This Plymouth kicker can make a 60-yard FG and has interest from Wisconsin and Notre Dame
PLYMOUTH — You don’t need to see Plymouth Panthers kicker Owen Plate crush a football on a kickoff to know his right leg is like a Howitzer cannon ready to fire.
The sound of the kick is enough to jolt you to attention whether you’re up in the press box or down on the field.
At a recent game against Port Washington, Plate kicked a ball out of the back of the end zone and the scoreboard operator said the Panthers faithful don’t think that is too exciting anymore.
The five-star rated kicker, who has made unofficial visits to both Wisconsin and Notre Dame, has kicked the ball more than 70 yards onto the concrete slab outside the track lining the football field.
“He’s a special kicker,” said Plymouth coach Dan Knaus. “His ability to kick touchbacks is amazing. He’s 75% on touchbacks, leg to 50 and beyond. It’s incredible.”
His longest in-game field goal is 52 yards, made last season, and has made 60-yard kicks in practice.
Plate, who is also a striker on the Panthers boys soccer team in addition to his spot on the football team, didn’t even begin football until three years ago.
The Panthers needed a kicker and at the urging of his friends, he gave it a shot as a sophomore.
“Everyone talked about how strong his leg was in soccer so they told him why don’t you try football and we had him come out for a try out one day,” Knaus said. “We told him to naturally kick it how he could and it hit it pretty good. It ballooned to where he is now.”
Both player and coach credit Plate’s love of soccer growing up for his success.
“His soccer background certainly helps,” Knaus said. “You look at most kickers in the NFL and college and they have soccer backgrounds. The soccer-style kicker is the kicker now. You don’t have any straight forward, toe kickers anymore.”
Added Plate: “I think its a huge reason why I am a good kicker,” Plate said of soccer. “Growing up playing soccer I learned the technique and that has carried me a long way.”
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Finding a kicker who can make even an extra point can be a struggle, so having someone who can comfortably make a 50-yard field goal had Knaus rethinking how he coaches.
“His first year we punted one time and after the play, my son who helps out on the sidelines says, ‘Dad, why didn’t you kick a field goal?’ and I went ‘yeah, would have been a 52 yarder. I forget Owen can make a 52 yarder,’” Knaus said with a chuckle.
Ranked as the No. 38 kicker in the country in the class of 2024 according to Kohl’s Professional Camps, Plate visited Notre Dame in the spring and attended a Wisconsin Badgers game in Madison this fall.
His hope is to land a scholarship at Wisconsin but explains why he might be waiting a little bit.
“They kind of prioritize the running backs and skill positions first,” Plate said with a wry grin. “Hopefully they have a spot for a kicker and I’m that kicker.”
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Knaus says if Plate didn’t do so much in the offseason it wouldn’t be possible.
“He’s been to a lot of camps, done a lot of work with private coaches,” Knaus said. “That’s where he’s getting the interest from colleges from.”
It’s been a meteoric rise for a player who four years ago was trying to kick a ball into a net instead of between two uprights.
“It was kind of like a holy cow moment,” Plate said of first being contacted by Wisconsin and Notre Dame. “It would mean everything to me to make everyone here proud and watch me on Saturdays. I never thought it would come to this.”
Contact Tom Dombeck at 920-686-2965 or tdombeck@htrnews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @Tom_Dombeck.
This article originally appeared on Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Plymouth football's Owen Plate has interest from Wisconsin, Notre Dame
