2024 Kicking World National Showcase Recap
2024 National Showcase Winner’s Circle
The 11th installment of the Kicking World National Showcase was a wet one! Day 1 saw continuous rain and an hour stoppage after the kickoff warmup period due to lightning and torrential downpours. We were able to resume camp, but the leather footballs got very heavy fast, and between that, the uncomfortable cold rain and the cool temperatures made for a trying first day. Nonetheless, campers kept up positive attitudes, and both the participants and their families watching in the stands made the crummy weather day much more enjoyable.
On Day 2, thankfully, the rain subsided, but it was still very cold, and the atmospheric pressure was high post-frontal. We switched to brand new leather footballs on Day 2, but they didn’t really get a chance to break in, so distances and hang times were suffering on the second day just like they were on Day 1 with the heavy, wet balls & rain.
This year, 75 participants from 28 states journeyed to Austin, Texas, for the annual invite-only National Showcase event! The weekend events took place at Georgetown ISD Stadium on Saturday & Sunday, December 7-8, and capped off our 17th camp season! These 75 young men were among a select group of only 99 students hand-picked to earn an invitation based on their performances amongst the over 1,200+ students we evaluated during the 2024 camp season, putting them in the top ~8% of HS kickers and punters from across the country.
Below is a summary of each day’s events (Kickoffs, Punts, Field Goals). I mention the overall winner, runner-up, and top 10 students per event, with accompanying graphics and a link to each event’s stats (camp results). I also highlight the top-performing students who consistently outperformed each day, finishing at the top of the pack for multiple events. Further down, I’ll also acknowledge the new students added to the Kicking World Recruiting List who earned a spot based on their performances this weekend.
If you’re a college football coach or journalist needing more info on any recruit mentioned in this recap article, feel free to Contact Us.
Our annual event is a tremendous opportunity for the nation’s best high school specialists to make an impact on the camp staff and receive referrals & recommendations to college football coaches based on their performance throughout the weekend. Coaches record the distances and hang times of each participant’s kicks and punts, and through our proprietary formula, students are scored and listed in order of performance in Day 1 charting. On Day 2, we do an elimination-style competition where each student must hit a specific metric/tier, and they’re given two chances to hit the specified distance and hangtime metric for each round or face elimination.
Leading up to the big weekend, our marketing team individually emails each participant’s local newspapers and athletics departments about their attendance at this prestigious event. A few students got extra exposure through cool news stories about their being invited, and a few more news articles have already been published since the event took place. Each year, we expect the top-performing students to receive new college football offers shortly after the event; in fact, a top-performing student received a D1 FCS offer 48 hours later! After we push this blog post out to media and college coaches, we expect increased interest for all Showcase participants. As the early signing period just finished and we’re now in a contact period, 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!
2024 National Showcase Group 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 even worse, and in the 10 years of this event, it was the first time we faced continuous rain and such cold temps. Day 1 KO competition conditions were noted as having no wind but a -5 Yard / -0.20 Second Hang-Time Disadvantage due to the heavy wet balls, along with a very cold & rainy 47 degrees temperature.
HS Senior Noah Lopez (Class of 2025 Kicker – Stony Point HS, TX) took the W this year. He was the Day 1 overall kickoff winner, averaging 62.8 yards / 3.51 seconds on his five charted kicks. His big ball was 66 yards / 3.75 seconds. He repeated his impressive kickoff run on Day 2, too. The 2nd and 3rd place finishers were SO CLOSE. We have a score that determines the placement of each student, and the top 3 scores were 122.54, 122.46, and 122.25. We’re talking a 0.08 score difference between 1st and 2nd on Day 1 kickoffs. So kudos to #2 Overall Dean Webb (Class of 2025 Kicker – Lord Botetourt, VA), who received an offer from FCS college VMI this week, and #3 Overall Henry Ross (Class of 2026 Kicker – Nansemond Suffolk Academy, VA).
In the last six consecutive years of our invite-only National Showcase, each of the kickoff winners went on to play college football – Georgia, Arkansas, Texas (Day 1), Clemson, UIW (Day 1 & 2), Wagner (Day 1), Southeastern Oklahoma St (Day 2), and maybe this year too?! The 1st, 2nd, and 7th Overall students were already on the KW Recruiting List entering the weekend. One new guy from the Top 10 was added to the List, making Day 1’s Top 10 Kickoff participants comprised of 4 KW Recruits. The top 10 kickoff guys represented five states, with Texas and Virginia each representing 3 students!
Top 10 Kickoffs (Day 1):
- Noah Lopez (2025) Texas winner
- Dean Webb (2025) Virginia
- Henry Ross (2026) Virginia
- Carter Payne (2026) Indiana
- Edgar Longoria (2027) Texas
- Noah Wooten (2026) Florida
- Logan Calder (2025) Florida
- William Sinclair (2025) North Carolina
- Nathaniel Condit (2025) Virginia
- Ry Eidson (2027) Texas
The top 3 guys – Noah Lopez (TX), Dean Webb (VA), and Henry Ross (VA) looked great and were, without a doubt, 3 of the best and most consistent performing students all weekend. We had two current sophomores in the top 10, so shout out to Edgar Longoria (John B. Alexander HS, TX) and Ry Eidson (Academy HS, TX) for landing in the mix as underclassmen on Day 1.
At our National Showcase, we typically see several kickoffs go 70+ yards with several hang times above 3.9 seconds and the best students hitting into 4.0, 4.1, and beyond on their very best hits. Due to the crummy weather, constant rain, and heavy balls, we unfortunately didn’t see that this year. For those on this year’s Top 10 and even some on the outskirts in the top 20, I know they can hit it 4-6 yards further and with 0.15-0.25 seconds more hang time, consistently than their average score. So, if you’re a college coach reading our camp results for this year’s Showcase, please consider this and perhaps add 5 yards and 0.20 seconds for each of the top 10-20 guys to get a more true gauge of their actual numbers. Additionally, there were some excellent kickoff guys outside of even the top 20 that may have completely whiffed on 1 of their five balls, and since we don’t throw out any kicks, that hurt their score. Throw in the rain and kids being cold later in the order, and it’s not the ideal condition to show their best. However, the leader, Noah Lopez, was last in the order of his group of ~15 kids, and he found a way to get it done.
It’s hard 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 (Noah Lopez – 2025 Texas)
Punt Charting
By the time we made it to our second event of the day – Punt Charting, the leather footballs had now become very heavy. We did our best to cycle through the balls but it just was not possible to have dry footballs due to the onslaught of the rain. The punters did a great job staying focused and not using the rain as an excuse to give their best. I saw lots of shivering teeth and cold-looking students with wet, long-sleeved shirts clinging to their skin. It was not comfortable out there, but just like in a late fall or early winter HS football game, we, too, needed to push on and put in the work!
While day 1 kickoffs had a very close top 3, day 1 punts saw a sophomore run away with it this year. Aric Davis-Baer (Class of 2027 – Nease HS, FL) was the only punter to average over 4 second hang times on day 1, in fact 3 of his 5 punts went for 4.25, 4.68, and 4.41 seconds of hang. His distance average was beaten by many but no one even came close with the consistently big hang times.
We had three participants come to this year’s showcase only to punt, so for them, it’s even more challenging as they have limited time to warm up and find their groove. But punters in the #2 spot – Michael Wells (Class of 2025- Apopka HS, FL) and #3 spot – Evan Fisher (Class of 2025 – Decatur HS, GA) were 2 of those 3 ‘Punter-Only’ participants, and they strung together two excellent days of punting. The third Punter Only participant finished #7 overall.
The #4 and #5 guys – Wiley Olson (Class of 2026 – Vandegrift HS, TX) and Alex McCormick (Class of 2026 – Grantsburg HS, WI) also put in 2 consistent days of punting finishing in the top 10 on both days. Wiley had a state playoff game the night before and didn’t get in until 1 am and he managed to have a very good day with little sleep.
While there was little to no wind, Day 1 Punt conditions were noted with a -6 Yard / -0.20 Hang Time Disadvantage due to the heavy wet balls, ~47 degree temps, and continuous rain. 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 Top 10 punters comprised 9 different states, with the top 2 charted punters coming from Florida! The Top Ten punters on Day 1 were comprised of (5) Seniors, (3) Juniors, and (2) Sophomores.
Top 10 Punters (Day 1):
- Aric Davis-Baer (2024) Florida winner
- Michael Wells (2025) Florida
- Evan Fisher (2025) Georgia
- Wiley Olson (2026) Texas
- Alex McCormick (2025) Washington
- Ayden Brannum (2027) California
- Jameson Patin (2025) Washington
- Carter Payne (2026) Indiana
- William Sinclair (2025) North Carolina
- Henry Ross (2026) 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 (Aric Davis-Baer – 2027 Florida)
Field Goal Charting
Day 1’s Field Goal Charting was brutal as the balls were pretty much shot by then. Kids were cold and tired and everyone was ready to wrap up the day. This was I believe the first Showcase where we didn’t at least finish with a few students tied for 1st in FG Charting. We did not declare a winner as no one was perfect through their first guaranteed 7 kicks. Normally we will have at least a half dozen students make all the kicks and then advance to 55-60 yards for bonus kicks but this year it ended after the first 7 kicks. In order to advance past 50 yards in our Day 1 Field Goal circuit, students would have to make 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. As no one achieved that feat this year and there were 9 students who had 1 miss, we did not declare a Day 1 Overall Field Goal Charting winner or runner-up this year. We did however list the 9 students with only 1 miss in their FG Circuit:
Day 1 FG Charters with only 1 miss (listed by Class Year)
- Layne White (2025 – Ohio)
- Dean Webb (2025 – Virginia)
- Cole Raeuchle (2026 – Alabama)
- Hayden Porter (2026 – Utah)
- Wiley Olson (2026 – Texas)
- Spencer Crum (2026 North Carolina)
- Toren Piltingsrud (2027 – Minnesota)
- Braxton Benally (2027 – Tennessee)
- Matthew Styer (2028 – Pennsylvania)
The field goal competition is our longest event each day and it takes a lot of focus to go perfect or even have just one miss, especially with this year’s weather. 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 as possible 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 Day 1 Field Goal Charting link to the full stats for every participant. There is no accompanying graphic for Day 1 FG. See how each participant placed on Day 1 – Field Goal Charting results.
Sponsors/Donations – Thank You
As always, thanks to our sponsor, Wizard Sports, for hooking us up with awesome prizes like brand new logo footballs and Wizard Kicking Stix for competition winners. and for supporting our camps for over 17 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 Kevin at Team Express for always grinding to get our custom Showcase uniforms on time. The other three awesome grand prizes – Apple iPad, Beats Headphones, and DJI Drone are from Kicking World! Thanks to our gracious hosts, Georgetown ISD, for allowing us to hold this event in their college-like stadium and utilize all their great facilities for classroom presentations. Thanks to Tony and David for the beautiful photos. Shout out to our coaching staff and student coaches for doing a great job in keeping each event organized and on time, even with the challenge of recording stats in the rain. Thanks to our hard-working ball shaggers and distance spotters who braved the foul weather so that the show could go on. Thank you to all the campers and families for putting your trust in Kicking World and making the trip to Austin, Texas, for this special weekend!
Awards table loaded with Wizard Kicking Stix, new footballs, and grand prizes for competition winners!
DAY 2 ELIMINATION COMPETITIONS
Kickoff Elimination
The last six consecutive years’ Day 2 Overall Kickoff Elimination winners have gone on to play college football and 5 of the last six earned 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 the 2022 event, Ryan Liszner won kickoffs on Day 1 and was #2 on 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. At last year’s 2023 event, Ethan McBee (Southwest Oklahloma St) came away with the Day 2 kickoff elimination on a head-on windy day with a best ball of 65 yards / 3.88 seconds and averaged 3.9 seconds of hang.
This year’s Day 2 kickoff winner, Noah Lopez, is a Class of 2025 senior from Stony Point HS in Round Rock, TX – a suburb north of Austin, and is a long-time student. Noah went on a few different FBS game-day visits this fall, and with the publishing of this article and having won both days’ kickoff competitions this year, I expect some new offers to present themselves very soon. We don’t know where he will land, but we hope he can continue the trend and make it seven consecutive years of National Showcase kickoff competition winners going on to play football in college!
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 could hit the metric on either of their two kicks. When that happens, we go into a final round called ‘Overtime’. In Overtime, there were two remaining participants:
- Noah Lopez (2025 – Stony Point HS, Texas)
- Henry Ross (2026 – Nansemond Suffolk Academy, VA)
(#61 Noah Lopez and #41 Henry Ross after the overtime round of Day 2 kickoff eliminations)
Both of these guys were bombing kickoffs on each day of this year’s Showcase. The Texan Senior Noah Lopez won both days, and Henry Ross (Class of 2026 – Virginia) finished #3 on Day 1 and #2 on Day 2. Noah’s best ball on Day 2 was 65 yards / 3.88 seconds, and Henry’s was 68 yards / 3.74 seconds. Noah strung an impressive 3.83 second hang time average across all 8 of his kickoffs, having the highest Day 2 hang-time average. In the #3 spot was Treyton McKee (2025 – Bloom-Carroll HS, Ohio), also a long-time KW camper. He finished with the second-highest hang time average on Day 2.
Recently, Treyton committed to BGSU, and while he didn’t necessarily need to endure the long weekend with us after already finding his future home, we were delighted to see him make the trip and finish out one last event with all the friends and coaches he’s met over the years. It’s also wise to do it in case something changes with the school’s coaching staff during the notorious ‘coaching carousel’ that inevitably takes place in December and January after each college football season.
Noah and Treyton were already on the KW Recruiting List, and Henry Ross joined the club after a super-impressive two-day kicking/punting campaign.
Thankfully, there was no rain on day 2, but as we didn’t get a chance to break in the new balls on day 1, these were all fresh out of the wrapper and rock hard. Each ball was pumped to 11.5 PSI, knowing they’d lose a little air once outside in the cooler air. Day 2 Kickoff conditions were noted with a -4 Yard / -0.20 Hang Time Disadvantage due to the brand new footballs, cool temps, and dense atmospheric pressure. Distances and Hang Times suffered compared to what each student can do on a warmer, sunnier day with worked-in footballs. Take this under consideration when reviewing the stats.
The top 8 kickoff guys on Day 2 are the only ones to make it to round 4, and the top 2 were the only ones to make it to round 5 and overtime. Here’s your Top 10 for Day 2 Kickoff Eliminations.
Top 10 Kickoffs (Day 2):
- Noah Lopez (2025 – Texas) winner
- Henry Ross (2026 – Virginia)
- Treyton McKee (2025 – Ohio)
- Carter Payne (2026 – Indiana)
- Spencer Crum (2026 – North Carolina)
- Carlos Cartagena (2027 – Texas)
- Owen Roken (2028 – Pennsylvania)
- Camden Thompson (2025 – Virginia)
- Dima Petrov (2028 – New Hampshire)
- Ayden Brannum (2027 – California)
See how each participant placed on Day 2 – Kickoff Elimination results.
Day 2 Overall Kickoff Winner (Noah Lopez – Texas) and Overall Runner-up (Henry Ross – Virginia)
Punt Elimination
For Day 2 Punts, Class of 2025 Punter Michael Wells (2025 – Apopka HS, FL) ran away with the punt competition (he was also #2 on Day 1 punt charting). He had a commanding lead, averaging 44.33 yards / 4.37 seconds across his six competition punts. Only Evan Fisher (2025 – Decatur HS, GA) made it into the final round 5 with Michael. Michael did not hit one ball below 4.20 seconds; his best punt was 50 yards / 4.24 seconds. Evan hit a best ball of 52 yards / 3.90 seconds. Michael Wells was the only camper to hit the metric in round 5 and was declared the winner.
Five other students made it into round 4 with the two of them, placing #3 through #7 overall in the Top 10 list below. Each of the top 10 put together multiple punts over 4 seconds. The overall Best Ball of the day went to Dean Webb (2025 – Lord Botetourt, VA) with a whopper punt of 53 yards / 4.26 seconds! Michael Wells had the highest recorded hang time of the day on his 2nd punt of the competition, which was 44 yards / 4.59 seconds.
Many others in the Top 10 and even further down in the placement looked 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 two 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 ~75 other students over a nearly 2-hour battle! This is 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 vital point to note is that at every National Showcase, we use new leather footballs, all pumped up at 11.0 PSI, to help keep the competitions and statistics equitable.
Below is a listing of the Top 10 Punters from the Day 2 Punt Elimination competition. #1 and #2 were the only punters to make it to round 5. #3 through #7 made it to round 4, and #8 through #13 made it to round 3.
Top 10 Punters (Day 2):
- Michael Wells (2025) Florida winner
- Evan Fisher (2025) Georgia
- Gage Kohl (2025) Georgia
- Dean Webb (2025) Virginia
- Logan Calder (2025) Florida
- Alex McCormick (2025) Wisconsin
- Nolan Fitzgerald (2027) Texas
- Edgar Longoria (2027) Texas
- Wiley Olson (2026) Texas
- Jameson Patin (2025) Washington
See how each participant placed on Day 2 – Punt Elimination results.
Day 2 Overall Punt Winner (Michael Wells – 2025 Florida) and #6 Overall (Alex McCormick – 2025 Wisconsin)
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 moving to 45 yards middle and continuing in 5-yard increments down the middle until one man is left standing.
Twenty kickers made it to the 55 yard mark, having either no misses or only one miss! No one made the 55 yard attempt, and only four kickers remained for a second attempt from 55 yards. Those were Aiden Gibbons (2025 – Lennard HS, FL), Treyton McKee (2025 – Bloom-Carroll HS, OH), Henry Ross (2026 – Nansemond Suffolk Academy, VA), and Carlos Cartagena (2027 – John M Harlan HS, TX). After the second missed 55 yard attempt, we moved it up to 53 yards, and only Aiden Gibbons and Henry Ross made it. We had them kick once more from 53 yards, and this time, Henry Ross missed it, and Aiden Gibbons made it, making them the Day 2 Field Goal Elimination Overall winner and Runner-up, respectively. Last year, Aiden was also the Day 2 Overall Runner-up.
Day 2 FG Overall Winner:
- Aiden Gibbons (2025 – Florida)
Day 2 FG Overall Runner-up:
- Henry Ross (2026 – Virginia)
There were so many solid kickers throughout the entire Showcase weekend. Reference the Day 2 Field Goal Elimination graphic below and the link to the full stats.
See how each participant placed on Day 2 – Field Goal Elimination results.
Day 2 Overall Field Goal Champion (Aiden Gibbons – 2025 Florida)
Day 2 Overall Field Goal Runner-up (Henry Ross – 2026 Virginia)
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 2024 Kicking World National Showcase. If you’d like more info on any of these recruits (or other students from the Showcase) for a news article, video story, social media post, or college recruitment, feel free to contact us.
Class of 2025
- Henry Ross – Virginia
- Michael Wells – Florida
- Hayden Pashke – Ohio
- Evan Fisher (punter) – Georgia
- Carlos Cartagena – Texas
- Michael Wells (punter) – Florida
Class of 2026
- Wiley Olson – Texas
- Carter Payne – Indiana
- Henry Ross – Virginia
Class of 2027
- Carlos Cartagena – Texas
Class of 2028
- n/a
We hoped to have a few more recruits than what was added, but due to the terrible weather, many performances were hampered this weekend. In the 11 years of this event it was the first time it rained and was this cold too. Hopefully, we don’t see rain for another 11 years, haha.
In addition to the above new Kicking World Recruits, we will also be emailing 14 campers who were named ‘Homework Guys.’ This means they, too, 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 2025 camp season begins in March. I will also review the upper-classmen season highlight videos and possibly assign tasks to a handful of them, especially seniors, for consideration of a full-fledged spot on our Recruiting List.
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Summary
This year’s event was the 11th installment of the National Showcase (17th Kicking World camp season). Besides the weather that was mentioned multiple times, everything flowed tremendously, and the coaches, campers, and families all seemed to enjoy the weekend experience. The participants had great attitudes, and we didn’t have even one problem the entire weekend: student or parent, haha. The staff did a great job keeping the lines and competition charting in order so I could focus on evaluating talent and taking down a lot of notes. This year, we opted to nix the YouTube livestream that we had done each of the prior 10 years, and it was a good move. It used to cause an immense amount of stress for me coordinating logistics with the film crew and I’d be running around and always lose my voice. It almost turned into having to be the MC of a wedding, and it prohibited me from focusing on the bread & butter of evaluation and note-taking during the weekend. So it was a good move just doing sprinkles of live segments via our Instagram and TikTok channels this year. We will do the same again next year.
The top ~15% of participants showed they are either ready or could be ready with minor tweaks to play at the Division 1 level. And I’d say the top ~50% of this year’s participants can play at some level of College Football.
We only invited 99 campers, from the over 1,200 we trained this season. With a final tally of 75 Showcase participants (76% 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 increased recruitment for our seniors and juniors, and don’t be surprised when you see a few more college football offers presented to the top guys from this weekend.
Our 2025 camp schedule is already published and we are heading to over 50 camps across 41 major cities in 28 states this coming season. For more details and to register for a Kicking World camp, check out our Camp Schedule page.
Learn how you, too, can earn an invite to our prestigious and exclusive National Showcase next year!
Please let me know if you see any typos or broken links in this article! We look forward to seeing you on the field in 2025!
Thanks to our hard-working 2024 National Showcase Coaches/Staff – Alex Walls, Pat Davis, Carson Mohr, Jonathan Spurlock, Patrick Maxwell, Ethan McBee, 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 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 recruits on your radar and recruiting board and out for in-person official and unofficial visits ASAP. I believe these hand-selected specialists 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 levels.
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 look forward to seeing YOU at next year’s event!
2024 National Showcase Media
LIVE Awards Presentation Replay
Competition Results
Camp Photos
