Special Teams

January 12, 2008

We mostly agree that the offense has come a long way and, except for tweaking interceptions and sacks/tackles for loss, is now pretty much a strength for our program. We recognized that the defense needed some major changes and it looks like those are being addressed and I expect us to turn the corner next year on that.

That leads us to the final category of concern....special teams. Three years ago we had the best special teams in the Sun Belt Conference. We dropped a good bit in 2006 but last year was worse.

Our net punting went from 26th in 2006 to 75th in 2007. The biggest reason was blocked punts but I also think that the punts were more hurried which resulted in more touchbacks because there wasn't time to put 'touch' on the punt. Spencer is still a very good punter when given the time so we need added emphasis on this phase of the kicking game.

There was one aspect of special teams where we actually improved over the previous year and I doubt that anyone would know without looking. That would be punt returns where the maligned Evyn Roman actually improved about 12 slots over the Mighty Quinn. It still isn't anything to rave about....Roman finished 75th in the country whereas JQ was 97th.

We finished #83 in kickoff returns, down from 58 in 2006. But, both of those figures were quite a ways off of the previous years with Kevin Moore and Evan Robertson. We need a couple of sub-4.5 guys to handle this IMO because defenders seem to be faster to compensate for moving the kickoff tee back.

Our punt return defense, which had been great the year before (#12), floundered and ended 85th. They had one returned for a touchdown. Again, it appears that lack of speed was a big factor in this turnaround but the cover scheme could also be to blame.

Our kickoff coverage didn't fare very well either and finished 83rd. The year before wasn't wonderful either but at least we finished in the top half (barely) at 58. This again seems to be the result of lack of speed. If it was coverage then that needs to be modified because two were returned for touchdowns against us.

I don't know where to start or end on placekicking. Just suffice it to say that our kickers didn't have strong enough legs for any field goal over 30 yards and Spencer had to handle kickoffs due to our kickers' lack of distance. The only bright spot was PATs were pretty accurate. We need more. We need a strong legged kicker for kickoffs and at least try to attempt a 40 yard field goal.

If we can fix the offense and defense it's possible that at the least, bad field position won't be as noticable. We will need either remarkable improvement or a new placekicker. We will also need a punter to groom for replacing senior Truman Spencer. Or, we will need a new special teams coordinator.

TheTastyGreek · January 12, 2008

We mostly agree that the offense has come a long way and, except for tweaking interceptions and sacks/tackles for loss, is now pretty much a strength for our program. We recognized that the defense needed some major changes and it looks like those are being addressed and I expect us to turn the corner next year on that.
That leads us to the final category of concern....special teams. Three years ago we had the best special teams in the Sun Belt Conference. We dropped a good bit in 2006 but last year was worse.
Our net punting went from 26th in 2006 to 75th in 2007. The biggest reason was blocked punts but I also think that the punts were more hurried which resulted in more touchbacks because there wasn't time to put 'touch' on the punt. Spencer is still a very good punter when given the time so we need added emphasis on this phase of the kicking game.
There was one aspect of special teams where we actually improved over the previous year and I doubt that anyone would know without looking. That would be punt returns where the maligned Evyn Roman actually improved about 12 slots over the Mighty Quinn. It still isn't anything to rave about....Roman finished 75th in the country whereas JQ was 97th.
We finished #83 in kickoff returns, down from 58 in 2006. But, both of those figures were quite a ways off of the previous years with Kevin Moore and Evan Robertson. We need a couple of sub-4.5 guys to handle this IMO because defenders seem to be faster to compensate for moving the kickoff tee back.
Our punt return defense, which had been great the year before (#12), floundered and ended 85th. They had one returned for a touchdown. Again, it appears that lack of speed was a big factor in this turnaround but the cover scheme could also be to blame.
Our kickoff coverage didn't fare very well either and finished 83rd. The year before wasn't wonderful either but at least we finished in the top half (barely) at 58. This again seems to be the result of lack of speed. If it was coverage then that needs to be modified because two were returned for touchdowns against us.
I don't know where to start or end on placekicking. Just suffice it to say that our kickers didn't have strong enough legs for any field goal over 30 yards and Spencer had to handle kickoffs due to our kickers' lack of distance. The only bright spot was PATs were pretty accurate. We need more. We need a strong legged kicker for kickoffs and at least try to attempt a 40 yard field goal.
If we can fix the offense and defense it's possible that at the least, bad field position won't be as noticable. We will need either remarkable improvement or a new placekicker. We will also need a punter to groom for replacing senior Truman Spencer. Or, we will need a new special teams coordinator.

DeLoach handled special teams at UCLA.

I'm sure he probably has some helpful tips for his future coworkers.

greenminer · January 13, 2008

Spencer was amazing...

...when given time. I noticed this past season the guy took forever to get a punt off. I anticipate that coaching can fix that.

FirefightnRick · January 13, 2008

It's hard to believe we only forced 21 punts, averaging just over 8 yard per return this year. Grey, I can't find the averages for Quinn, but I'm curious what his average would have been had his punt returned for a TD counted against Ark St in '05?

Rick

good_ken · January 13, 2008

I suspect that if we can sign all those six foot tall athletes (who are all very fast), that kind of athleticism would greatly improve our special teams coverage.

Still need to improve the kicking game.

And special teams would really rock if we could force more punts.

eulessismore · January 13, 2008

I suspect that if we can sign all those six foot tall athletes (who are all very fast), that kind of athleticism would greatly improve our special teams coverage.
Still need to improve the kicking game.
And special teams would really rock if we could force more punts.

I thought we lacked pressure against the punting teams in the MTSU and Navy games that allowed them time to "place" their punts where it really hurt us (on the 1 or 2 yard line). The safeties following those punts really hurt us in those games.

THOR · January 13, 2008

Spencer was amazing...
...when given time. I noticed this past season the guy took forever to get a punt off. I anticipate that coaching can fix that.

i remember thinking that the deep snapper didn't put much force behind the ball. when watching our games and comparing them to other teams, the other teams snapper was much stronger and got the ball to the punter much quicker. i think that was a major problem for our punting unit as well.