As of last week, freshman walk-on Ryan Lichtenstein was the only placekicker on the roster and therefore the likely choice to hold said duties once the season started. I suppose it is fair enough however that HCDM thought it was in the best interest of all parties if there was at least a Plan B on hand. If for no other reason than because you never know what's going to happen, who's going to leave and why.
Better late than never, it seems as though the Orange have brought in a new kicker to keep things competition-y. According to the folks over at SyracuseFan and courtesy of SpazSports, SU has brought in kicker Jake Smith from good ol' Milford Academy.
Jake, who is from Pennsylvania (obviously, aren't all kickers?) kicked 59 of 59 extra points between '07 and '08 and went 5 of 7 for field goals. He was also a formidable punter, averaging 41 yards per punt his senior year. On kickoffs, he landed 36 touchbacks on 45 attempts (80%) his senior year. He won the Top FG kicker award at Lee McDonald's Special Teams Solutions 5th annual college exposure camp in 2008 and was named to the area football All-Area team for both punting and kicking.
No confirmation yet for SU but expect something later today. In the meantime, let's watch some kicks! (Video here as well)
Finally, an interesting postscript on former kicker Shane Raupers. Shane is going to be remaining at Syracuse University but he will lose his scholarship, obviously. Guess that, like Hines, he just lost interest in playing football. Is that a virus going around or something?
UPDATE: Donnie confirms that the Orange are recruiting Smith but he's not officially on the team just yet.
The Orange is involved in the recruitment of another kicker - Jake Smith of Cheltenham High School of Elkins Park, Pa. Smith was apparently headed to Milford Academy, but could be brought in immediately to provide some depth or challenge for kickoff and place-kicking duties. Marrone confirmed after practice that Smith is being recruited by the Orange.