WSU Football Recruiting: Mike Leach Finally Grabs Elite Kicker in Abramo
By Josh Davis
The Washington State Cougars have had a real dilemma recently in the kicking game, mostly revolving around questions of just whether or not they actually have one for the present and the future. On Friday, the answer to all those future questions at least went away when 3-star kicker Matt Abramo committed Crimson.
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The strong-legged Abramo brings some major excitement to the Palouse, as he’s been tagged as a top-15 kicker in the country by Chris Sailer Kicking. To give you an idea of where that stacks up nationally, only five kickers in the top 15 with Abramo have committed to schools, those schools being Toledo, Texas A&M, Michigan, Miami and USC. Pretty elite company to this point.
Chris’s glowing review of Abramo is everything you could ask for as a prospect, even tabbing him as possibly having the strongest leg in the nation.
"Player ReviewMatt is a very talented kicker. He has perhaps the strongest leg in the nation. Hits a very nice ball off the ground. Field goals show huge potential. Kickoffs are outstanding and D1 ready. He has a bright college future. Has a great attitude and and work ethic. Excellent prospect."
This kid went 10-16 on field goals in his junior season, but more impressively (and perhaps more importantly when you’re talking about Mike Leach, who doesn’t like to kick that many field goals if he can help it anyway) he kicked 80% (52 of 65) of his kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks. Of course, it has to be remembered that kickoffs in high school are from the 40 and dead as soon as they cross the goal line.
Abramo also brings a very bright mind to Pullman, doubling as a 4.0 student in the classroom. Air Force had offered and he had received increasing interest from several California schools recently. However WSU coaches were the first to stop messing around with him, after seeing him in person at a satellite camp in California, they offered.