2023 Kicking World National Showcase Recap
2023 National Showcase Aerial Drone View of our Day 2 Field Goal Finals
The 10th installment of the Kicking World National Showcase held on Saturday & Sunday, Dec 2-3, 2023 was another great event in our 16-year camp history. We’re thankful to our hosts Round Rock HS / Round Rock ISD for their hospitality all weekend. Shout out to all of our coaches, staff, videographers, photographers, live broadcast crew, volunteers, campers, and their families/friends for putting their trust in us and for committing to join Kicking World for the big weekend.
This year 70 participants from 25 states made the journey to Austin, Texas for the annual invite-only National Showcase event! The weekend’s festivities took place at Round Rock HS’s Dragon Stadium, just 30 minutes north of Austin and minutes from Kicking World HQ. These 70 young men were among a select group of only 100 students hand-picked to earn an invitation based on their performances amongst the over 1,200 students we evaluated during the 2023 camp season, putting them in the top ~8% of HS kickers and punters from across the country. We did anticipate closer to 80 participants but mostly due to the crummy inflationary environment – families just couldn’t swing it this year due to sky-high airfare and other costs these days. We get it and pray things start coming back to normal soon.
Our annual event is a tremendous opportunity for elite high school specialists to not only make an impact on the camp staff and receive referrals & recommendations based on their performance throughout the weekend but also garner the attention of college football coaches through the YouTube Live Broadcast. Over 1,200 viewers tuned in to the live broadcast (and just 3 days later it’s been viewed over 2,000 times)! Multiple campers & families both at the event and watching from afar sent me texts, emails, and social media DMs – @KickingWorld saying how impressed they were by the Showcase and congratulating the staff on a successful weekend – thanks y’all!
Many of the top participants saw new social media ‘follows’, DMs, and text messages from coaches they hadn’t previously engaged with. Even a few students got extra exposure through cool news stories and TV segments about their accomplishment of being invited and a follow-up to their performance from the weekend. We expect some new offers & increased interest in our participants after pushing out this blog post to media and college coaches. During and immediately following the early signing period (Dec 20-Dec 22) I will ramp up engagement with my college coaching contacts during this heavy recruiting season to help them fill their specific K/P needs. Stay tuned on our social media pages – @KickingWorld for updates on any new offers!
In this Showcase Recap article, I’ll highlight the top performers from both days and introduce to you the newest Recruiting List additions who will be added to our comprehensive List of the top prep kickers & punters in the nation. College coaches utilize our Recruiting List as an efficient and reliable source for their specialist recruiting efforts which makes up the top ~10% of our students nationwide.
2023 National Showcase Team Photo
DAY 1 CHARTING COMPETITIONS
Kickoff Charting
The Day 1 Kickoff Charting competition is usually one of the most challenging events because the weather is historically chillier in the morning, and campers are getting accustomed to more realistic game balls pumped consistently to 11.0 PSI (many times students practice with overly worked-in balls that are slightly under pumped which go a bit further). This year’s weather was very mild, in fact the whole weekend was gorgeous with average temps between 68-72 degrees for most of the two days. Day 1 KO competition conditions were noted as having a 3 MPH wind and having no effect on the kicks, along with a sunny & mild 60-degree temperature.
HS Senior Gabriel McKay (Class of 2024 Kicker – Cleveland Heights HS, Ohio) finished in pole position. He was the Day 1 overall kickoff winner and averaged 67.2 yards / 3.82 seconds on his 5 charted kicks. His big ball was 74 yards / 3.82 seconds. In the last 5 consecutive years of our Showcase, each of the kickoff winners went on to earn D1 college football scholarships – Georgia, Arkansas, Texas (Day 1), Clemson, UIW (Day 1 & 2), Wagner (Day 1), and maybe this year too?! Four of the Top 10 participants on Day 1 KO Charting were already on the Hot Prospect List entering the weekend. Two new guys from the Top 10 were added to the List making Day 1’s Top 10 Kickoff participants comprised of 6 Hot Prospects. The top 10 kickoff guys represented 9 states.
Top 10 Kickoffs (Day 1):
- Gabriel McKay (2024) Ohio winner
- Bryce Taylor (2025) Indiana
- Noah Lopez (2025) Texas
- Treyton McKee (2025) Ohio
- Aaron Young (2025) Utah
- Noah Randazo (2024) Nevada
- Yzan Lorenzo (2024) Texas
- Ethan McBee (2024) Oklahoma
- Harron Zureikat (2026) Pennsylvania
- Noah Femrite (2024) Minnesota
In the 3rd slot – Noah Lopez (Class of 2025 Kicker – Stony Point HS, Texas) finished with the highest overall hang time average on Day 1 (3.90 seconds). There were 10 different kicks over 70 yards in Day 1! In the #4 spot – Treyton McKee (Class of 2025 Kicker of Bloom-Carroll HS, Ohio) accounted for 3 of those with 70, 70, and 73 yards among his 5 kick set. His 5th kick was a mishit which threw off his average. Day 1 was great with mild conditions and little to no wind, but Day 2 was a challenge as the wind picked up and it was a direct headwind reducing kick distances by 5-7 yards.
It’s of course tough to highlight everyone in this blog post, so please reference the below Day 1 Kickoff Charting graphic and link to the full stats for every participant.
See how every participant placed on Day 1’s Kickoff Charting results.
Day 1 Overall Kickoff Winner (Gabriel McKay – 2024 Ohio)
Punt Charting
The 2023 National Showcase saw some very close competition with many students being only a tenth or a second or less off from being placed higher. We also had a few participants who attended this year’s showcase only to punt, as well two students who had playoff games Saturday but joined us for Sunday only – so kudos to them and their parents for still getting here. Day 1 Punt conditions were noted with a +3 Yard Wind Advantage / -0.20 Hang Time Disadvantage. With the wind at our back not as many punts were turning over, but a few figured it out for some big punts!
Class of 2024 Punter Mark Perez (John A Holmes HS, North Carolina) led the pack with a 41.4 yards / 3.93 seconds average on Day 1. His best ball was 48/4.22. In the #2 spot – Logan Ahern (Class of 2024 – White Station HS, Tennessee) stood out as well being only a stride behind Mark but a few steps above the following order. The #3, #4, and #5 guys were neck and neck and only finished off each other by a couple of tenths of a second.
Note – the distances we record are considered ‘net’ meaning we subtract 15 yards for the line of scrimmage which is where the long snapper would snap the ball from in a game (most HS & College football teams place the punter 13-15 yards behind the line of scrimmage).
The first 14 consecutive punters all came from a different state! The Top Ten punters on Day 1 were comprised of (4) Seniors, (5) Juniors, and (1) Sophomore.
Top 10 Punters (Day 1):
- Mark Perez (2024) North Carolina winner
- Logan Ahern (2024) Tennessee
- Noah Lopez (2025) Texas
- Hank Fronza (2026) Kentucky
- JD Thomas (2024) Ohio
- Robert Meyer (2025) California
- Noah Femrite (2024) Minnesota
- Logan Calder (2025) Florida
- William Ahring (2025) Missouri
- Dean Webb (2025) Virginia
There were a lot of talented punters on both days and I’d like to highlight several more but instead please reference the below Day 1 Punt Charting graphic and link to the full stats for every participant.
See how each participant placed on Day 1 – Punt Charting results.
Day 1 Overall Punt Winner (Mark Perez – 2024 North Carolina)
Field Goal Charting
Day 1’s Field Goal Charting ended up being a 2-way tie between long-time KW student Ethan McBee (Class of 2024) from Poteau HS, Oklahoma, and a newer underclassmen student – Class of 2026 Sophomore kicker – Harran Zureikat of Shadyside Academy in Pennsylvania. The kicker duo completed the Day 1 ‘FG circuit’ perfectly, making all of their kicks from 30L, 30R, 35L, 35R, 40M, 45M, and 50M; thus earning them bonus kicks in 5 yard increments until a winner could be determined. Both Ethan and Harran also made their 55 yard kicks going a perfect 8/8 through 55 yards. They each were given another kick at 60 but since both missed they would share dual honors as our Day 1 Overall Field Goal Charting winners.
Overall Winner (tie)
- Ethan McBee (2024 – Oklahoma)
- Harran Zureikat (2026 – Pennsylvania)
FG Runner-up (tie)
- n/a this year as multiple students finished tied for 2nd
The field goal competition is our longest event each day and it takes a lot of fortitude and stamina to go a perfect 7/7 on the guaranteed kicks. Ten participants were still perfect after the first 7 kicks. Unlike some camps where students can get into a rhythm by rapidly firing all their kicks in a few minutes, at Kicking World we make it as close to a game-like environment by having breaks between kicks which tests each camper’s mental toughness & focus; and leg strength/conditioning. Coaches looking for reliable kickers know that the top finishers in our field goal competitions generally excel at the next level as reliable weapons on PAT/FG.
Reference the below Day 1 Field Goal Charting graphic and link to the full stats for every participant.
See how each participant placed on Day 1 – Field Goal Charting results.
Day 1 Overall FG Winners (Ethan McBee – 2024 Oklahoma & Harran Zureikat – 2026 Pennsylvania)
Sponsors/Donations – Thank You
Thanks to Mike & Todd at Wizard Sports for the several Wizard Kicking Stix & new footballs prize donations and for supporting our camps for over 16 years now. Be sure to use our unique KW discount code KW10 for Wizard Sports (in case it changes, it’s always listed at the bottom of every KW monthly email). If you’re not subscribed you can add your email on the bottom of our website at KickingWorld.com. Thanks to our partner Under Armour for supplying all the camp uniforms again. The other 3 awesome grand prizes – Apple iPad, Apple Watch, and Beats Headphones are from Kicking World! Thanks to Tony our awesome photographer, and any other staff lending a hand. Normally we give a nice shout-out to our Live Broadcast video crew too but this year’s live broadcast was not a good production. The crew we hired unfortunately let us down and we did the best we could. We apologize for the less than stellar video quality and quirkiness of the stream. You may view the Live replay here).
Awards tables loaded with Wizard Kicking Stix, new footballs, and grand prizes for Competition Winners!
DAY 2 ELIMINATION COMPETITIONS
Kickoff Elimination
The last five consecutive years’ Day 2 Overall Kickoff Elimination winners have gone on to earn D1 scholarships at big-time football programs. In 2018 Jared Zirkel (Georgia) hit a winning kick of 68 yards / 3.76 seconds and a best ball of 74 yards / 4.0 seconds in the 2018 event and won 2 back to back National Championships with Georgia and has been the starting kickoff specialist the last 2 seasons. In 2019 Vito Calvaruso (Arkansas) who led the entire FBS in kickoff/touchback % his freshman season hit a winning kick & best ball of 80 yards / 4.0 seconds in our 2019 event. In our 2020 event Robert Gunn III (Clemson) set a Showcase record for the best-recorded kickoff ball of 83 yards / 4.13 seconds and earned a scholarship and now is the starting kicker at Clemson. His winning kick in the Best Ball final round was 77 yards / 4.03 seconds. He also connected on a 78 yard / 4.30 second hang time bomb earlier in the competition. In the same 2020 event, the Day 1 kickoff winner Will Stone earned a scholarship at (Texas) and is the starting kickoff specialist there. In the 2021 event, Tony Sterner (UIW) won both Day 1 and Day 2 kickoffs, a rare feat – with a Day 2 Best Ball of 82 yards / 3.9 seconds and average of 75 yards / 3.84 seconds and was the starting kickoff specialist at UIW last year and this past year transferred to Louisiana-Lafayette. At this past year’s 2022 event, Ryan Liszner won kickoffs on Day 1 and Day 2 with an 82 yard / 3.9 seconds best ball and 74.8/3.84 average, and earned a scholarship to D1 Wagner in New York.
This year’s Day 2 kickoff winner Ethan McBee is a Class of 2024 senior from Poteau HS in Oklahoma and is a long-standing student. In fact this was his 4th consecutive National Showcase appearance which is a new camp record. He and Daniel Jackson (2025) are the first two to ever do it. Although, Daniel was battling an injury leading up to camp and he still gave it a go on Day 1 but knew it was too much. He would have been one of the top contenders if he was healthy. Another student almost set the feat 2 years ago – Robert Gunn III, the current Clemson kicker but was sidelined due to tearing his ACL in his senior season. Both Daniel (this year) and Robert (2 years ago) came to hang with the Showcase participants even though they were injured, just to be a part of the camaraderie with us, and I really liked that.
Ethan has been getting increased interest from a few FBS programs around Oklahoma and Texas and he has exceptional grades and test scores and has a couple of walk-on offers to Ivy league schools as well. We don’t know where he will land but we hope he can continue the trend and make it 6 consecutive years of Day 2 kickoff elimination winners going on to play at the D1 FBS level!
Every so often in our Day 2 Kickoff and/or our Day 2 Punt elimination events, we have something unique happen. We get to a later round (this year the 5th round) where not 1 of the students in that round was able to hit the metric on either of their 2 kicks. When that happens we go into a final round which we now call ‘Overtime’. In prior years there was some confusion as to if it’s called best ball or if it’s simply the same scoring system carried over. To help quell any confusion we finally got it figured out and have explained it in detail in our change log under the camp results section of our website, as well as at the bottom of the 2023 Kickoff Elimination Results (linked below). In Overtime, there were 5 remaining participants:
- Ethan McBee (2024 – Poteau HS, Oklahoma)
- Treyton McKee (2025 – Bloom-Carroll HS, Ohio)
- Chance Gage (2024 – Dickinson HS, Texas)
- Aaron Young (2025 – Ridgeline HS, Utah)
- Robert Meyer (2025 – Colfax HS, California)
Day 2 Kickoff ‘Final 5’ (the last 5 guys to make it to the Overtime round)
All 5 of the students hit some bomb kicks throughout the day, but at the very top rose Ethan – not only during the 5 rounds, but also in the most important overtime round he proved to show the most consistency, stringing together a 4.12 and 4.00 second hang time kick. His final hang time average over the 5 rounds plus Overtime was 3.90 seconds. Only one other student finished with a higher hang time average (3.91 seconds) on Day 2 – Noah Lopez (2025 – Stony Point HS, Texas) who finished 10th Overall on Day 2 (and 3rd on Day 1).
Finishing at 13th – Logan Calder (2025 – Lake Howell HS, Florida) had the highest distance average on Day 2 (63.2 yards) but was a bit low on hangs. He also had one of the best balls of the round at 70 yards / 3.75 seconds. Robert Meyer (2025 – Colfax HS, California) had arguably the biggest kickoff leg of everyone and on his good hits really stroked the ball. His two best kickoffs went 70 yards / 3.75 seconds and 68 yards / 4.03 seconds, but because of a mishit in the 5th round and Overtime, his average dropped a bit.
Unfortunately due to the strong wind in our faces on Day 2 kickoffs, balls were going at a minimum of 5 yards less than they normally would, and on some kicks with stronger guests, we saw students’ kickoffs drop even ~7 yards shorter than they normally could produce. I know we would have seen a couple of 80+ yard kickoffs and more 4.0+ second hang times on Sunday if the wind cooperated more or even if there was no wind.
Here’s your Top 10 for Day 2 Kickoff Eliminations, with the Final 5 making it to Overtime and #6 through #10 all making it to the 5th round.
Top 10 Kickoffs (Day 2):
- Ethan McBee (2024 – Oklahoma) winner
- Treyton McKee (2025 – Ohio)
- Chance Gage (2024 – Texas)
- Aaron Young (2025 – Utah)
- Robert Meyer (2025 – California)
- William Ahring (2025 – Missouri)
- Jacob Huff (2024 – Alabama)
- Yzan Lorenzo (2024 – Texas)
- Bryce Taylor (2025 – Indiana)
- Noah Lopez (2025 – Texas)
See how each participant placed on Day 2 – Kickoff Elimination results.
Day 2 Overall Kickoff Winner (Ethan McBee – 2024 Oklahoma)
Punt Elimination
For Day 2 Punts one of our youngest campers came out with the win. Class of 2026 Kicker/Punter Harran Zureikat (Shadyside Academy, Pennsylvania) was one of only 7 campers to make it to the last round which ended up being the 4th round. As he was the only camper to hit the metric in that round, he was declared the winner, and the competition ended. His best ball of 54 yards / 4.30 seconds could be heard a few streets over. While Harran came away with the win and showed poise under pressure to finish the job, there was another camper who ended up having the best all-around and most consistent stats of anyone for Day 2 punting. He drove in to camp early on Sunday morning after playing in his state championship game and unfortunately missing Day 1 of our event. For the little time he had with us this weekend, he really showed he could bring it. That young man is Braxton Berrey (Class of 2024 Punter – Saint James HS, Alabama). His best ball of the day was 60 yards / 4.41 seconds (w0w) and his average was a whopping 47.40 yards / 4.05 seconds). He definitely showed he has what it takes to be a D1 punter. His teammate – Jacob Huff (2024) also from Saint James HS is their Kicker and surprised us by finishing 9th overall on Punts. Not bad for Saint James HS, Alabama – putting two students in the top 10 at the National Showcase.
A couple notable ‘Punter only’ participants were Carter Reeves (2026 – Rolla HS, Missouri) and Ryan Mellish (2024 – Liberty HS, Washington) who both looked great on Day 2 finishing #4 and #6 Overall respectively, with a 50 yards / 4.35 seconds and 44 yards / 4.22 seconds best balls.
Several others in the Top 10 and even further down in the placement looked really good on punts. After what I’d call an average Day 1 of Punting, students lit it up on Day 2.
Day 2 Elimination Significance
What makes Day 2 Kickoff and Punt wins so impressive is the nature of how the Elimination competitions work. On Day 1, students get a chance to kick off 5 balls mostly in a row, and later punt 5 balls mostly in a row. On Day 2 however, students get 2 attempts to reach a minimum distance/hang time metric, and if they meet it, they might not kick or punt again for 20-30 minutes later in the early rounds. Not until most of the field is eliminated will they get to string a few kickoffs or punts in a row. Participants finishing at/near the Top on Day 2 means they had the wherewithal, focus, and consistency to outlast ~70 other students over a nearly 2-hour battle! This is so important to convey to college recruiting coaches & special teams coaches as our camps closely mimic an actual in-game environment where kicks and punts may be quarters apart. Another very important point to note is that at every National Showcase, we use the same in good condition footballs pumped up the same at 11.0 PSI to help keep the competitions and statistics equitable for all.
The below Top 10 made it to the 4th round and the winner Harran Zureikat was the only participant to hit his 4th round metric thus closing out the competition with the W.
Top 10 Punters (Day 2):
- Harran Zureikat (2026) Pennsylvania winner
- Braxton Berrey (2024) Alabama
- William Ahring (2025) Missouri
- Carter Reeves (2026) Missouri
- Aidan Stire (2025) West Virginia
- Ryan Mellish (2024) Washington
- Dean Webb (2025) Virginia
- Mark Perez (2024) North Carolina
- Jacob Huff (2024) Alabama
- Robert Meyer (2025) California
See how each participant placed on Day 2 – Punt Elimination results.
Day 2 Overall Punt Winner (Harran Zureikat – 2026 Pennsylvania)
Field Goal Elimination
The grand finale of our National Showcase, the double-elimination field goal competition is always a long, grueling battle; and this year was no different. Starting at 35 yards the participants take kicks at each hash mark and do it again at 40 yards before proceeding to 45 yards middle and continuing in 5 yard increments down the middle until one man is left standing.
One Day 2 Field Goal participant rose to the top – Aaron Young, the Class of 2025 Kicker/Punter out of Ridgeline HS in Utah. He was a perfect 9/9 through 63 yards. With Aaron not having missed yet, and Aiden Gibbons (2025 – Lennard HS, Florida) with 1 miss, it would come down to a 65 yard bomb kick that could potentially win the event, or carry on further. Aiden lined up for his 65 yard field goal which at this point is an incredible feat, especially after the long weekend. He barely missed it. Up next was Aaron Young. Unfortunately, his just missed also. However, since this 65 yard kick was only Aaron’s first miss, and Aiden’s was his 2nd miss, Aaron was declared the Overall Winner of the 2023 National Showcase Day 2 Field Goal Elimination, and Aiden Gibbons was named Overall Runner-up. Both students put together longs of 63 yards, wow! Congratulations to both of these guys for a job well done under pressure, especially after being exhausted from the long weekend!
Day 2 FG Overall Winner:
- Aaron Young (2025 – Utah)
Day 2 FG Overall Runner-up:
- Aiden Gibbons (2025 – Florida)
There were so many solid kickers throughout the entire Showcase weekend. Reference the below Day 2 Field Goal Elimination graphic and link to the full stats.
See how each participant placed on Day 2 – Field Goal Elimination results.
Day 2 Overall Field Goal Champion (Aaron Young – 2025 Utah)
Day 2 Overall Field Goal Runner-up (Aiden Gibbons – 2025 Florida)
New Recruits
Congrats to the following 19 young men (listed by Class then alphabetically by last name) who earned a place on our new Kicking World Recruiting List based on their performances at the 2023 Kicking World National Showcase. If you’d like any more info on any of these recruits (or other students from the Showcase) for a news article, video story, social media post, or for college recruitment, feel free to contact us.
Class of 2024
- Logan Ahern – Tennessee
- Braxton Berry – Alabama
- Chance Gage – Texas
- Jacob Huff – Alabama
- Yzan Lorenzo – Texas
- Ethan McBee – Oklahoma
- Gabriel McKay – Ohio
- Trenton McKee – Ohio
- Ryan Mellish – Washington
- Mark Perez – North Carolina
Class of 2025
- William Ahring – Missouri
- Logan Calder – Florida
- Aiden Gibbons – Florida
- Noah Lopez – Texas
- Aidan Stire – West Virginia
- Bryce Taylor – Indiana
- Aaron Young – Utah
Class of 2026
- Harran Zureikat – Pennsylvania
Class of 2027
- Luke Barto – Texas
Additional students showed solid ability throughout the weekend but may need to improve their overall consistency or add more distance, hang time, optimize a form/technique component, or other. They will have more opportunities to show us what they have this spring when our 2024 camp season begins in March.
2023 National Showcase Compilation Video
2023 National Showcase LIVE Replay
Summary
This year’s event was the 10th installment of the National Showcase (16th Kicking World camp season). The weather was phenomenal and I was very pleased with the kicking. I wish the live video broadcast crew could have been better but all in all the staff and I were able to spend time walking around evaluating talent and getting to know each of the campers. It sure seemed like everyone had a blast. They especially commented on the sharp gold metallic uniform numbers! The top ~10% of participants showed they are either ready or could be ready with some minor tweaks/improvements to make it at the FBS or FCS Division 1 level. And I’d say the top ~50% of this year’s participants have the tools to make it to some level of College Football.
We only invited 100 campers, from the over 1,200 we trained this season, and with a final tally of 68 Showcase participants (68% attend/invite ratio), I feel this year’s attendees did a great job representing roughly the top 5-10% of specialists in the country. What I’m most impressed with is how year after year our staff properly and accurately evaluate talent. Over the next couple of weeks & months, we expect maximum traction for our seniors and juniors, and offers will continue to be revealed as more coaches are made aware of the exceptional performances at this year’s event.
Next season’s camp schedule has already been released and we’ll be going on another nationwide camp tour that’ll take us to 32 major cities across 25 states. Thanks again to my staff for putting up with my attention to detail and perfectionist mentality which I believe helps set our camps apart. On that note – if you see any typos above, please let me know! We look forward to seeing you on the field in 2024!
Thanks to our hard-working 2023 National Showcase Coaches/Staff – Alex Walls, Pat Davis, Blake Levin, Aiden Brown, Andrew Cunningham, Jackson Hubbard, support staff, and Coach Brent Grablachoff
Recruiting
If you’re a college football coach I encourage you to thoroughly read through the recap and analyze all of the statistics – Camp Results (events individually linked above) which shows how each camper placed and a summary of class year winners. I urge you to get our new recruits on your radar and recruiting board, and out for in-person official and unofficial visits ASAP. These are hand-groomed specialists that I believe will be successful in college and beyond. Our selection methodology has proven very accurate over the years with multiple students excelling when it counts (in-game) at the Collegiate and NFL level.
Parents, Students, and Coaches can check out our Recruiting page for tips & advice that will help get your name out there and allow you the opportunity to take advantage of the several exposure offerings Kicking World provides its students.
From the entire staff, we thank all who participated this year and we look forward to seeing YOU too at next year’s event!
2023 National Showcase Media
Compilation Video
LIVE Replay
Competition Results
Camp Photos
