Kicking Style
Placekickers today are all "soccer-style" kickers, approaching the ball from several steps to the left of it and several steps behind and striking the ball with the instep of the foot. Before this method of kicking was popularized in the 1960s by Pete Gogolak and his younger brother Charlie, the first placekicker to be drafted in the first round, every place kicker was a "straight on" kicker, a style that requires the use of a special shoe that is extremely rigid and has a flattened and slightly upturned toe. In the straight on style, also known as "straight-toe" style, the kicker approaches the ball from directly behind, rather than from the side, and strikes the ball with the toe. Straight on kickers are relatively uncommon in college football due to the control and power disadvantages, but a very small percentage of high school football players still kick straight-toe. The last full-time straight on placekicker in the NFL was Mark Moseley who retired from the Cleveland Browns after the 1986 season; Dirk Borgognone, who set records with the straight toe in high school, tried but failed to make several NFL teams in the early 1990s.
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