2020 Camp Season Recap
This informative blog article takes you on a journey of the 2020 Kicking World camp year and highlights the top performances, amazing stats, and introduces you to some of the newest Hot Prospects, including a first time ever 8th grader added to the List! It was a whirlwind of a year with a constant start of uncertainty and we’re blessed and very fortunate to have made it through. We’re thankful to all the campers, parents, coaches, and families who trusted Kicking World for their training this season and who continue to work with us for the long haul. Now, on to the top performers!
60 YARD CLUB
The following 4 Kicking World campers made their mark in the double-elimination field goal competition during our summer camp tour. These young men not only won their respective field goal competitions, but they hit a 60 yarder! While they didn’t quite land on the historic record book (which has long been tied at 65 yards by the current kickers at a PAC-12 and Big XXII school, reaching 60 yards and making it with only ‘1 life’ with pressure is no small feat. Congrats to these guys!
Nick Hernandez (2021 – TX)
July 21 Austin, TX
Christian Payne (2021 – TX)
July 25 Houston, TX
Emanuel Aguilar (2022 – KS)
June 28 Kansas City, KS
Will Stone (2022 – TX)
June 21 Austin, TX
TRIPLE THREAT CHAMPIONS
The following campers won all 3 competitions at a 2-Day Kicking World camp this season. It is a rare happening to have a clean sweep of all 3 events! Congratulations to (listed in reverse chronological order):
Robert Gunn III (2022 – FL)
July 25 Atlanta, GA
Aidan Bonde (2023 – NC) (younger group)
July 12 Charlotte, NC
Max Gonos (2021 – MI)
June 27 Cleveland, OH
Will Stone (2022 – TX) (middle group)
June 21 Austin, TX
Chance Gagnon (2021 – FL)
March 15 Orlando, FL
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TOP OF THE LEADERBOARD
Congrats to ‘Jack and Jack’ on finishing #1 overall in their respective competitions based on their statistics at a 2-Day Kicking World camp this season. Very impressive numbers!
#1 Kickoff Leader
Jack Meyer (2021 – WI)
71/3.87 AVG, 72/3.92 BB
June 14 Minneapolis, MN
#1 Punt Leader
Jack Green (2021 – SD)
41.33/4.31 AVG, 40/4.59 BB
June 27 Denver, CO
Check out the Top 5 Leaders for FG, KO, and P of this 2020 Camp Season!
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TOP RECRUITS
Based on a combination of being on the Hot Prospect List and their respective performances this 2020 camp season, we’ve put together a short list of our ‘top recruits’. We will be looking to add more Hot Prospects and feature more students based on the performances at our upcoming 2020 National Showcase! Here are this summer entering fall season’s top recruits:
Robert Gunn III (2022 – FL)
The 5X Golden Boot Champion & 2x Triple Threat has been a formidable force in virtually every Kicking World event he’s attended. This Tampa Bay area kicker has what it takes to excel as a Division 1 kicker. RG3 has proven himself over the long haul at our camps having been training with us for 3 and a half years now. He won both the overall field goal and punt competition at last year’s National Showcase among 60 of the country’s best. Robert can hit kickoffs over 70 yards in the 4.0+ second hang time range and has the leg to make field goals back to 65 yards on a good day. The strong-legged FG/KO weapon is FBS scholarship ready and is our top all-around recruit.
Nick Hernandez (2021 – TX)
One of only 4 campers this season to hit a 60 yarder (a perfect 9/9), Nick has shown a strong leg for both field goals and kickoffs. In 2 years as the Varsity kicker he hasn’t missed a PAT. The Reagan HS kicker from San Antonio TX has been training with us for over 4 years now. At our June 20-21 Austin camp weekend, Nick showed he is ready for college by not only winning the FG comp with a 60 yarder but finishing #2 overall and winning the older group kickoff competition with an impressive 69.7 yard distance average with multiple kicks over 3.9 seconds, throughout the weekend.
Will Stone (2022 – TX)
The parochial kicker from Regents School in Austin, TX has evolved quite a bit since he started training with Kicking World a little over 3 years ago. At our June 20-21 Austin camp weekend, Will picked up the ‘Triple Threat’ award, winning all 3 events for his middle age group of 10th/11th graders. He also is one of only 4 campers this season to win the double-elim field goal event making a 60 yarder. He hits a really nice ball on field goals and crushes kickoffs. He finished #1 overall on kickoffs with a 69.7 yard / 3.82 average besting over 45 campers at the June Austin event.
Jack Meyer (2021 – WI)
Wisconsin native Jack Meyer is one of only a few students ever to land on the KW Hot Prospect List after one showing. He has such a big leg that we had no choice but to get him on the list right away. He’s improved so much since his June 13-14 Minneapolis camp weekend where he won the kickoff competition handily with a 71 yard / 3.87 average. He also earned Golden Boot making an impressive 8/10 kicks through 55 yards. This kid has one of the biggest legs in the country and should be considered an automatic touchback weapon.
Incoming 8th Grade Kicker Daniel Jackson from Minnesota
RISING STARS
Clayton Amaya (2024 – TX)
The young man from Bulverde Texas has really turned it on at our camp circuit this summer. Clayton won the younger group (7th-9th grade) field goal competition and punt competition at our June 20-21 Austin camp weekend. He was a perfect 6/6 on field goals through 45 yards and outlasted many campers a year ahead of him, making it back to 55 yards. Clayton has grown a lot since this summer and has been blasting kickoffs in the end zone and even made a few 55 yard field goals (albeit a helpful breeze) on video. This is a kid who could likely be a 3-year Varsity starter at a Texas HS 6A school.
Benjamin Bell (2024 – CO)
We only got to see Ben once, at our June 26-27 Denver camp weekend, and he really excelled. He won both the field goal competition (perfect 100% through 53 yards) and the kickoff competition (multiple kicks over 3.75 seconds hang) in the younger age group consisting of 8th through 1oth graders. I can’t wait to see what Benjamin can do when he’s in mid-season form, hopefully earning himself a spot on our Hot Prospect List with a solid performance at this year’s National Showcase.
Daniel Jackson (2025 – MN)
He’s only an incoming 8th grader but is a couple of years ahead of his age for kicking. Daniel won the younger group (7th-10th grade) field goal competition at his first KW camp appearance on June 14, 2020 in Minneapolis crushing a 50 yarder for the win. He’s improved immensely since mid-June and is now putting kickoffs in the end zone, hitting punts over 4.0 seconds, and he looks very comfortable from 45 yards and in with a penetrating ball flight that gets up quickly. He’s still only in middle school but already shows college recruitable kicking ability.
Coach Pat & students looking on during FG competition in NJ
2020 NATIONAL SHOWCASE
It all goes down on December 5-6 in Austin, Texas! Through today we’ve awarded 80 National Showcase invites and with all of the recent changes and delays with HS football seasons state by state we feel this year’s event will be even more crucial than ever, especially for HS seniors & juniors. We’ll also be looking heavily to add multiple new Class of 2023 Hot Prospects based on this event. With many schools postponing or canceling their football season, this means there will be limited game footage (proof of work) and all the kickers & punters will need a platform to help get their name out and get discovered & recruited by college football coaches. The 2020 Kicking World National Showcase is that platform, and we look forward to helping get these students validated and discovered. The event is always a pivotal opportunity for elite high school specialists to not only make an impact on the camp staff but also garner the attention of college football coaches. The YouTube Live Broadcast will draw in a couple of thousand viewers and as always multiple students will receive offers and serious interest immediately following the event.
LEADERBOARD & RECORD BOOKS
See how your kicking/punting prowess compares to that of the top 5 field goal, kickoff, and punt performers of the 2020 Kicking World camp season. We are very pleased with the numbers, both attendance and performance-wise this camp season, especially considering all of the uncertainty in 2020. This year’s National Showcase is going to feature a high-level of competition! Check out the Leaderboard
RECRUITING & MEDIA
Hot Prospect List
This is a short list of Kicking World’s top kicking & punting recruits based on performances at our camps throughout the year. College Coaches & Media – feel free to contact Coach Brent for more information on any Hot Prospect.
Camp Results
A camp by camp listing of each Kicking World competition including the detailed statistics of each participant and a summary of the event winners by age group.
Camp Photos
Check out all the great photos from our 2020 camp season. They’re all up on our Facebook page sorted by a unique album for each camp.
Press Kit
Here you will find the official Kicking World logos and contact information for media and press purposes. We are available for interview requests and can help provide insight for your kicking articles and stories on any of the recruits mentioned in this article.
Parents of students featured in this article – please don’t hesitate to share this write-up with your local media and have them reach out to Coach Brent for a quote & more info!
