And why wouldn't Cal offer him a scholarship? I know he doesn't have a super big leg, but he made a lot of kicks when we needed them.
Maybe we'll see if Luckhurst still has the yips in the bowl game.

Mateen was 8 for 9 on FG's and 2 - 2 from 40 - 49 yards.

27-27 on XP
51 TP

DiabloWags said:

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Mateen was 8 for 9 on FG's and 2 - 2 from 40 - 49 yards.

27-27 on XP
51 TP

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WE CAN DO BETTER!

lol

Bobodeluxe said:

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DiabloWags said:

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Mateen was 8 for 9 on FG's and 2 - 2 from 40 - 49 yards.

27-27 on XP
51 TP

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WE CAN DO BETTER!

lol

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Not with someone who suffers the "yips"
The yips do not go away.

DiabloWags said:

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Mateen was 8 for 9 on FG's and 2 - 2 from 40 - 49 yards.

27-27 on XP
51 TP

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Yes, those are his stats, but again the staff rarely trusted him on anything over 40. That makes me wary.

HearstMining said:

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golden sloth said:

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ducky23 said:

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Econ141 said:

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southseasbear said:

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Bump. Any news today?

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Thank You Golden Bears🐻@8nicknovak @coachripshwtime @RivalsPortal @247SportsPortal pic.twitter.com/7R5kZSCBWs

— Mateen B (@mateen_bhaghani) December 4, 2023

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Wait what? What's the backstory on this? Does he think he's going to get passed up by someone next year?

We finally had a somewhat competent kicking game

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He is a special teams player on a team with no special teams coach.

I'd want some coaching.

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Don't punters and kickers have their own personal coaches that they workwith in the offseason and maybe some occasional midseason consulting? I always assumed the special teams coach focused on blocking and coverage schemes.

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Exactly did Pete Alamar coach kicking technique? I am in the 'he was told he would not be getting a scholly next year,' camp. That makes the most sense.

koream, all these questions re: mateen are answered in the monster

golden sloth said:

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DiabloWags said:

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Mateen was 8 for 9 on FG's and 2 - 2 from 40 - 49 yards.

27-27 on XP
51 TP

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Yes, those are his stats, but again the staff rarely trusted him on anything over 40. That makes me wary.

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His two longest FGs were both from 43 yards out. First quarter vs. Oregon and first quarter vs. UCLA.

Best of luck to MB, but he was not the kind of kicker you give a scholarship to. (LOL, watch him now increase his range by 10 yds, just to show me.) And if ML doesn't become more reliable, he will go the same way.

And not having a dedicated ST coach has nothing at all to do with this.

JimSox said:

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And why wouldn't Cal offer him a scholarship? I know he doesn't have a super big leg, but he made a lot of kicks when we needed them.
Maybe we'll see if Luckhurst still had the yips in the bowl game.

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Does Luckhurst have a scholarship, better yet just cut him and give Baghani his moneybags

This was my thought. If Luckhurst has a schollie then the convo with MB might have been something like "we are not taking ML's scholllie to give to you. You have to beat him in camp."

StillNoStanfurdium said:

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Big C said:

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Best of luck to MB, but he was not the kind of kicker you give a scholarship to. (LOL, watch him now increase his range by 10 yds, just to show me.) And if ML doesn't become more reliable, he will go the same way.

And not having a dedicated ST coach has nothing at all to do with this.

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I figured that Mateen could try to increase his range since he was only a true freshman. Still has time to get stronger and refine his technique.

Don't know why Mateen in your eyes only gets evaluated on his present performance but you'd be okay with Luckhurst getting basically 2 years to show out considering the absolutely miserable start to the year that he had.

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Bingo.

oskidunker said:

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MilleniaBear said:

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This was my thought. If Luckhurst has a schollie then the convo with MB might have been something like "we are not taking ML's scholllie to give to you. You have to beat him in camp."

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He beat him under game conditions. There should be no competition.

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This should be obvious.
But apparently it is not to some here on Bearinsider.

oskidunker said:

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ClevelandBear said:

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thats a new one to me, walk on straight to transfer portal. as a kicker

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Probably offered a scolly and some money elsewhere

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He should have been offered a scholarship here after coming in and doing great. I guess the plan is for Luckhurst to give it another go. Either way, I hope they both succeed.

MilleniaBear said:

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This was my thought. If Luckhurst has a schollie then the convo with MB might have been something like "we are not taking ML's scholllie to give to you. You have to beat him in camp."

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Does he? Very few teams give scholarships to placekickers.

If someone wants to post a link to proof that Luckhurst has an athletic scholarship, go ahead and do that, but until that is done, I'm skeptical.

StillNoStanfurdium said:

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MilleniaBear said:

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This was my thought. If Luckhurst has a schollie then the convo with MB might have been something like "we are not taking ML's scholllie to give to you. You have to beat him in camp."

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Luckhurst did not make a single field goal over 40 yards this season in his 5 games of kicking. He is overall 33.3% of FGs overall being 3 of 9. He is only a 78% XP kicker going 11 of 14 with one attempt blocked as well.

Mateen went 8 for 9 with a long of 43 yards and 27 for 27 on XP.

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crazy how many more XP opportunities Mateen got... the offense nearly doubled his XP opportunities compared to luckhurst in the 1st half.

bencgilmore said:

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StillNoStanfurdium said:

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MilleniaBear said:

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This was my thought. If Luckhurst has a schollie then the convo with MB might have been something like "we are not taking ML's scholllie to give to you. You have to beat him in camp."

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Luckhurst did not make a single field goal over 40 yards this season in his 5 games of kicking. He is overall 33.3% of FGs overall being 3 of 9. He is only a 78% XP kicker going 11 of 14 with one attempt blocked as well.

Mateen went 8 for 9 with a long of 43 yards and 27 for 27 on XP.

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crazy how many more XP opportunities Mateen got... the offense nearly doubled his XP opportunities compared to luckhurst in the 1st half.

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Eh, not quite half and half. Luckhurst basically got (most of) 4 games before he was replaced (he also kicked 1 XP against WSU which is kind of odd since Mateen kicked 5). So it's 4 games vs. 8 games. Which is sort of double the opportunity.

You'd also expect our offense to improve after the switch to Mendoza although Luckhurt's stats are buoyed by our offense beating up on UNT and doing well against Idaho (9 of 9 XPs with a block in those games but 2 of 5 for FGs).

The more amusing thing is that despite Mateen playing in double the games, that he ended up with the same number of attempts as Luckhurst. So maybe that's the stat to look at to show that our offensive efficiency improved (didn't settle for FGs) or that we totally lost faith in kicking and went for them way less (probably true).

i'd like the UCLA kicker or the Stanford kicker please!

StillNoStanfurdium said:

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MilleniaBear said:

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This was my thought. If Luckhurst has a schollie then the convo with MB might have been something like "we are not taking ML's scholllie to give to you. You have to beat him in camp."

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Luckhurst did not make a single field goal over 40 yards this season in his 5 games of kicking. He is overall 33.3% of FGs overall being 3 of 9. He is only a 78% XP kicker going 11 of 14 with one attempt blocked as well.

Mateen went 8 for 9 with a long of 43 yards and 27 for 27 on XP.

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Luckhurst made a 53 yarder that was waved off by the refs. He clearly has the leg. I would have been fine keeping Mateen, but they'd have to go with two scholarship lockers which they didn't appear to have room for.

calumnus said:

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wifeisafurd said:

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calumnus said:

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BearSD said:

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oskidunker said:

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ClevelandBear said:

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thats a new one to me, walk on straight to transfer portal. as a kicker

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Probably offered a scolly and some money elsewhere

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Most power conference teams don't offer scholarships to kickers, but maybe Bhaghani can find one.

Most likely motivation is to find a place where he'd be the clear #1 kicker. If he stayed at Cal, he would be competing with Luckhurst for next year's kicking job. Maybe Luckhurst doesn't have the yips next year and kicks well. He had already won the kickoff job back by the end of this season.

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Entering the portal gives him leverage. He can always return to Cal as a walk-on, that is given. He is enrolled, it is not like he is putting a scholarship at risk so he has nothing to lose. Now he can maybe get a scholarship or just a (better?) NIL offer. Maybe UCLA? Basically this allows him to see what is available out there, get his education paid for in the very least. Maybe even at Cal.

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He can only come back to Cal if Wilcox lets him and that sets a dangerous precedence unless he did this with Wilcox's blessing. If it isn't, he is gone.

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He is a walk on and a our starting FG kicker. It is one thing to decide not to give him a scholarship or NIL but Wilcox would be crazy not to accept him back as a walk on just to be vindictive.

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No he will replace him and send a message about going into the Portal w/o his blessing. This is how it works at any other school. That said, if Wilcox said take a shot and see if you can get a scholie, he gets back in.

wifeisafurd said:

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TedfordTheGreat said:

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i'd like the UCLA kicker of the Stanford kicker please!

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Stanford kicker may actually get drafted by the League.

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he's amazing. i guess he's a senior, but hey a nice free masters degree from Cal doesn't hurt right?

oh and i stand corrected i do not want the UCLA kicker who is 54% for a league worst FG percentage

wifeisafurd said:

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calumnus said:

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wifeisafurd said:

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calumnus said:

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BearSD said:

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oskidunker said:

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ClevelandBear said:

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thats a new one to me, walk on straight to transfer portal. as a kicker

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Probably offered a scolly and some money elsewhere

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Most power conference teams don't offer scholarships to kickers, but maybe Bhaghani can find one.

Most likely motivation is to find a place where he'd be the clear #1 kicker. If he stayed at Cal, he would be competing with Luckhurst for next year's kicking job. Maybe Luckhurst doesn't have the yips next year and kicks well. He had already won the kickoff job back by the end of this season.

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Entering the portal gives him leverage. He can always return to Cal as a walk-on, that is given. He is enrolled, it is not like he is putting a scholarship at risk so he has nothing to lose. Now he can maybe get a scholarship or just a (better?) NIL offer. Maybe UCLA? Basically this allows him to see what is available out there, get his education paid for in the very least. Maybe even at Cal.

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He can only come back to Cal if Wilcox lets him and that sets a dangerous precedence unless he did this with Wilcox's blessing. If it isn't, he is gone.

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He is a walk on and a our starting FG kicker. It is one thing to decide not to give him a scholarship or NIL but Wilcox would be crazy not to accept him back as a walk on just to be vindictive.

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No he will replace him and send a message about going into the Portal w/o his blessing. This is how it works at any other school. That said, if Wilcox said take a shot and see if you can get a scholie, he gets back in.

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For walk ons? A walk-on that <saved> his season? Seriously? That would be an A-hole move. I thought the big benefit of Wilcox is he is such a stand up, player friendly guy.

Hold firm on the scholarship, sure, but having him be a Cal student and NOT be on the team is overly vindictive and self-defeating. I mean, if Grizzel or Endries was not offered a scholarship and they decided to see what was available on the portal before coming back, Wilcox would not take them back as walkons? They would have to watch Cal games from the student section? All just to maintain control over your future walkons and deter future walkons from even seeing if they can get a scholarship elsewhere?

There is still the chance that Luckhurst will improve going forward. This is not without precedence; in the early 90's Ryan Longwell had a very shaky start to this Cal career, with unreliability similar to Luckhurst. He subsequently became one of Cal's best placekickers and had an NFL career. No guarantee this will happen, but no guarantee it won't.

Larno said:

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There is still the chance that Luckhurst will improve going forward. This is not without precedence; in the early 90's Ryan Longwell had a very shaky start to this Cal career, with unreliability similar to Luckhurst. He subsequently became one of Cal's best placekickers and had an NFL career. No guarantee this will happen, but no guarantee it won't.

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Agreed. I'd think it is easier to learn accuracy than leg strength and he has the leg strength.

I am also sure we will bring in another walk-on to give him competition just in case.

calumnus said:

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Larno said:

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There is still the chance that Luckhurst will improve going forward. This is not without precedence; in the early 90's Ryan Longwell had a very shaky start to this Cal career, with unreliability similar to Luckhurst. He subsequently became one of Cal's best placekickers and had an NFL career. No guarantee this will happen, but no guarantee it won't.

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Agreed. I'd think it is easier to learn accuracy than leg strength and he has the leg strength.

I am also sure we will bring in another walk-on to give him competition just in case.

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I disagree. Accuracy is far more difficult to master than strength. Luckhurst is Exhibit A. I hope we don't have to learn that the hard way next year but wish he turns it around .

https://fastercapital.com/content/Accuracy--Precision-Matters--The-Art-of-Kicking-with-Accuracy.html