[NU Sports] Kicking

Wed Oct 21 22:15:10 CDT 2009

Coffin Corner kicking implies that the punter has the time to actually aim the ball.

If you watch many games, you'll note that many punters barely get the ball off before one of the ends cuts in front. Ray Guy punted back when the guys coming to block, came a little slower.

The Rugby punt is an attempt to counter the fast rush. By rolling out, the punter gets away from the rush (which is aimed at where his foot will be when it meets the ball).

Of course they don't try to block every punt - if they did, they'd block a lot more of them.

rsl

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-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On Behalf Of cherron604 at aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 3:09 PM
To: jonathanwhodges at gmail.com; bwdolphin146 at yahoo.com
Cc: nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Kicking

Do the statistics show a decline in the 'coffin corner' kick ?  I remember the 'olden days', when Ray Guy was (or seemed to be) a master in the coffin corner style of punting.  Now it seems like we see less of it - TV commentators claim its because punters want better stats for their contracts.  On the one kind of kick that the rules actually let you aim the ball out of bounds (and away from great return guys), you would think that you'd see more of it.

Chuck Herron   Tech '85

-----Original Message-----
From: Jonathan Hodges <jonathanwhodges at gmail.com>
To: bwdolphin146 at yahoo.com
Cc: nwu-sports at tssi.com
Sent: Wed, Oct 21, 2009 1:09 pm
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Kicking

The problem with kickers is that they're often at the end of the recruiting
riority list and are relatively often walk-ons (NU's Stefan Demos is a
otable exception).  It's also hard to objectively look at high school stats
ith kickoffs from a different spot and field goals attempted less often
and from closer distances).
It would be nice to have a kickoff guy who could put it through the end zone
very time, BUT remember that the college kickoff spot is now the same as in
he NFL.  And even in the NFL there are few kickers who can get touchbacks
outinely, and that's with just 32 teams.  In college, there are 120 FBS
eams and 125 FCS teams (since all Div. I follows the same rules and kick
ff from the 30 now), making a total of 245 teams vying for kickers who can
ccomplish the same task.
Along the same lines, even in the NFL it's hard to find a kicker who can
ail every FG - look at Super Bowl Champ Steelers' kicker Reed who missed a
ew versus the Bears earlier this year which ended up essentially costing
hem the game.  Extrapolate the numbers and you'll see it's very difficult
o always find a reliable kicker, especially when they graduate in 4 years
f and when a team does find one.
Finally, the "rugby style" punt.  Note that college rules now don't provide
or a roughing the kicker penalty once the punter moves outside of the
-yard tackle box to either side of the snapper, so teams are doing that
ess often.  I think the real reason behind NU's use of that punting style
s for the coverage team.  Since Fitz has taken over as head coach, there
as been only one punt return for TD (that wasn't from a blocked punt), and
hat was Maclin's return in the Alamo Bowl last year (which came on a
raditional style punt that was kicked right to him).  Otherwise, NU has
one a great job of getting to the returner and limiting returns (in '07 NU
as 8th nationally allowing only 4.9 yards per punt return and this year NU
s 21st allowing just 4.4 yards per punt return; the numbers in '06 and '08
ere a bit higher thanks to blocked punt returns and Maclin's return but
ere still under 10 yards per punt).
It seems to be a calculated gamble given the leg of the kicker and the speed
f the gunners: Fitz would rather take a guaranteed 30-35 yard swing rather
han aiming for 5-10 more yards but gambling a potential big runback.  And
iven how NU had been burned by returns under Walker, I can't blame him too
uch (remember Fitz was on the sideline most of that time and likely
emembers some of those moments).  The rugby style kick is just a reliable
ay of getting that good coverage (and maybe generating a muff like against
urdue this year or Michigan last year).
Jonathan
On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 12:16 PM, <bwdolphin146 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> I would give a scholarship to a kid who could kick off into the end zone 95
 percent of the time. I couldn't care less if he did anything else. The
 advantage to us would be huge.

 Brad Wilson
 Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

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