Name: Tommy Doman
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 190 lbs.
High school: Orchard Lake (MI) St. Mary's
Position: Kicker/Punter
Class: Redshirt freshman
Jersey number: #19
Last year: I ranked Doman #71 and said he would be a backup kicker/punter (LINK). He redshirted.
TTB Rating: N/A
Doman was a backup kicker/punter combo guy in 2021, and he went the entire way through the season without being needed. Kicker Jake Moody stayed healthy and focused, and so did punter Brad Robbins. It seemed like an oddity to be able to get through the season using only those two guys, because before that, Quinn Nordin had been in the mix and both Moody/Nordin played kicker quite a bit the previous couple years. Not only that, but Robbins suffered from back issues earlier in his career.
The Michigan program is probably better for this, but Doman had to be a little disappointed this off-season when both Moody and Robbins chose to exercise their COVID exemption and return for an extra year of eligibility.
I hope the health and consistency remain in place, but Doman should be the primary backup at both spots and going two years in a row without needing a backup to play would be a bit surprising. So here Doman is at #44 because I think he'll be needed at some point this year.
Prediction: Backup kicker/punter
Keep this kid happy, get him live true reps
ReplyDeleteAgree with the post and JE's comment.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering how likely it was for 3rd/backup kickers to matter (prior to the Nordin era - which I think was a weird situation all the way through). Here's the summary from 2000-2016.
2000: Epstein and Del Verne split kicking duties, while Epstein handled all the punts. (My memory fails me but I think Del Verne was a short specialist.) 2 guys
2001: Epstein did both with Finley only getting 4 punts total. 1 guy
2002: Finley punted while kicking was split 3 ways between him, Brabbs, and Nienberg. 3 guys
2003: Rivas/Finley (though Rivas also punted a few times and Finley kicked some FGs weirdly). 2
2004: Rivas/Finley 2
2005: Rivas/Ryan 2
2006: Rivas/Mesko (Ryan did get in 14 punts though). 2.5
2007 Lopata and Gingell split kicking and Mesko punted. 3
2008: Lopata/Mesko 2
2009: Olesnavage/Mesko 2
2010: Broekhuizen and Gibbons each kicked, Hagerup punted. 3
2011: Gibbons kicked while Hagerup/Wile punted. 3
2012: Same as 2011 with Wile getting in some FG. 3
2013: Gibbons/Wile 2
2014: Wile/Hagerup 2
2015: Allen/O'Neill 2
2016: Tice/Allen 2
Anyway, I think Thunder nailed this ranking for Nolan. We probably don't need him and Harbaugh (and others) generally seem to prefer sticking to 2 guys but sometimes it doesn't work that way, so that's enough to put him in the top 50.