MENTONE, CA -- All-purpose kicker John Hilfer, a 2014 All-Southern Section booter who currently lacks a college destination, set sail for Dallas on Friday night in search of an elusive goal.
A scholarship.
It’s not that easy for a punter, a placekicker, or both, he said. .
“The whole thing is kind of rigged,” said Hilfer, a Redlands East Valley High School senior.
The process is costly, narrowly defined, a travel-bound activity that’s limited by college campuses that might try and save a little scholarship money by leaving the position of placekicker/punter to the bare minimum.
While quarterbacks, linemen, linebackers and receivers are bagged by the barrel, kickers are in limited supply.
Hilfer’s fighting that battle.
Affiliation with camps by Richard Husted or Chris Sailer, both of whom are former college and National Football League pros, is a virtual must, says Hilfer. It’s one of Sailer’s camps that Hilfer was heading for on Friday.
REV football fans might distinctly recall the little twist and hop Hilfer goes through in his routine before landing his foot solidly on a ball. Lost amid the Wildcats’ explosive offense and their defensive capabilities, it might’ve seemed easy to overlook the guy booting the ball.
Colleges have, so far, overlooked Hilfer, too.
“I’ve had a little contact with Texas Tech,” he said.
But no offers.
Sailer, says Hilfer, “ranks you. It’s his own ranking system. (Sailer) has a lot of power over all those (college) coaches.”
As for showcase camps, those for kickers are the most well-attended. Especially since college opportunities are virtually limited to those events.
Don’t even think about trying for college without attending camps – especially for a punter/placekicker, says Hilfer.
“I feel bad for kids who don’t have the money for the camps,” said Hilfer.
Price ranges for the Sailer/Husted camps more than twice the cost for, say, camps for quarterbacks, linemen or defenders, he says. This weekend’s camp in Dallas will run $470.
“I’ve got family there,” said Hilfer, “so I won’t have to pay for a hotel. If I did, plus the cost of the flight, it can get expensive.”
Hilfer says he’s spent close to $5,000 on camps. “They want to see you at multiple camps.”
There are, he said, “kids out there that are better than me. They don’t have the money or the knowledge.”
Hilfer’s story ranges from the grassroots level to seeking the right campus.
As an eighth grader off a private Christian campus, Hilfer originally showed up at Citrus Valley-Redlands – but the school had no room for him, at first. Redlands High was Hilfer’s second choice. Again, full.
Thrust into the “overflow” school, Mentone-based REV, Hilfer found a home. When Citrus Valley discovered an eventual opening, Hilfer waved it off. He’d found friends at REV.
It might boggle the mind of either Citrus Valley coach Pete Smolin or Redlands coach Jim Walker to learn they nearly had an All-CIF special teams punter and placekicker.
Said Hilfer: “I got to REV and liked the guys who were there.”
Sharing time with another big leg, Mason Biggerstaff, for two seasons (2013, 2014), REV seemed spoiled with power kickers. While Hilfer logged most of the punting duties in 2013 (36.6 yards, 4-of-23 inside the 20), they were about even on the kickoffs, hitting about 50 percent touchbacks.
If anyone were paying attention to Hilfer – who’s also tied to another ex-Wildcat bomber, Trey Farquhar, who went from REV to Univ. Idaho – they might’ve believed he’d have been grabbed quickly by almost any college program.
“Florida State,” he says, “was my dream school.”
Placekicker Robert Aguayo, a junior redshirt, is back while punter Cason Beatty, a senior, reached the end. Since Hilfer wants a shot at starting right away, he’ll stray, at least for now, from the Tallahassee-based campus.
He’ll go anywhere. It’s all about getting spotted at camp.
Those camps include plenty of competition.
Hugo Castellanos holds free camps in Fontana. Hilfer’s taken first in field goals and kickoffs. “I didn’t punt. There wasn’t enough time.”
Hilfer’s been first at Husted’s camp on three occasions.
As for Sailer, Hilfer’s been invited to his two-day Las Vegas camp ($750 cost), an invite-only showcase for anywhere between 500 and 1000 kickers from everywhere.
“If you compete well enough,” said Hilfer, “he invites the top 20 back.”
As for college coaches attending, “it’s the most you’ll ever see in one spot – Pac-12, NCAA D-1’s top schools, everyone.”
Dallas was where Hilfer’s hoping to land his scholarship. “If I don’t get my scholarship,” he said, “it won’t be until next July when I’ll have a chance.”
REV coach Kurt Bruich has tried to help. In fact, there might be a disconnect between the highly successful Bruich and the high-achieving Hilfer.
“He might not understand the whole system and what it takes,” said Hilfer.
He says Bruich has “put my name out there and tried to sell me (to a college coach).”
But it’s all about the camps.
The numbers – 59 out of 80 touchbacks on kickoffs, a 37.2 punting average on 29 boots, dropping six inside the 20 and hitting a long of 52 – compared decently with his junior year numbers – 67-of-83 touchbacks, 39.2 yards on punts, plus 14 inside the 20 during the team’s state Div. 2 championship season.
Hilfer’s most memorable punt might have occurred in 2014 when he sent a boomer to Yucaipa High School’s one-yard line. “It was a spiral that turned over and the guy caught it right on the one.
“That goes back to coaches not coaching special teams. He should’ve let the ball go into the end zone.”
It’s one of Hilfer’s pet peeves for almost every team. Few spend much time practicing special teams – long-snapping, holding, kick return, punt return, you name it
In this year’s game against Yucaipa, Hilfer said his field goal cracked a 0-0 deadlock with the Thunderbirds. “I kicked a field goal (he was 8-for-9 this season) and the next thing you know, we just took off. I felt like I gave us momentum.”
REV’s second round exit from this year’s Southern Section playoffs might have been avoided. If Bruich had sent Hilfer to try a couple of field goal attempts that were within his range, the outcome of that game might have been far different.
“I know he was thinking, ‘I drove the ball this far … might as well go for seven.’ I had two solid attempts (within 40 yards) that were within my range.”
Instead of beating Rancho Verde-Moreno Valley for the third time in two seasons, the Mustangs turned the tables on REV, 28-24.
Hilfer says REV relies on alumni to return and coach the special teamers – punters, kickers. These days, he’s working with sophomore Eli Chihuahua, the apparent Wildcats’ kicker for 2016. Chihuahua’s been a soccer player.
“I played soccer growing up,” said Hilfer, who has heard all the hoopla at various high school campuses – go raid the soccer programs for kickers and punters.
That’s the natural move, right? “You almost have to stop playing soccer,” he said, “if you want to kick (in football).”
Technique is so refined.
“It’s an entirely different technique,” said Hilfer, who describes the follow-throughs, hip-twisting and workout routines that football-kicking specialists must follow.
“It’s just breaking old habits.”
