FSU football brought in a verbal commitment from one of the top kickers in the 2019 class over the weekend, so could he see the field early this season?
For much of the time since the 2018 season came to an end for the FSU football team, the Seminoles and their coaching staff have been out on the recruiting trail trying to bring in the next group of players to the program – focusing on some of the positions of need like offensive line, defensive backs and other spots.
One of the areas that flew under the radar was special teams, where both kicker Ricky Aguayo and punter Logan Tyler will be entering their senior seasons. At least one person will now be in a running to fill one or both of the spots with the news that Ryan Fitzgerald, a Georgia native ranked as one of the top 16 kicker recruits by 247 Sports, committed to the Noles this past weekend.
Committed. #TRIBE19 pic.twitter.com/m5D8pn3cy7
— Ryan Fitzgerald (@ryan_fitz88) January 28, 2019
While playing last season for Colquitt County High School, Fitzgerald hit on 22 of his 27 field goal attempts and nailed every single extra points with his longest kick of the season being 60 yards and seven of his successful field goals being from over 50 yards while averaging nearly 41 yards a punt and forcing a touchback on nearly 88 percent of his kickoffs.
Now, Tyler still has the punting spot locked down as he has averaged over 43 yards a kick the last two seasons and showed flashes of greatness for someone who has averaged 74 punts the last two seasons – up 20 punts from what he did during his freshman season for FSU football in 2016.
On the other side of the coin, Aguayo has been on the hot seat seemingly his entire time in Tallahassee – some of that coming from having to replace his All-American brother, Roberto, and some of it coming from not being able to live up to his six field goal performance in his first ever game (the 2016 opener vs. Ole Miss).
Aguayo has his worst season percentage wise in 2018, going 11 for 17 on field goal attempts. In his career, Aguayo has succeeded on 75 of his field goal attempts while missing an extra point each season and having three kicks of over 50 yards in his entire career. Those numbers beg the question: could Fitzgerald be starting the opener for the Noles with a good camp?
FSU football has not hesitated to use multiple kickers in a season based on our storied and somewhat emotional abusive relationship with that position, so it might not be out of the question to see both being used – but now that Aguayo isn’t the sole person at that spot, could this be the chance to get a new leg in there?
Give Aguayo credit, he has been the man to save the day on several occasions – the Ole Miss game along with essential hitting the game winners in one point victories over Miami and Michigan in 2016 along with a three point victory over Syracuse in 2017 that kept the Noles in the running for a bowl game.
Maybe he has been the victim of way too high expectations after his brother’s time in Tallahassee…or maybe the hype was too much for him in garnet and gold. Whatever it is, competition is good and will either make Aguayo the most dependable senior kicker in the country – or make Fitzgerald the next freshman kicker to start of the Noles.