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Post by Defcord on Nov 5, 2020 13:54:07 GMT -6
With so many kicking stories...what do you guys do to practice making sure a kicker/punter isn't intentionally or accidentally kicking it to a stud? I can't tell you how many times I've told the kicker not to kick the ball anywhere near their guy and it ends up settling into his arms without him having to move a step. I used to see it a lot in soccer, kid would have a breakaway at the goal, nobody but him and the keeper, and the kick is made and it hits the goalie in the chest. The whole net is open and the goalie doesn't move an inch. I just don't know what it is about kickers. And we practiced squibbing, rugby, away corner, near corner, just didn't matter. "Look, kick the ball to the right corner, squib it in that direction." In practice, sheer perfection. In the game, returner moves 3 steps to his right and catches the ball on a dead run, scattering my guys like pins in a bowling alley. So is there anything we can do to put pressure on kickers in practice or any kind of situation that can be built to make sure this doesn't happen in the game? Or are we doomed and live with the fate our kicker grants us? |
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Post by coachcb on Nov 5, 2020 14:16:56 GMT -6
We probably all have one of those kicker stories. Mine was when we were playing a team whose kick returner had run the fastest 100 meter time in the nation the previous spring. Guess our kid wanted to see if those track times were legit. They were. My kicker story is a little different. We scheduled a game in Hawaii one year (from California) and in the meeting where we told the kids he asked us "Can we drive our cars or are we taking the bus." He was dead serious.
Running a JV skelly session one day. Call C1 which has our SS locked up on the #2 WR. Freshman SS hops out there and runs into the box, looking very confused and ignoring the detached #2 he's supposed to be covering.
Me: "Johnny, what are you doing?" Johnny: "I have to cover Billy (the QB) coach!!" Me (blow my whistle): "Johnny, why in the heck would you cover the QB in cover one?" Johnny: "He's wearing number two coach!!"
Thankfully this was in August camp and not October..
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Post by coachorr on Nov 10, 2020 10:45:24 GMT -6
It's ironic when you tell a player to specifically do something like "kick it out of bounds" and the kid kicks it to the returner for an almnost late second quarter score. "Stay in bounds" and the player runs out of bounds rather than falling down. "Don't take a sack, if you have the ball longer than a three count throw it away" Player holds onto it runs around and gets sacked. ETC ETC ETC.
And then the very parents of said players in the stands go nuts and start yelling at the coaching staff. LOL
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Post by coachcb on Nov 10, 2020 13:52:53 GMT -6
It's ironic when you tell a player to specifically do something like "kick it out of bounds" and the kid kicks it to the returner for an almnost late second quarter score. "Stay in bounds" and the player runs out of bounds rather than falling down. "Don't take a sack, if you have the ball longer than a three count throw it away" Player holds onto it runs around and gets sacked. ETC ETC ETC. And then the very parents of said players in the stands go nuts and start yelling at the coaching staff. LOL
We've always coached the kids to fall on fumbles; not to try and scoop n' score. Last season, our 5'10'', 280lb "Billy Bob" NT picked up a fumble and tried to run/waddle into the end zone. An offensive player let him get about five yards downfield before he popped him, stripped the ball, FELL ON IT, and recovered..
The stands went nuts:
"TEACH 'EM TO FALL ON THE BALL!!!"
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Post by Defcord on Nov 10, 2020 20:48:12 GMT -6
It's ironic when you tell a player to specifically do something like "kick it out of bounds" and the kid kicks it to the returner for an almnost late second quarter score. "Stay in bounds" and the player runs out of bounds rather than falling down. "Don't take a sack, if you have the ball longer than a three count throw it away" Player holds onto it runs around and gets sacked. ETC ETC ETC. And then the very parents of said players in the stands go nuts and start yelling at the coaching staff. LOL I always think about trying reverse psychology. Hey see #1 right there? He’s a 6-4, 220 lb speedster and scored a non offensive td every game so far. He’s been offered by Clemson and Alabama, BUT he hasn’t committed yet! Let’s kick it to that son of a gun and play ball!! |
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Post by M4 on Nov 11, 2020 7:30:35 GMT -6
I read something once about how, if you tell a person "DON'T do XYZ" the brain simply removes DON'T and processes "do XYZ" so instead of saying "don't kick to 88" and then watching the kid shank it to 88 who houses it, maybe we should say "let's kick to 19"
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Post by blb on Nov 11, 2020 7:54:45 GMT -6
The late, great John McKay told this story.
In the 1963 Rose Bowl USC had a 42-14 lead over Wisconsin when the Badgers mounted a furious 4th Quarter rally which got them to within 42-37 late in the game.
The Trojans recovered an onside kick, and McKay instructed FB Ben Wilson to tell QB Pete Beathard to run him straight ahead three times, and "For God's sake Ben, don't fumble!"
Sure enough Wilson fumbled on the first play, Wisconsin recovered, and as Wilson was coming off McKay yelled at him, "BEN! I TOLD YOU NOT TO FUMBLE!!"
Wilson replied, "Coach - I didn't hear you!"
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moose18
Junior Member
"If it didn't matter who won or lost, they wouldn't keep score"
Posts: 286
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Post by moose18 on Nov 11, 2020 11:41:05 GMT -6
I read something once about how, if you tell a person "DON'T do XYZ" the brain simply removes DON'T and processes "do XYZ" so instead of saying "don't kick to 88" and then watching the kid shank it to 88 who houses it, maybe we should say "let's kick to 19" One of the best pieces of coaching advice I ever received, when I was D3 position coach, was never tell a play what not to do. Tell them what to do instead. Ex: Saying "bend at the knees" gets the desired result much better than "don't bend at the waist"...both are saying the same thing, but one works better than the other. I've kept that in my mind in all of my coaching ever since |
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Post by hlb2 on Nov 12, 2020 9:19:42 GMT -6
We played Kerryon Johnson when he was in high school. Told the kicker, "Kick it to literally anyone but Kerryon". Where did he kick it? To Kerryon... It didn't go well for us. Our kicker did the EXACT same thing against Deonte Thompson...kickers, smh. |
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Post by hlb2 on Nov 12, 2020 9:31:20 GMT -6
I read something once about how, if you tell a person "DON'T do XYZ" the brain simply removes DON'T and processes "do XYZ" so instead of saying "don't kick to 88" and then watching the kid shank it to 88 who houses it, maybe we should say "let's kick to 19" I've always been taught to coach what you want to happen, not what you don't want to happen. That being said 15-18 year olds are like bird dogs. They'll look good one minute and the next they look like they've never played the game. |
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Post by Sonofahitch on Nov 13, 2020 13:10:24 GMT -6
Just this year, we faced a team with an explosive kick returner but their offense itself didn't have much firepower to it. All week, I told our punter and our kickoff guy to "not give #5 a chance to beat us." And special teams practice during the week went fairly well. We get to the game and on two punts and one kickoff, our guys literally kicked the ball right to the kid and he took the kickoff in for a touchdown and we lost 21-14. At some point during the next week, in casual conversation, our principal asked me what went into that. I just told him I had confidence our kickoff team would make the play. Our kickoff guy literally did the opposite of what we had told him to do and had him practice all week, but I also figured I didn't need to get into that with the principal. There's a theory in golf that a caddy should always tell his player where to hit the ball, not where not to hit it. For example, if there's water on the right, tell him, "Lots of room to the left." I used to apply this principle when I coached baseball. If a pitcher was behind in the count, instead of saying, "Don't lose him," I'd try to say, "Attack him with strikes," or something like that. I've had instances just like your story, Coach, and I wonder if it could have been avoided by applying that same principle. Instead of saying, "Don't kick it to #7!!!" (which I've done), would it be more effective to say, "We're kicking to #3." I don't know, but I may try it next time. |
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Post by fantom on Nov 13, 2020 20:47:05 GMT -6
The late, great John McKay told this story. In the 1963 Rose Bowl USC had a 42-14 lead over Wisconsin when the Badgers mounted a furious 4th Quarter rally which got them to within 42-37 late in the game. The Trojans recovered an onside kick, and McKay instructed FB Ben Wilson to tell QB Pete Beathard to run him straight ahead three times, and "For God's sake Ben, don't fumble!" Sure enough Wilson fumbled on the first play, Wisconsin recovered, and as Wilson was coming off McKay yelled at him, "BEN! I TOLD YOU NOT TO FUMBLE!!" Wilson replied, "Coach - I didn't hear you!" Reminds me of a story from another USC coach, John Robinson. It also shows the difference between coaching HS and grown men: Robinson was in his first year as OC of the Raiders and they were playing Denver. On the first third down Robinson thought he knew what coverage Denver would be in so he called a pass play to beat it. Sure enough they get to the line and Denver gives them exactly the look he wanted. He's thinking they have a TD. They run a power to the left, don't make it and punt. Robinson gets Stabler on the sideline and asks what happened. Stabler said that when they were in the huddle Art Shell told him that Alzado had kicked him in the nuts and he wanted payback. "I figured that you were the rookie". |
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