#3 ranked HS kicker picks Pack

Football Recruiting12

Huge pick up for our thin special teams that lose seniors at the key positions of kicker, long snapper, and punter.

In addition to securing a commitment a kid from California who is considered one of the country’s best long snappers (Scott Thompson), NC State has also landed the #3 punter in the country, Wil Baumann from Wilmington Hoggard.

Pack Pride has the story.

Raleigh (NC) Wakefield kicker Niklas Sade committed to Nebraska over the summer but switched his commitment to NC State today.
“It’s official, Niklas Sade is going to NC State,” stated Sade’s kicking coach Dan Orner. “He’s decommitted from Nebraska and has committed officially to NC State.

“I think a number of things factored in. Being close to home and playing for his hometown team weighed a lot on him over the past few weeks. The opportunity to play for his hometown school and be close to his family in Raleigh, I think he has really been thinking about that and now he will be able to do that at NC State.”

Sade earned an offer from NC State after attending the Wolfpack’s summer camp but had already held an offer from Nebraska and committed to the Cornhuskers after his Wolfpack camp. However, over the past month he has been thinking of staying close to home and Sade, who has followed NC State growing up, informed both coaching staffs of his decision today.

Sade is rated the No. 3 kicker in the country by Scout.com and a three-star prospect. Kicking guru Chris Sailer thinks highly of Sade.

“Niklas is a phenomenal kicker,” said Sailer. “He has a tremendous leg and kicks off the ground with great height. Has proven time and time again that he can perform in clutch situations. Has all the tools to be dominating at the D1A Level. Scholarship kicker without a doubt.”

Orner believes Sade is arguably the top kicker in the 2011 class.

“I would put him up against any kicker in the country right now in the class of 2011,” stated Orner. “He’s ready to kick off the ground back to 55 yards and he’s as good as it gets.”

As a junior Sade connected on 6-of-8 field goals and all 37 extra points with 21 touchbacks.

He has been named a U.S. Army All-American which will be played later this week.

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Football Recruiting

12 Responses to #3 ranked HS kicker picks Pack

  1. russwuf 01/02/2011 at 12:52 AM #

    wow a prime kicker and punter…..our special teams play prolly just improved many times over! If we can get a kicker to kick touchbacks instead of weak kickoffs that go only to the 10-15 or 5 at best then we will save alot of valuable yardage.. plus hopefully this other kid can punt the ball with hangtime AND distance.
    If we get these two for special teams and we get some solid linemen, then our recruiting class will be more than sufficient despite all the emphasis on stars and rankings and such. TOB knows what he is doing in going after men than can control the line of scrimmage….and with the bucking up of the special teams we should be good to go.

  2. wolfonthehill 01/02/2011 at 9:16 AM #

    As a former placekicker at Hoggard 20-some years ago, it’s amazing to watch this stream of placekicking talent come out of there… both Barths & now this kid, who clearly has better judgment than the previous two. 😉 Not sure what’s driving it – possibly a long, strong history of soccer down there?

    Good pickup for the Pack at a position that wins & loses a game or two a year.

  3. StateFans 01/02/2011 at 11:37 AM #

    Based on how many points we score and presuming we get just one or two ‘inside the 20’ punts per game…a case can be made that we could net as much as 50 yards a game with upgraded special teams.

  4. PoppaJohn 01/02/2011 at 1:15 PM #

    Wow, got all three in the same class. If they are as good as we think, we should have four years of quality kicking.

  5. packalum44 01/02/2011 at 1:18 PM #

    Do we expect the kicker and punter to start next year? Don’t usually see true freshman kickers start but we might need them to.

    The kicker and punter are our highest ranked commits. Haha.

  6. StateFans 01/02/2011 at 1:57 PM #

    I expect them to compete to start. At this moment, I don’t think we have anyone clearly better.

  7. cWOhLFrPAiCKs 01/02/2011 at 2:19 PM #

    As expected, O’Brien is using his limited scholarships to fill areas of extreme need for the team. I would expect at least two of the three Special Teamers will contribute next year (probably LS and PK). As many had hoped, O’Brien seems to be picking up some momentum with this recruiting class. If he can parlay this year’s success into (at least) equal success next year, we will really start to see our recruiting classes improve. And if there’s one coach I feel comfortable with doing the things it takes to make steady improvement year in and year out, it is Tom O’Brien.

  8. Prowling Woofie 01/02/2011 at 3:14 PM #

    I’ve watched Sade throughout his career at Wakefield (my sons played there), and Nik’s a fine young man from a good family, and a heck of a kicker. Lots of power, accurate from long range. Glad he decided to switch and attend NCSU instead of Nebraska !

  9. CaptainCraptacular 01/02/2011 at 4:35 PM #

    Very interesting, his coach Dan Orner kicked at Carolina in the early 2000s.

    In looking at Dan’s site, it appears he is coaching another highly rated k/p who’s already committed to Carolina: Miller Snyder.

    Snyder was the east team punter in the US Army all-star bowl and Sade was the east team kicker.

  10. WolftownVA81 01/02/2011 at 6:57 PM #

    We sure can use the help. Great pick-up for TOB and the Pack. Welcome Niklas.

  11. blpack 01/02/2011 at 9:18 PM #

    Sounds like good pick ups. I saw the kid at Hoggard this year and he has a big leg. I hope the kicking game will be good and stable for a few years.

  12. ryebread 01/03/2011 at 11:24 AM #

    Special teams were an area needing major improvement over the last few seasons. I honestly felt they were the weak point of this year’s team. Peterkuskie is going to look a lot smarter with this level of talent kicking and snapping.

    I do wish we’d ditch the “swinging door” though. That formation is a block looking for a place to happen.

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