Lookin' at uh kickuh from Staten F***in' Island

Ever since they arrived in Indianapolis, the Colts have had good place-kicking. Even when they were a bad team, they could always rely on Raul Allegre, Dean Biasucci, Cary Blanchard, Mike Vanderjagt (loathe as I am to admit it) or Adam Vinatieri to score points.

For much of that time, though, the Colts have been average or not quite average on kickoffs. That explains why they've drafted big-legged guys like Dave Rayner and David Kimball, signed kickoff specialists like Danny Kight and Martin Grammatica and invited Shane Andrus to camp three times now. (1) The need for a kickoff specialist has slowed a little since 2006, when the Colts signed Vinatieri, who's generally considered a pretty good kickoff guy.

But Vinatieri is not a young man at 37, has been slowing visibly and makes a lot of money. Last year, he had a 65.00 gross and a 40.73 net on kickoffs, with 9 touchbacks in 91 kickoffs (9.89 percent, good for 22nd in the league). (2) That's not bad, but something that could be improved upon.

So, as they have many times before, the Colts are looking at a strong-legged college kicker who could enter the league as a kickoff specialist and, with luck, develop into a fulltime kicker. They are one of 16 teams to look at Piotr Czech (6044, 212), kicker and punter for Staten Island's Wagner College. (3)

An AFCA All-American, Czech was born in Poland and moved to New Jersey when he was two. He originally went to Wagner to play soccer, concentrating on football only as a junior. But right away this big, strong kid made an impression. As a frosh, this largely self-taught kicker went a perfect 31 of 31 on extra points. For his career, he went 110-115 on extra points, and 44 of 65 on field goals, although many of them were over 50 yards in windy conditions.

But what really stands out are his kickoffs. As a senior, he had a 62.42 gross and a 42.22 net. He also had eight touchbacks in 55 kickoffs (14.54 percent). While those numbers may not sound outstanding, keep in mind that he was kicking in Meadowlands-style winds at home, and is still very close to the start of his learning curve. And he's a smart, (4) level-headed kid with guts.

I think it's too late for Czech to develop into a NFL-quality punter. But he does have the ability to compete for a kickoff specialist job as a rookie and has the potential to be coached up into an all-around kicker. Depending on how he works out and interviews, he may convince some team to take a flier on him with a seventh-round pick. More likely, however, he will be beneficiary of a undrafted free agent bidding war.

Notes:
1. Of them, only Kight ever contributed much.
2. Don't read too much into those numbers, Vinatieri had the luxury of home games in a dome.
3. Did you see School of Rock? It was shot in Wagner.
4. He ran a 3.1 GPA at an Ivy League-level school.