[NU Sports] Kicking game

[Herman Wang]

Just for perspective, according to NCAA statistics (which I'm not sure if they include the bowl games), Demos missed two extra points all year, going 34 for 36.  Granted, at least one of those shanks that I remember during the regular season was pretty costly, but let's not pile on our normally accurate kicker.  
On field goals, Demos was a more pedestrian 72.0 percent (18 of 25), but five of his seven misses came from 40-plus yards.  He was 12-14 on kicks under 40 yards, 6-10 from 40 to 49 yards, and 0-1 from 50-plus yards.  Demos' percentage may not be exceptional, but he's also won a couple of games for us with last-second, high pressure kicks.  
As for kickoffs, very few of the teams we played had kickers who boomed kickoffs into the endzone.  You can go back to the tapes and check.  While that is a nice luxury to have, it's not essential that we have touchbacks every kickoff.  Coverage is more important, and I would submit that our kickoff coverage, not Demos, has been our problem.
At any rate, without knowing just how much Fitz and the coaching staff work on special teams, on face value, I'd agree with the sentiment that we could use a special teams coach and should place high emphasis on that aspect of the game.  This, however, assumes that Fitz is not doing this, and I don't think any of us are in position to say.  I think Demos is a bright kid with obvious talent who happened to have a bad game for us at an inopportune time.  I don't know that the answer is to suggest that he somehow work harder or that Fitz concentrate more on him.  
That's my $0.02.Herman




> To: nwu-sports at tssi.com
> From: bwdolphin146 at yahoo.com
> Date: Tue, 5 Jan 2010 18:59:39 +0000
> Subject: [NU Sports] Kicking game
> 
> I would note that Auburn averaged over 10 yards better a punt than NU did. That helped the Tigers' field position immensely. 
> 
> I think, outside of Jonathan, we have reached a consensus that the coaching staff needs to pay much more attention to special teams. Whether that means hiring a special teams coach or not (I say yes) more special teams work is definitely necessary. Hideous kick coverage would almost certainly have cost NU the Outback in regulation were it not for the forced fumble.
> 
> Just like Roy I have seen what kicking gurus/coaches can do at other levels and there's no reason NU cannot benefit from such an approach. 
> 
> I do concur with Jonathan that Demos was overworked. I strongly feel NU needs to seperate the kicking and punting duties. If that means one less scholarship for a backup elsewhere so be it. Remember Markshausen was a walk-on. 
> 
> I hate to sound so repetitive on this stuff but it's so obvious to me that improvement on special teams could add wins to the total faster than any other single factor, and watching missed extra points, dorked punts and appalling coverage week in and week out drives me nuts. 
> 
> I felt the same way watching some of the greatest offenses in college football struggle to win games thanks to the Jerry Brown/Greg Colby era's dreadful defenses. That problem area was fixed and look what resulted. Now NU needs to fix the new trouble spot and win the Big Ten and bowls. 
> 
> Brad Wilson 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®
> 
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