What abilities do you have to have to be a good kicker/punter in football?

Question

What abilities do you have to have to be a good kicker/punter in football?

Answer 1

Well, the obvious ability is a strong leg.

You might be able to get away with having an average kicking leg but you have to have extreme accuracy sort of like Greg Maddux does with not having a fast fastball but being able to put the baseball anywhere he wants it you would have to be able to put your punts anywhere you want them if you don't have a strong leg.

Second, covered in the previous paragraph, even with a strong leg, is accuracy.  You want to be able to control your punts so that if your team is say just out of field goal range, but close enough to the end zone that a strong punt just puts the other team at the 20 yard line, you have the ability to punt the bowl just short of the end zone preferably out of bounds on one side line or the other inside the 5 yard line.

You will want to work on your mechanics to make this all come together.  One of the things you must work on is how to drop the ball to your foot for the correct kicking mechanics.  One of the misconceptions among young players that haven't punted is thinking they are supposed to throw the ball up and then try to hit it with their foot.  In reality, you want to drop the ball to your foot as you kick it.  Essentially, kicking it from your hand as you drop it to your foot.  It is a very controlled process the whole way.

After that, you want to get in the habit of kicking a spiral so that you get maximum distance and hang time.  Youtube punting and watch punters kick.  After the kicking motion they usually end up off of the ground because of the force they put behind the ball.  I have provided an example click link.