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Sports

June 25, 2012

Getting A Leg Up

DHS punter works out for colleges across the country

DUNCAN — It’s been a busy week for Jack Braught and his left leg. Actually, it’s been a busy three months for the Duncan senior-to-be and his powerful appendage. After spending last week in California, where he paid visits to Stanford and UCLA and showed off his punting skills for their football coaches, he was in Providence, R.I., on Monday as he prepared to make stops at a trio of Ivy League colleges over the next five days. “They are called specialty camps,” Braught said. “It’s just a way for you to look around at a university and show coaches what you can do, and it’s all OK with the NCAA.” Braught, who has been Duncan’s kicker and punter since his freshman year, has attended camps all over the Southwest and beyond the past three months. All the while, his stock has been on the rise. Special teams expert Chris Sailer has Braught ranked as the 18th best punter in the class of 2013 and the No. 96 overall prospect, giving him four of five stars. He was also rated as a four-star punter by experts at the Khol’s Kicking Camp, who said he was “close to 4.5 stars.” Braught is now hoping he can turn his talents as a punter into a quality college education. “I’m especially looking for (a challenging school),” Braught said. “I know academics are going to carry me in life. They are going to take me farther than football will.” Braught certainly has the merits to end up at a school like Brown, Yale or Harvard — the three he plans to visit this week. He boasts an ACT score of 28 and a 4.0 GPA. Just as impressive are his numbers on the gridiron. Last season, Braught averaged 40.93 yards per punt on 40 attempts. More importantly, he was a nightmare for opposing teams as he buried them inside their own 10-yard line eight times and inside their own 20-yard line a dozen times. Only twice all season did his punts roll into the end zone for touchbacks. “I feel like it’s one of my stronger points,” Braught said of his coffin corner punting. “Whenever we are around midfield and out of field goal range, coach always says to punt to the corner away from where the returner is.” As he showed last season, though, it’s pretty hard to be outside of Braught’s field goal range. The lanky 6-foot-3, 170-pounder booted in a 51-yard field goal last year, setting a new school record and recording the longest kick made in the state of Oklahoma for the season. In all, he was 4-for-9 on field goal attempts and 36-of-38 on extra points. He is 10-for-19 on field goals the past two season and 72-of-75 on PATs. Braught was just as effective when kicking off. He had 62 kickoffs last season, six were onside kick attempts and 56 were “deep kicks.” Of those, 38 (67.9 percent) went into the end zone and were onside kicks. The average starting position for opponents off Braught’s kickoffs was the 22-yard line. Those numbers could be even better this season as Braught feels he has improved with all of his practice in the offseason. “Just about every camp works on your fundamentals and technique, so I have definitely gotten better with that,” said Braught, who practices his kicking three to five days a week. “They are also for exposure, though. (The camp instructors) are there to help you. If you do well, colleges are going to contact them and they will recommend you. “You want to get out there and be seen. It’s better than sitting at your house and sending tapes of yourself out and hoping coaches will watch them.” Braught, who has also worked out for Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, attended the Texas Showcase Camp in April, the Springfield Missouri Camp in May and was slated to take part in the Tulsa Camp earlier this month, but had to pull out after hurting his leg at a basketball camp. While in California he attended Chris Sailer’s Top 12 Camp and next month he is scheduled to take part in the National Invitation Scholarship Camp. Braught said he hasn’t had any scholarship offers yet, but hopes that all of his hard work and exposure will pay off soon. The specialty camps he is attending are pointed at getting him those offers. Braught isn’t just picking schools out of a hat, he is going to colleges that are looking for a new punter. “I’m a kicker too, but I’m really only punting (at the camps),” said Braught who is right handed but kicks as a lefty. “That’s where I will benefit most.” Braught knows where his talents are and he knows what will give him the best chance for a scholarship: punting. That would mean no more field goals or extra points. No more playing defensive back and wide receiver, like he does now. Now more basketball and no more track & field, both of which Braught does for Duncan currently. It would be a lot of sacrifice, but Braught seems OK with that. He has a plan, and he seems to be sticking to it. “I’m just trying to get on a coach’s radar,” said Braught, who has been asked by several coaches to keep them updated throughout the season. “Hopefully, I’ll eventually get an offer.”

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