Zach Grossnickle, Colorado -| Position: | Punter |
| Height: | 6'2" |
| Weight: | 190 |
| Year: | Junior |
| City/State: | Denver, Colo. |
| High School: | East |
| Experience: | 1 Letter |
SCOUTING UPDATED 3/2012:
VIDEO TRAINING WITH COACH ASSAD IN NOR CAL WITH IMPROVED STEPS, POSTURE, UPSWING AND ACCELERATION THRU IMPACT SHOWING 55 PUNTS OVER 4.8 WITH EASE. SHOULD BE ONE OF THE BEST PUNTERS IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL.
VIDEO POOCH PUNT COFFIN CORNER STYLE FROM SIDE VIEW EASE AND CONTROL. GOOD STEPS WORKING ON POSTURE STILL:
UPDATE SEPT. 2010:
Is the starting Punter for the C.U. Buff's. Had a slow start in the season opening first half vs Cal then seems to have found a groove booming punts regularly over 40-45 yards. Player to watch and should steadily improve.
Comments on this Player by Paul Assad - Archive: Accurate Kicker. Very strong. Punts and kicks among nations best. Technician. Solid College Prospect with great work ethic and cool under pressure.
NAMED ALL STATE SENIORUPDATED JUNE 2009: Has a set back with wrist injury. Started kicking again. Developing more speed on footwork and is being more aggressive attacking to ball and leveraging power from the front thru impact..
PRACTICE TRAINING VIDEO OF PUNTING - KICK OFF AND OFF THE GROUND FIELD GOAL PRE SENIOR YEAR WITH KICKING COACH PAUL ASSAD:
Stories on this Player:
http://kansas.rivals.com/
Rocky Mountain News All State Teams
http://www.rockymountainnews.
Boulder Daily Camera - Top Kicker Looking at CU
http://buffzone.com/news/2008/
All Colorado Football Team Sunday Denver Post – Zach Grossnickle First Team
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_
http://extras.mnginteractive.
Boulder Daily Camera: Grossnickle gets black and gold surprise
http://www.dailycamera.com/
Kicker Grossnickle Commits to CU
http://www.timescall.com/
AT COLORADO: This Season (Soph.)-Enters the fall atop the depth chart at punter; he punted well during the spring, though there was no live punting in any of three full scrimmages.
2010 (Fr.-RS)-He became just the fourth player in CU history to serve as the team's regular punter as a freshman, joining Stan Koleski ('73), Andy Mitchell ('94) and Matt DiLallo ('06); his 60 punts the most ever by a Buff frosh. He averaged 39.5 yards per punt (second best freshman figure at CU), with a net of 35.7. He placed 11 kicks inside the opponent 20 (six inside-the-10 and three inside-the-50, with 22 balls fair caught and just two that went for touchbacks; just 23 kicks were returned for an 8.0 average. He averaged 41.4 yards on 17 punts from inside the CU 25, with his long punt being 52 yards (he had two 50-plus). He also handled CU's two free kicks (both punts) after safeties. He averaged 35.6 yards on 18 punts in the three main spring scrimmages (but had considerably higher numbers in daily drills), while converting 5-of-9 field goals (38 long) and both extra point tries. He earned the Bill McCartney Award as the most improved special teams player in spring ball, and was the Iron Buffalo Award recipient among all specialists for hard work, dedication, toughness and total poundage lifted in the weight room.
2009 (Fr.)-Redshirted; practiced as both a punter and placekicker the entire fall.
HIGH SCHOOL-He was ranked as the top placekicker in the western region, and second overall in the nation, by Ray Guy's prokicker.com (which also pegged him as the No. 2 combo kicker/punter nationally). Scout.com ranked him as the No. 10 kicker in the nation, while Rivals.com ranked him as the No. 21 kicker in the USA (the top kicker from Colorado and the No. 18 player overall in the state). He earned first-team All-Colorado and All-State (5A) honors by the Denver Post (he was second-team All-State by the Rocky Mountain News) as a senior, when he also garnered first-team All-Central Metro League accolades (formerly known as the Denver Prep League for football; the league name did not change for other sports). As a senior, he made 12-of-13 field goals, his only miss from 58 yards that had the distance but was wide right; the 12 makes totaled exactly 500 yards (in order: 38, 37, 43, 53, 39, 44, 42, 35, 33, 47, 39, 50), or 41.7 yards per. His season long was 53 yards against Aurora Central (a Denver East school record, breaking the mark by a yard he had set as a junior) and was 10-of-10 inside of 50 yards. He connected on 35-of-37 PAT kicks, his only two misses being blocked, thus he scored 70 points for the year, second most by a 5A kicker in the state. He averaged 40 yards per punt (39 kicks), with 10 over 50 yards and nine inside-the-20, while 92 percent of his kickoffs went for touchbacks. As a junior, he made 5-of-7 field goals, a long of 52, and 23-of-24 PAT kicks (the miss was blocked), scoring 39 points overall; his 52-yard kick was East's only points in its second round playoff loss to Thomas Jefferson. He averaged 39 yards for 12 punts with a long of 56 (three inside-the-20), and 80 percent of his kickoffs were touchbacks. Top games his senior year included a 49-30 win over Highlands Ranch, when he made three field goals, saw nine of 10 kickoffs go for touchbacks, and punted twice for a 41.5 average; on one of those punts he made the tackle and forced a fumble in the process. When he kicked his 53-yard field goal against Aurora Central, it opened the scoring of an eventual 47-0 win after a scoreless first quarter, in which he had put both his punts inside-the-20. He was East's special teams most valuable player both years he lettered, and he never missed a field goal under 40 yards in his career. Under coach Ron Woolfork (the former Buff linebacker, 1990-93), East was 7-4 his senior year and 8-3 his junior season, advancing to the second round of the state playoffs both years. He also lettered twice in soccer, leading East to the state and DPL championships as a senior (in fact, football and soccer are both fall sports in Colorado, so he played the pair simultaneously). He scored 13 goals and had seven assists, ratcheting up his offense when it counted most, scoring three times each in East's first two playoff wins over Sand Creek and Liberty. He was a first-team All-DPL performer his junior and senior years, garnering second-team All-State honors in the latter. He was also a member of East's state champion team in Ultimate (flying disc) as a senior.
ACADEMICS-He is pursuing a double major in Business (International Relations) and Economics (focus on International Development) at Colorado. In May 2011, he was enrolled in CU's Maymester/Study Abroad program, where he studied in Florence, Italy, for five weeks. A National Honor Society member in high school, he owned a 4.22 grade point (on a 4.0 scale) and was enrolled in nothing but AP classes the spring semester of his senior year.
PERSONAL-He was born September 9, 1990 (09-09-90) in Denver. Hobbies include playing soccer, longboarding, ultimate Frisbee, 3D animation and hanging out with friends. His father (Reid) lettered in swimming at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. His older brother, Max, attends CU and is a junior physics major. In the Ray Guy Academy (kicking camp) in Colorado Springs in July 2008, Zach drilled several kicks well over 50 yards, including a long of 61 (which set a camp record). He won regional and semifinal competitions in the National Kicking Combine Series the same summer. Thanks to his soccer days, he might be one of the fastest kickers in the nation, as he has 4.55 speed in the 40-yard dash.
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