FAYETTEVILLE — Fayetteville, Ga., Starrs Mill senior kicker/punter Michael Lantz (5-11, 160) came to Arkansas this weekend with the idea of turning the heads of Razorback coaches, especially those of head coach Chad Morris and camp director Tanner Burns.
Hitting every field goal he attempted in competition and wrapping a bow around his win with a 65-yard boot to win it, Lantz - arguably the best high school kicker in the country - got that done Saturday at the Arkansas Specialists Camp.
“It went well for me,” Lantz said. “I hit all my field goals and hit the 65-yarder to win it. It was great to do that in front of Coach Burns and Coach Morris.”
Lantz, who got his first offer from Minnesota on Jan. 28th and is ranked fourth in the country and a five-star kicker by Kohl’s Kicking, is hoping an offer comes from Arkansas after his performance on Saturday.
“I really want to go here,” Lantz said. “I really want to play SEC football, especially SEC West football. It would be a dream come true if they offered me.”
Lantz, who was previously ranked as the top kicker in the country by Kohl’s before an injury cut his junior season short after five games, said his Arkansas trip has been the best of several he has taken.
“I was at Purdue last week and before that I was at Florida State, Georgia and Georgia Tech,” Lantz said. “But Arkansas is top notch and really my favorite so far.
“Really it is the facilities and the school. We toured last night and it is a great school. Plus it is SEC football and there is nothing better than that.”
The 65-yarder was not the longest field goal that Lantz has connected on.
“The longest I have made is going three-for-three from 67 one day in practice,” Lantz said. “But this was my longest in competition.
“It is all technique. You just have to hit the same ball every time and do everything right and the distance will take care of itself.”
Lantz was ranked as Kohl’s No. 1 kicker before he suffered a season-ending leg injury in week five. That came a week after he hit a school-record 50-yard field goal when former Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema was at his game.
“I think before that I was 26 of 30 on touchbacks and 3 for 5 on field goals," he said. "I also broke my own school record of 47 with a 50-yarder.”
While it was a slow rehab, Lantz showed Saturday that he was fully recovered with his first-place finish in field goals and punting competitions and second in punting.
“I was out for eight months,” Lantz said. “But I am full speed now, obviously, as you can see today.”
Kickers and punters are at the mercy of college coaches and their rosters. Very few of the 128 NCAA Division I football programs offer kickers in a given year with the average being around 12.
“It’s been pretty good,” Lantz said. “I have got a full scholarship offer from Minnesota and I think that is really going to open up more doors for me. One usually brings out the others.”