In this installment of The Recruiting Notebook, we meet one of the best specialists in the country, who will hopefully continue an outstanding (if short lived) family legacy kicking for the Canes: Hialeah (FL) Champagnat Catholic K Andres Borregales.

Bio

Miami’s kicking game was quite bad in 2018 and 2019. To try and help fix that situation, Miami focused their recruiting efforts on local standout Andres Borregales, one of a number of players from the multiple-time State Championship program at Hollywood (FL) Chaminade-Madonna.

With Miami’s clear and present struggles in the kicking game, immediate playing time and the allure of playing for the hometown Canes was immediately a big draw for Borregales. His first offer came from FIU in 2018, the school where his older brother Jose was having great success. But when Miami came around with interest and an offer in the spring of 2019, the younger Borregales jumped in the boat and committed to the Canes within a month.

Through it all, Andres has been an incredibly productive and nearly-automatic kicker. He’s routinely hit 50+ yard FGs in practices, games, and camp settings, and I mean....that’s good. Real good.

Borregales started his HS career at Miami (FL) Booker T. Washington, the same school at which his brother Jose starred. After transferring and winning a State Championship at Chaminade-Madonna in 2019, Borrgales transferred to another powerhouse program: Hialeah (FL) Champagnat Catholic for his senior year. That move was a meaningful one for Miami; recruits can early enroll if they attend Champagnat, but they cannot if they attend Chaminade-Madonna due to that school’s academic policies. So, not only has Borregales been locked it with the hometown Canes, he’ll be on campus sooner after this transfer.

While North Carolina kicked the tires and tried to see if they could work a flip from Borregales in the summer of 2020, the talented Kicker reaffirmed his commitment to Miami early on during the 2020 season and kicked the door closed on Carolina’s flip attempt.

Works for me.

Recruiting Ranking

On the 247sports composite, Borregales is a 3-star prospect, and the #4 K nationally in this class. He’s also rated #1 K in the country by Kornblue Kicking, #6 K in the country by Chris Sailer Kicking, and #7 K in the country by Kohl’s Kicking, the three industry leaders in kicking development and rankings.

Borregales committed to Miami over offers from North Carolina and Louisville among others.

As A Player

While we debate the process of other positions, how they line up, how they do different things on offense or defense well or poorly, kicking is a true outcome situation. Either you make the kick or you don’t.

Unlike previous kicking recruits who were talented but not necessarily proficient, Andres Borregales makes the kicks, guys.

Borregales shows a powerful leg, and has hit kicks from 55+ with regularity (and room to spare, by the way). Additionally, Borregales routinely booms kickoffs into or through the endzone for touchbacks, which both eliminate opposing KRs from the equation, and give the opposing offenses a long field to drive nearly every time they hit the field.

Borregales is thin at 5’11” 160lbs and built more like a soccer player than a football player. But kicking is a specialized position, and his size doesn’t indicate the strength of his leg, so he’ll be fine. Would be nice if he gained a little weight on the off chance that he has to make a tackle on a kick return or blocked kick, should the occasion arise.

Let’s look at some evals of Borregales, first from Kohl’s Kicking:

He earned our #1 rankings in the summer of 2019 and again showed why he is a Power 5 player. His leg speed and ball striking is special and unique. The Class of 2021 kicker has a brother who is a current D1 starter. Borregales is already committed to a Power 5 school and should only get better. He has moved into the category of a special talent. He has attended Kohl’s camps since he was in middle school and his improvement and work ethic is impressive!

Next up, Chris Sailer Kicking:

Andy is a fantastic high school kicking prospect. He is a great athlete with a live leg. He kicks with excellent technique and confidence. He is smooth and accurate on field goal. He hits a pure ball off the ground and easily has 55+ yard range. His kickoffs are strong, D1 ready. Andy drives the ball deep into the end zone with 4.0+ hang time. Also a very capable punter. He is a big time competitor that thrives in pressure situations. Andy has all the tools to dominate the next level. I look forward to seeing what the future holds. Look for Andy to have a big senior season. A fine young man and one of the hardest workers out there. Big things ahead! Excellent prospect. OFFER NOW!!! Huge addition for Miami!

Strengths

• Accuracy
• Leg Strength
• Track record of performance

Weaknesses

• Thin frame
• Lack of experience at the college level

Miami Outlook

Note: changing this up from just a freshman-season outlook to a career outlook for each player.

Kicker is a position where a player can come in and have an immediate impact. And, ironically, the only thing that could keep Borregales from that is.....his brother.

As a grad transfer this year, Jose Borregales could stay an extra year at Miami (due to the NCAA’s updated eligibility decision for this year). If he does, the multiple time Groza Award semi-finalist will continue to be Miami’s kicker, while his younger brother Andres would wait for a year.

But, if Jose moves on, then Andres (or Andy) would move into the lineup as Miami’s starting kicker.

Regardless of whether he begins his journey as Miami’s kicker in 2021 or 2022, expect 4 years of high level performance from the younger Borregales brother. He’s been money on the field for multiple championship teams in his HS career, has the physical skills and mentality to continue that performance into college, and has a brother who has been one of the best kickers in the country for the last few years to lean on for advice and inspiration along the way.

Like his older brother, expect the younger Borregales to be among the best kickers around, on his team, in his conference, and in the country.

That’s it for this installment of The Recruiting Notebook.

Go Canes