’m glad that we have him. Great pick up!!

by Bigbuff44 on Jan 18, 2009 8:05 PM MST up reply actions

I know this will make our reader, justmyop, very happy.

ha ha, just saw this.
Funny thing was, when we started talking about him and creek’s willenbrook as candidates after a particularly dismal CU kicking game, Grossnickle didn’t even have a star next to his name. Now he’s #10 in the country per Scout. All Colorado probably helped.

I put some add’l comments and clips after his pre-commit film breakdown fwiw. ESPN has him at 175 lbs, but Scout has him at 185, and his school roster has 190 lbs, which sounds about right until Pitman gets hold of him.