Top 25 kicking specialists in Texas high school football entering 2024

Let the countdown begin for the 2024 Texas high school football season, or at least it’s almost time to start counting down. 
 
In the days leading up to the start of Week 1 (August 29th), Spm are taking a position by position look at the most notable returning players across the state. 
 
Here are our lists of the college football players by positions already known to be returning to play this fall in Texas: Quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, tackle, guards, ends, Defensive tackles, nose tackles, linebackers, cornerbacks, and safeties. 
 
Now it is time to turn to the kicking specialists – kickers and punters – listed below. Which are some of the leading players in that category as the 2024 season approaches? 
 
To achieve this, we have limited our players to the 25 best of all time in terms of their contributions to the teams they played for. Let me take you straight to the names below. 
 
25 Of The Best Kickers Returning To The Field In Texas 
 
It is in alphabetical order this list. 
 
Clay Addison, Flour Bluff, Senior 
 
Measurables: 6-2, 180 | Pos: Punter 
 
Addison seemed especially to be a useful weapon in the game to flip the field. In the previous season, he put 17 of his punts within the opponents’ 20-yard line. Addison however managed a strike rate of 39. 6 yards per punt, with a long of 61 yards. 
 
Alberto Rodriguez, El Paso, sr; Roberto Alvarez, Grand Prairie, sr. 

Measurables: 5-7, 155 | Pos: Punter 
 
Alvarez punted a total of 36 times last season, with an average of 39. The kicking game was also subpar 5 yards per attempt as his punts totaled 1422 yards. His longest single punt was of 58 yards. 
 
High school football is played between high school students; its key players as follows: Bryan Bazaldua, Waco Connally, sr. 
 
Measurables: 5-10, 180 | Pos: Kicker 
 
Bazaldua comes back to a Cadets’ squad that was 8-4 last year, 4-0 in district and second-team All-District. In the off season, he has been been to specialist camps at Texas, Texas A&M and North Texas. 
 
Quarterback Brettson Booker of Ridge Point in his senior year and representing the team of the Mississippi River. 
 
Measurables: 5-11, 155 | Pos: Kicker 
 
In a Week seven victory of 2023, Booker was successful in all the six PAT tries he got and had three kickoffs, which all resulted to touchbacks. 
 
Trevor Brooks, Tyler Chapel Hill, senior 
 
Measurables: 5-10, 183 | Pos: Punter 
 
Brooks may be remembered more for his defensive abilities; he is a linebacker who had 131 tackles and 15 sacks last season during the Bulldogs’ championship run to the 4A DI title game. But do not underestimate him as a punter, he had a average punt of 41. His teams personal offense numbers were 9 yards on 27 attempts with a long punt of 69 yards. Brooks also got nine punts into the opponents’ 20-yard line as well. 
 
Ty Bush, Boerne, sr. 
 
Measurables: 5-9, 195 | Pos: Punter 
 
Bush on his own punted 20 times with an average of 38 yards, his best punt being 50 yards. Out of those 20 punts eight of them were made in the opponent’s half of the pitch inside of their 20 area. 
 
Jordan Cartwright, Prosper Rock Hill, senior 
 
Measurables: 6-3, 160 | Specialist: punter / kicker 
 
Cartwright was the winner of a 2024 punt competition organized by the Kohl’s Texas Showcase. Kohl’s Professional Camps also awarded him a five star and he is among the worlds top 20 performers as ranked by the punter list. 
 
Bennett Cooper, Houston Christian, senior 
 
Measurables: 6-0, 170 | Pos:PLK 
 
Cooper played for his team in the 2023 match contributing to 66 total points for his team, from 7 successful out of 9 attempted field goals, 45 from out of attempted 47 extra points. During Southwest Preparatory Conference championship game he was successful in both field goal attempts, 32 and 30 yarders and all three PATs. Cooper also began punting in late in the season and from his six punts, all were not returned. 
 
Jasper Crain, Hooks, jr. 
 
Measurables: Oregon Native 5-11 185 Weight Pos: Punter 
 
Crain averaged 43. We averaged 8 yards with 16 punts we would place among the top 10 in the state next to next level teams for Punts per game and punting average. The ball was punted by him to a distance of 62 yards and; his punts reached inside the opponents’ twenty-yard line nine times. 
 
Justin Dewers, Plano Prestonwood Christian; senior. 
 
Measurables: 6-3, 185 | Pos: Punter/kicker 
 
Dewers won the title of Texas Fall Camp Kickoff Champion in 2023 for a national camp that was organised by Chris Sailer. Let me remind that Dewers was evaluated by Sailer as having a five-star potential and was ranked as the first among kickers at Kohl’s Fall Texas Camp in the Class of 2025. 
 
Vincent Discon, Cypress Bridgeland, 12m 
 
Measurables: 6-4, 213 | Pos: K 
 
Although Discon is also a defensive lineman, he was chosen as first-team All-District punter in the previous year. He punted 24 times for a total of 1,012 yards, his average punt was for 42 yards. An average of 2 yards per kick, with a long of 61 yards. Five of Discon’s punts reached the end zone area, or the 20-yard line and in. 
 
Diego Frausto, El Paso Del Valle, the senior. 
 
Measurables: 6-3, 225 | Pos: Kicker 
 
Frausto is provided a similar season which he had in 2023, which he scored 10 of the 11 field goal attempts he made. His longest field goal attempt of the season was 42 yards in length. 
 
Carson Griffin, Whitney, sr. 
 
Measurables: 6-1, 160 | Pos: Kicker 
 
Griffin became the All-District Kicker of the Year based on the team’s performance in the season that ended in early January 2023; the Wildcats earned 11 victories in those 13 matches. In the first part of the season, Griffin had a game-winning field goal while nursing a sprained ankle. 
 
Oliver Hautanen of Colleyville Covenant Christian is a senior. 
 
Measurables: 6-0, 165 | Pos: Kicker 
 
Hautanen was chosen as a first team All-District player as a kicker and was second team All-State. One of his team’s victories last season, he scored all extra point attempts, printed four touchbacks and also executed a fake punt in ninety for a carry. Kohl’s Professional Camps has given him a five star proficiency rating and he stands seventh in the country as rated by that organization. 
 
Roman Hernandez is part of the senior management being the general manager of the Fort Worth Chisholm Trail. 
 
Measurables: 5-11, 160 | Position*: Kicker 
 
The 2023 junior season was quite good for the Astros’ Hernandez in that regard. He converted 7 of the 8 attempted field goals, with a maximum distance of 48 yards, as well as all 39 of the PATs. 
 
Noah McGough – Dallas Jesuit – sr. 
 
Measurables: 6-0, 175 | Rec: Kicker 
 
McGough was awarded the District 7-6A Special Teams Player of the Year and was a first team All-State selection. Chris Sailer Kicking has put McGough, who already has an offer from Duke, as the 24th best kicker/punter in the country. 
 
Roman Morales, Saginaw, sr. 
 
Measurables: 6-0, 185 | Pos: Punter

Morales also serves as the quarterback, and in the previous season, he passed for 1,499 yards; in the same season, he punted 13 times for an average of 26. 6 yards with a long of 45. 
 
Brayden Pate, Gilmer, sr. 
 
Measurables: 5-9, 185 | Pos: Kicker 
 
Pate may very well be the best placekicker in East Texas. He made all 12 of his field goals, including a long of 36, and was 95-fof-103 on PATs as the Buckeyes won the 4A DII title. During the match that made for the regional final and which saw Gilmer beat Carthage – a team that had not lost up to that point – the player known as Pate scored all 4 of the field goals attempted, as well as all 5 of the PAT. 
 
Caden Schluens, Caldwell, sr. 
 
Measurables: 5-10, 150 | Position: Punter 
 
Schluens averaged 36. Also as a junior he had 9 yards per punt on 16 attempts. His longest punt is recorded to have been 44 yards away. 
 
Scott Starzyk of The Woodlands, is a senior. 
 
Measurables: 5-10, 160 | Pos: Kicker/punter 
 
Starzyk is a commit to Iowa University and he has displayed great performances kicking and punting. He did not attempt any field goals in his last season but was able to score all of them successfully (the longest being at 49 yards) overall, he scored 71 of 74 PAT attempts. He also had 29 on punts although he had an average of 39 in that category. 20 passes for 153 yards with 9 of them going to a receiver and his longest of 60 yards. Starzyk was rated the number one kicker in the Class of 2025 by Kohl’s Professional Camp. 
 
Ryder Taylor, Graham, sr. 
 
Measurables: 6-2, 180 | Position: Punter 
 
Taylor is also an excellent baseball player, and he will play baseball for Seminole State in Oklahoma, at the college level. As for the punt, Taylor moved his yards per average from his sophomore season up to 38. 3 yards per attempt in 2023, its longest run of the season being 43 yards. 
 
Ayden Treadaway running back, Pearland Dawson high school, senior. 
 
Measurables: 5-10, 160 | Pos: Kicker-Punter 
 
Treadaway has signed for Air Force. Last season he punted 33 times for 1,224 yards; his punt average was 37. 1 yards. His longest punt was 62 yards and Treadaway was able to pin the opponents inside their 20 yard line 10 times. After the season Treadaway was named second team All-District. Against a city foe, Pearland, he converted all of his three PATs and squeezed a punt through the end zone that was inside the Oilers’ 5. 
 
Christopher Valenzuel, El Paso, senior. 
 
Measurables: Height: 5’11 “- 180cm | Position: Punter 
 
Valenzuela punted 21 times last season and had 1,027 punt yards between both games. Nevertheless, this single record was sufficient to achieve an average of 48. 9 yards per kick. Valenzuela also plays running back, and rushed for 998 yards and 10 TDs as a junior. 
 
Bryce Wallum, Troup, sr. 
 
Measurables: 5-9, 170 | Pos: Kicker 
 
Wallum entered 65 PAT attempts he scored 63 of them and made three of four field goal attempts for a Tiger team that recorded 9-2 of the 2023 season. 
 
Zechariah Washington, Midlothian, sr. 
 
Measurables: 5-11, 175 | Position: Punter 
 
Washington was also an all-district first team punter last year. He got to punt the ball seventeen times, with a total distance of more than six hundred and twenty yards, and was also able to put seven of the kicks within the opponents’्थल Washington was also chosen as a second team All-District safety last season. 
 
playoffs and training camp reporting in the summer before the ‘24 Texas high school football season and regular-season contests beginning on Aug. 29. 
 
Let me make it clear; I intend to identify the twenty-five finest athletics teams in Texas irrespective of classification or affiliation. Here are the SBLive Preseason Texas Power 25 rankings, as well as the rankings of the 20 all-time winningest coaches. 
 
Naturally, which are the most overlooked teams in the Lone Star State heading into the season? In the following article, we are going one region at a time to examine the programs’ readiness to deliver more than expected performance- North Texas, Southeast Texas, and Central Texas. 
 
Offseason roster changes and the analysis of 12 players’ transfers that will matter this fall were discussed. 
 
Which teams are the ones to watch in the district? Top sleepers? We are going district by district including both, the 6A District 1-16, 6A District 17-32, 5A Division I and 5A Division II. 
 
Our scouting report on the best players returning in the Lone Star State this fall goes position by position, with signals callers first followed by 70 running backs, 40 wide outs, 25 tights ends, 25 OLs, 30 corners, 25 safeties and 45 inside backers. 
 
The major prospect of the country’s teams can be found in the Lone Star State. So we took a look at the top 20 committed recruits in the state, and where they are headed. And we went through each of the 25 best uncommitted students in the state — and their status in the recruiting process.