After last season, University of North Texas Head Coach Todd Dodge knew he had to do something about special teams and specifically the kicking game. A missed field goal can be a momentum destroyer or deflate the offense and the Mean Green had enough of those last year. A poor punt can give the opponents great field position and there was enough of that last year. Dodge set out to solve the problem and found a kicker not far from Denton, Texas. He actually attended a private camp at North Texas and was one of the best kickers in the nation. He found Zach Olen, 5-10, 210, K/P, from L.V. Berkner High School, Richardson, Texas. Dodge offered, Olen accepted and the Eagles had their man.

Getting scholarships are rare for punters and kickers and even though Texas, LSU and Purdue were heavily interested in Olen, none came up with an offer. A lot of times schools try to save a scholarship and get a kicker to walk on and many do. However, Richardson Berkner Head Football Coach Jim Ledford advised Olen about his chances of getting a scholarship offer at the next level and about what happens to players that walk on to big name programs. “Some kids get stars in their eyes,” he stated, “then, once they get there, reality sets in. There is never a guarantee."

"I wanted to go big-time," Olen said, "but I came to the reality that the chances going SEC or Big 12 are pretty low.” It was on the advice of his coach he decided to take the North Texas offer. “A field goal is a field goal anywhere you go. And I was going to go wherever they offered me."

"You have to have common sense," Ledford said. "This is a full ride. But if Zach did take a preferred walk-on offer, I have no doubt he would earn a scholarship." Why would Ledford feel Olen could earn a scholarship at big name schools if he decided to walk-on? The results of the camps, his senior year and the enclosed clip, <a href="http://kohlskicking.com/recruiting/Olen/Zach/videos/462">Zach Olen Kicking</a> , can answer the question.

Olen is a strong left footed kicker that can power the ball downfield but at the same time can get the hang time needed to allow the punt or kick-off team to get down field to cover the returns. For example, at a Kohl’s Profession Camp on one kick off he nailed it for 73 yards with a 4.4 hang time. Olen attended both the Kohl’s May Showcase Camp at North Texas and the Wisconsin Badger Camp in June.

He was rated a 5 star kicker at the camp and one of the top 15 kickers in the nation. Kohl’s stated Olen “is a D1 Kicker and might be a D1 punter. Zach is one of the nation's best combo guys.” They also felt “he will compete as a true freshman.”

Olen also attended the Chris Sailer 8^th Annual National Kicking and Snapping Event where he was one of the top 12 of Senior/JC/Transfer Kickers/ Punters. He actually came in ninth place. At the event, Olen was the winner of the punting portion of the camp.

"Zach is a great overall kicking/punting prospect," Sailer said. "He is a good-looking athlete with a tremendous leg. Zach won the punting competition because he was more consistent and mentally tough than the rest of the field." The Sailer camp represents the best of the best and he kicked his way to being the National Punting Champion.

During his senior year in high school he hit 10 of 15 field goal attempts with his longest at 47 yards. For his efforts he was named District 5A-9 Special Teams player of the year in 2009 and the 12^th ranked kicker in Texas. 

He has been consistent with his kicks and punts during his three year high school career and each year he just kept getting better.

In his senior season, he punted 34 times totaling 1,322 yards for an average of 38.88 yards a punt. To break it down, there were six games where he averaged over 40 yards a punt. The last games of the season he had two punts for a 47 yard average. In one game he had five punts for a 43.60 yards average. In another game he had three punts for a 45.33 average. There were two games he averaged 41 yards a punt. In one of the games he punted six times while the other one he punted only once. He averaged 40.50 in one game with four punts. What hurt his average was three games. In one he punted five times for a 34.40 average, another game he punted seven times for a 33 yard average and one game for 22 yards on one punt. The longest punt of his career was for 52 yards but he had four other punts that went 51 yards and he put 9 punts inside the 20 yard line.

As the kick-off specialist he put 33 of his 56 kickoffs into the endzone for touchbacks and his longest kick-off was 81 yards. In one game against North Crowley, Dallas, Texas he recorded seven touchbacks.

Olen was responsible for 66 points last season or six points a game.  Thirty-six points were PAT’s and he hit ten field goals for the additional 30 points.

In his junior year, he was responsible for a total of 63 points or 5.7 points a game. He hit 11 field goals and thirty PAT’s. In punting he averaged 38.17 yards a punt for a total of 1,374 yards. Olen kicked off 57 times with 41 going for touchbacks. His longest kickoff was 70 yards and recorded five that were beyond sixty yards. Against Molina, Dallas, TX he had eight kick-off going for touchbacks.

In his sophomore year he punted 26 times for 1,055 yards averaging 40.58 yards a punt. His longest punt was 60 yards and he put six inside the twenty. He kicked off 45 times with ten touchbacks and one kick-off was 67 yards. He connected on two field goals, 26 PAT’s for a total of 32 points.   

Olen looks like he is the answer to the special teams problem especially in the kicking game. At the second scrimmage game this spring, there was another blocked field goal attempt which was a reminder work needs to be done in this unit. North Texas fans will have to wait until fall to see how Olen does but it looks like he will be a great asset.