The over-all kicking game is probably the most important phase of football. In considering the work to be done on the practice field, I probably place more emphasis upon the kicking game than any other coach. I feel I cannot have a sound football team unless we have an extremely sound kicking game. We thought the kicking game was important during the period when we played two-platoon football, but now it is more important than ever before under the present rules governing the game of football.
I am certain our players are “sold” on the kicking game, and take pride in it. If a player takes pride in something, he will do it well. Incidentally, we work on our kicking game every Tuesday during the regular season. Previously we waited until Thursday to work on our kicking game, but we found our boys were tired the day of the football game, probably as a result of so much running on Thursday. We use the kicking together with our kick-return game in our pre-season practice as a conditioner. We feel we can get sufficient running from our kicking game to get our players in good physical condition. At the same time we are developing this important phase of the game.
Instead of merely talking to our players about their individual kicking game assignments, we go on the field and rehearse everything over and over again. This is also true of any unusual situations that might confront the punter at various times during the game. We also time our punters. I believe it is possible to over-coach the kickers, however, and this is not desirable. I know from past experience. When we tried too thoroughly to coach our kickers, we found we were probably doing more harm than good. At least, we were not getting the desired results in comparison to the amount of time we were devoting to their instruction. As an illustration, I had Bob Gain at Kentucky, an All-American tackle, who as a freshman was a terrific kick-off man. By taking only three steps he could boot the ball out of the end zone when he kicked-off. Unfortunately we over-coached him and by the time he was a senior he would run 10 yards on his approach, and could only kick the ball 35 yards on the kick-off.
Another illustration relates to Clayton Webb, a very fine punter whom I had at the University of Kentucky. As a freshman he could “hang” the ball in the air for a relatively long period of time when he punted. Yet during his senior year I felt we had coached him down to a 29.4-yard average on his punts. Consequently we now do very little coaching of the kickers.
We like to have our punters use the step-and-a-half method, taking the first (half) step with the kicking foot, then a full step with the non-kicking foot. We ask our punters to hold the ball 18 inches in front of the hip over their kicking foot. We watch our kickers closely, time them, and try not to over-coach them if they are kicking well in practice. However, we do have a meeting with our kickers to review every situation that might confront them in a game. We want our punters to know what to do under such conditions, always taking into consideration the tactical situation. Merely talking about these problems is not sufficient training for the punters. They must be placed in various confronting situations and must have the opportunity to react to them on the practice field if they are to perform with proficiency in a game. An example will illustrate my point.
One of my former assistants at the University of Kentucky played under an extremely intelligent football coach, a Phi Beta Kappa honors graduate. The coach had gone over many situations on the blackboard, but had never taken time to actually rehearse them under game-like conditions. This was a typical situation: Assuming that a team had the lead in the game, if on the third down that team was forced to kick from behind its own goal line, should the punter receive a poor snap from his center and be unable to kick, he should pick up the football and either run with it or throw an incomplete forward pass. The team was playing Michigan State, and the score was 7-6 in the fourth quarter. The other team was backed up to its own 2-yard line. The punter said that as he lined up to punt he knew exactly what to do if he received a bad pass from his center. The pass was poor, the punter picked up the ball and threw it up into the stands. Unfortunately the play was not an incomplete forward pass, but was ruled a safety as the ball went out of the end zone behind the goal line, and Michigan State won, 8-7. I am not criticizing the punter nor his coach as both are extremely capable men, but merely citing what can occur if a kicker is merely told what to do but is not given actual experience under game-like conditions practicing it.
Our procedure is to put the ball on our 2-yard line, inform our kicker of what could occur, then give him the “works.” We load up and rush hard, give him a bad pass, etc., and our punter must react properly to the situation, always being cognizant of the tactical situation.
Since I have been coaching, one of the few punts we have had blocked was at Texas A & M when we were playing Rice Institute. The situation was as follows: third down, senior punter, poor pass from center. Instead of attempting to run with the ball, since we still had fourth down in which to kick, my punter tried to kick then. The result was a blocked punt. In fairness to the boy, I must assume the responsibility for the blocked punt. We had not done a good job of coaching the punter since he did not react to the situation properly. Nevertheless, the mistake was costly.
The most important person in our kicking game is our center. We believe if he can snap the ball back to our punter at a distance of 13 yards with a perfect pass in six-tenths of a second, we won’t get our kicks blocked. I believe about 98% of all blocked kicks have resulted from imperfect passes from the center to the kicker. Incidentally, as a coaching point, if the center makes a poor pass, your kicker should inform him of this.
In timing the center’s pass, we have had very few centers who could snap the ball in less than six-tenths of a second. I recall, however, there was a center at the University of Georgia who could get the ball back to the kicker in four-tenths of a second. This is the exception rather than the rule, however.
We time our centers in their work every day. As a point of interest, the coaches are not with the centers when we are timing them. We put a defensive man over our centers as we want our centers to pass the ball and then block a man, rather than keep their heads down, watching the ball going back to the punter.
We want our punters to get the ball away within one and three-tenths seconds from the time the ball hits their hands on the pass from center, until their foot makes contact with the ball. Gene Henderson, one of my kickers at Texas A & M, could get the ball away in one second. Babe Parella at Kentucky could also get the ball away in a second when punting. Here once again these are more exceptions than the rule.
I stated previously we wanted our kickers to use the step-and-one-half method of punting. We are not too concerned if he doesn’t follow this method, providing he kicks well. Nor are we too concerned about his method of holding and dropping the ball and other individual techniques, providing he kicks well and gets the ball away in one and three-tenths seconds or less. If our kicker is a 3-step kicker, who kicks well and can get the ball off in the prescribed time limit, we merely move him back an extra yard. Frankly, we don’t believe we’ll ever get a kick blocked if the center gets the ball back in six-tenths of a second or less, and the kicker’s time does not exceed one and three-tenths seconds (total time of one and nine-tenths seconds), providing the defensive men are bumped and not permitted to have a straight run directly at the kicker.
When talking about the punting game, one must realize the importance of the length of time the ball is in the air over the field of play. We want our kicker to be able to kick the ball in such a manner that it will remain up in the air and over the playing field for a period of four seconds or more. Consequently a kick of four seconds’ duration in flight will be about a 40-yard punt. We are not interested in an 80-yard punt, as we cannot adequately cover such a long kick. The following example will illustrate my point.
I had a player at one time who could literally kick the football a country mile. Yet his kicking was very erratic. I recall he kicked the football 78 yards out-of-bounds in a game against Tennessee, and later in the fourth quarter he kicked the ball 80 yards over the end zone line. In another football game, he kicked the ball 70 yards, out-kicking his coverage, and the opposition returned it for the game-winning touchdown against us. My point is that he was too good a kicker for us. The average net gain is the most important thing in punting, not the total distance the punter kicks the ball. A punt 40 yards from the line of scrimmage with no return is a 40-yard kick. A 60-yard punt returned 50 yards is a net punt of 10 yards. We are interested only in the net gain of the play.
If the kicked ball can remain in the air for four seconds and if it takes one and nine-tenths seconds to get the punt away, there is a total period of time of five and nine-tenths seconds expended. If our linemen block for one second on the line before releasing to cover the punt, they will have approximately four and nine-tenths seconds to cover the ball. A fast lineman can get downfield a good distance in four and nine-tenths seconds, though I don’t know of anyone who can cover 60 or 70 yards in this period of time. As you can see, this sort of thing allows a team time to get the ball, set up a wall, get a couple key blocks and run one back for a long gain or a touchdown merely because the punter has out-kicked his coverage. Therefore, we are not interested in how far the punter kicks the ball, but we are vitally interested in how far the opposition returns our punts. I shall discuss this particular phase of the kicking game in greater detail shortly.
During the regular scheduled practices, we work on our defensive kicking game at least one period two days a week, and sometimes three days a week. These periods never have a time limit, and they are our last drill. Our reasoning is two-fold. First, the boys are tired and in order to get proper execution and coverage we insist they give that “little extra,” which I feel is so important in order to build a winner. Secondly, the boys know there is no time limit and we are going to work on this phase of our football program until we do it to my satisfaction. Therefore, they strive extra hard to get perfect execution and coverage so we can end practice. We feel if the boys can learn to execute the kicking game perfectly while they are tired, they will do it perfectly during the actual game.
Before discussing the techniques of our spread punt, I would like to tell you how we adopted it. I related previously that Tennessee defeated my 1946 Kentucky team with a punt return. In 1947 a number of teams hurt us badly by returning our punts. In 1948 the University of Mississippi ran back punts for 258 yards and two touchdowns.
Our Mississippi game bothered me a great deal. At the time we were using only the tight punt formation. I was searching for another type of formation which would give us better coverage. I had never used the spread punt, but we had played against Tulane and Vanderbilt, both of whom had employed spread punt. Woody Woodard, while at Southern Methodist University, had an exceptionally fine punting game, and I was considering changing to his system. However, while coming back from Chicago one weekend with “Scrappy” Moore of the University of Chattanooga, he sold me on trying the spread punt. He gave me his spread punt blocking rules. I adopted them, and since 1949 we have used the spread punt formation. The results have been very favorable as far as we are concerned. As an illustration, we made a study of our punting game and we found that during the season we went for eight games without having our punts returned one inch. For the entire season our punts were returned only one and four-tenths yards. During our 1950 season, the average yards returned per game from our punts was four-tenths of a yard, and we recovered five mishandled punts. The following season our opponents returned our punts for an average of one and four-tenths yards per punt, and we recovered three mishandled punts. Since we tie our kicking game in with our defensive game very closely, you can see that spread punt coverage has been much more satisfactory for us than the tight punt formation and coverage which we employed prior to 1949. I shall discuss our spread punt coverage shortly.
The main advantage of using spread punt formation is that the defensive team has a difficult time holding up your coverage. A team can cover its punt much wider. If a team can spread its men across the field as they are covering a kick, it is very hard for the receiving team to return the ball for a sizeable gain.
The splits in our offensive line are determined largely by the size of the men. We want our guards to be split about one and one-half yards from the center. These splits also will be determined by the physical size of our backfield men whom we place in the gaps to each side of the center, two yards deep. If the back is a small man, then the guard will cut down his split to approximately one yard. Conversely, if the back is a large person, the guard can widen his split to approximately one and one-half yards. Our tackles will split from their guards one and one-half to two yards. Each tackle must be able to block the second man outside of his guard. Our ends can split out as far as they wish, providing they can block back all the way to the tackle if a situation arises warranting it. The ends usually split out about two yards, as illustrated in Figure 85.
Our up-backs line up in the seams between the guard and center, about two yards deep, as was explained previously. The personal protector will line up five yards deep, and will be on the right side for a right-footed kicker, and on the left side for a left-footed kicker. His depth will be 13 yards. The type of spread punt we employ is illustrated in Figure 85.
Figure 85
We do not believe a defensive lineman will ever get a straight run at the spot where the kicker’s foot meets the football if our players occupy their proper positions, unless the defensive man comes from the outside of our protection. For this reason, we feel it is not necessary for our players to block for more than a second before going down under the punt. Our players are instructed to count, “One thousand and three,” then release downfield covering the kick.
The rules which our players use in protecting our punter apply to the blocking of any man who is within one yard of the line of scrimmage. We do not feel an opposing player can block a kick if he is more than one yard off the line of scrimmage, even though we do not block him. Our spread punt blocking rules are as follows:
Center—The center should make a perfect pass to the kicker, snap up his head quickly, and cover the kick immediately. We do not want him to block anyone.
Guards—Our guards will block the first man to their outside, and they must keep their inside foot stationary. If a guard steps laterally with his inside foot as he blocks, he will leave a hole through which a defensive man can sprint and block the kick. After he has blocked the first man to his outside for a period of one second, which I explained above, he covers the kick downfield.
Tackles—If there are two men lined up between the tackle and his adjacent guard, he will block to his inside. If there are not two men between his position and his adjacent guard, he will block the first man to his outside. After he has blocked for one second, he will cover the kick.
Ends—Each end will block the first man to his outside, unless there are two defensive men between him and his adjacent tackle. If there are two men between his guard and tackle, he will block the first man to his inside.
Up-Backs—The up-backs block anyone coming over their territory between the guard and center. If no one comes through their territory, they delay slightly and cover the kick.
Personal Protector—He looks up and down the line for the most dangerous man to the kicker, and then blocks him as he rushes.
These spread punt blocking rules apply to any defense and provide the most protection at the spot where the ball will be kicked. The basic principle for the linemen in carrying out their assignments is never to move the inside foot. If the lineman makes contact with the defensive man and throws him off-balance, then he can cover the kick immediately. The up-backs take a good stance with a wide base and uncoil at anyone coming through the inside gaps. The personal protector can use any type of block he wishes, but we prefer the butt block or the cross-body block when protecting the kicker.
We want the first man down under the punt to dive at the safety man’s Adam’s apple, really “unloading” on him if possible. He may leave his feet if necessary in order to accomplish his objective. For illustrative purposes, Figure 86, let’s assume that our center is the first man down under the punt. We want him to try to beat the football down the field, and tackle the safety man high when he touches it, or force the safety man to fair catch the football. We want our guards to go down and assume positions indicated in Figure 86. Our left end and right tackle will go down and set up five yards outside of the safety man, and five yards away from him. We set our right end out about 10 yards, and he is our “sprinter.” His assignment is to sprint straight for the safety man, and force the safety to fumble the ball, if possible. His line of direction has a second purpose, too. Since he is in an excellent position to catch the football should the punter fake the punt and pass, the defense must adjust to him and cannot merely permit him to run a diagonal course downfield every time we have a punting situation. If the defense continuously ignores him and doesn’t adjust to him when he covers punts, sooner or later we are going to hit him with the pass for a sizeable gain.
It is not possible for a coach to get the type of coverage on kicks, as illustrated in Figure 86, unless he stresses the fact to his players that it is extremely important for them to spread out in order to maintain proper positions in “spreading the net” for the receiver. They must sprint at top speed in covering kicks. We do not want our left end and right tackle to make any tackles in our punt coverage, as they merely turn the runner into the other men. We want our six men to go down and get set in a football position three yards from the football and then guard the safety man. In assuming a good football position, we mean a position in which the player’s eyes are on the safety man, his tail is down, back straight, and his feet apart. If we have six men down on the safety man, guarding him, he will have no place to run. We want to drive the safety man back and forth, searching for a place to turn upfield, and then we’ll move in on him. We refer to this as our One-Six Formation. We want our up-backs to go downfield and take the positions of linebackers behind our six-man coverage, as illustrated in Figure 86. They must be in a position to defend against the return up the middle. We want our personal protector and punter to take halfback positions to the outside behind the one-six-two coverage formation (Figure 86).
Figure 86
We spend a great deal of time giving our players practice in executing their assignments on blocking and covering from spread punt formation. I can assure you that merely talking about their assignments and responsibilities will not obtain the desired results. I think we do a good job of covering punts simply because we work on this important phase of the kicking game so much.
As I mentioned previously, we do our kicking work last, not setting a definite time limit on it. When our players are covering punts, we blow a whistle and everyone stops. We want to find the players in their proper positions when covering the kick. If they are not covering to our satisfaction, we merely do it over and over again until we get the type of coverage we want. The boys actually put the pressure on each other to get perfect coverage, consequently we generally spend about 10 minutes instead of 20 minutes covering punts.
The only time we kick from a tight punt formation is when we are backed up inside of our own 3-yard line and it is impossible for us to kick from a spread formation since our kicker cannot get the sufficient depth of 13 yards which we think is necessary. Therefore, we always tell our quarterback we should never kick the ball from behind our own 3-yard line. His objective is to get us out to at least the 3-yard line so we can employ spread punt. Assuming we can’t get out to the 3-yard line, then we will have to use tight punt formation. When we are definitely going to kick the ball out-of-bounds as we do on occasion, we kick from tight formation.
Because I feel we cannot cover the kick very well from tight punt formation, the quarterback will always designate in the huddle the direction the punter is going to kick the ball—“Punt from tight punt; kick to our right.” This tells our linemen in which direction they should sprint after they have blocked their men. It also affects the blocking assignments of our ends. Figure 87 illustrates our tight punt formation and coverage on a kick to our right. Our blocking rules are as follows:
Interior Linemen—Our interior linemen will line up in a tight formation with very little splits. They all have one blocking rule—inside gap N/T over, which means they will block a man if he is in their inside gap; if there is no one playing that position, they will block the man playing over them. They must all block for one and one-half counts, when using the tight punt, then release and cover the kick quickly.
Figure 87
Ends—The ends will be split out about two yards, and they have definite assignments. If the quarterback indicates in the huddle the kick will be to the right, then the right end does not have a blocking assignment but he must cover the kick immediately. He must get good width and make certain the ball carrier does not get outside of him. The end playing the position on the opposite side will block the defensive end. If the kick is to the left side, the ends merely exchange assignments.
Up-Backs—They will line up about two yards deep and in positions behind their respective offensive tackles. Their assignment is to keep their inside foot in place and block the first man who shows outside of our offensive tackle. They must make the defensive man come to them. They are going to protect their area.
Personal Protector—He lines up about one and one-half yards behind the right up-back, and his assignment is to block the second man outside of our offensive tackle or the first man outside of our up-back. When he makes contact with the defensive man, he forces him to his outside. He, too, must keep his inside foot in place. If we are going to kick the ball to our left after the ball has been snapped, he will cross over and block the first man who shows outside of our left up-back. He covers wide to the side he blocks on.
Kicker—The kicker is back nine yards, and after he kicks he immediately covers to the side opposite he kicked the ball.
The tight punt coverage is practically the same as we use on our spread punt, but the linemen are so close together it is difficult for them to cover wide. Our center cannot leave quite as quickly as on spread punt and we hold our blocks a little longer. Otherwise everything is the same on the two punt formations.
The quick kick is a tremendous offensive weapon which we now employ frequently, depending upon our particular opponent. We think the quick kick has helped us win a few football games in the past, and I suspect it will continue to aid us in the future if we execute it properly. Consequently we will continue to spend time practicing and coaching the quick kick. Since we quick kick frequently, this makes our short passing game more effective as our opponents must play their safety man deeper than usual.
We try not to tip-off when we intend to quick kick. We try to make the formation look exactly like our regular running formation. One slight difference is that we line up our backs slightly deeper than usual and slightly to their right, as illustrated in Figure 88, if the left halfback is quick kicking.
Figure 88
Our quick kick rules and coverage are very simple, and are as follows:
Ends, Guards and Tackles—They block the man on their inside gap, and if no man is there, they block the man over them. They are trying to form a completely new line of scrimmage on their first charge about one yard straight ahead. It is very important these six men penetrate the defense on their initial charge, in order to give the kicker adequate room to kick the football.
Center—The center’s first responsibility is to make a good snap to the person who is going to kick the football. Then he blocks the man in the off-gap—no one there, blocks man over him. As an example, if we have a right-footed kicker, the center will block to his left, as illustrated in Figure 88. If the kicker is left-footed, the center would block to his right.
Quarterback—The quarterback acts as if he is going to receive a hand-back pass from his center. However, he takes a wider leg spread than usual in order to permit the center to pass the ball directly through the quarterback’s legs to his left halfback (Figure 88). His blocking rule is to block the on-gap, i.e., the right gap for a right-footed kicker, as illustrated in Figure 88, and the left gap for a left-footed kicker.
Right Halfback—He has no blocking assignment as he covers the quick kick immediately.
Fullback—He will move over to his right slightly, and his assignment is to block the first man who shows outside of our offensive right end. He will step up to meet him, giving the kicker adequate room to kick the ball.
Left Halfback or Kicker—He lines up a little deeper than usual and moves over about a foot to his right. When the kicker catches the football, he will rock his weight back to his right foot, leaving his left foot in place, and pivoting his body to the right. He then takes a step with his left foot in about a 45 degree angle to the sideline, and at the same time he will drop the ball (pointing straight down the field) and kick the ball trying to make contact with it over the arch of his right foot. After he hits the football, he legswings toward the goal line. This action will make the ball go end-over-end and cause it to continue rolling toward the goal line upon hitting the ground.
The quick kick must come as a complete surprise to the defense or it will not be effective. If the defense knows you are going to quick kick, it will be more effective to employ spread punt and kick the football. You would get better protection and coverage from spread formation, though the element of surprise is not present.
We have never done what I would consider an outstanding job of returning our opposition’s punts. One reason for this is that it is awfully easy to overlook this particular phase of the kicking game. I am planning to devote more time on punt returns from now on.
We feel about punt returns about the same as we do pass defense—you must either rush or return, and it is difficult to accomplish both at the same time. Therefore, we try to do one or the other, depending upon the game situation.
We use a punt return to our left and one to our right, and a return up the middle to keep the kicking team honest. All of these returns have proven satisfactory from time to time.
When we are going to return the punt left or right, we line up in a strong side defense. Consequently there is no indication of whether we are returning the punt right or left, or rushing the punter trying to block the punt.
Figure 89 illustrates our punt return left. Our return rules are as follows:
Left End—He comes across the line of scrimmage about five yards deep into the offensive backfield, and makes certain the kicker does not get outside of him in the event the latter tries to run with the ball. After he sees the kicker punt the football, he turns and swings in behind his right guard in forming the wall. He will be the fourth man in line and he must keep his proper distance from his guard. The length of the kick will determine how far downfield he will go before he sets up. He blocks anyone who is in his area trying to break through the wall.
Figure 89
We have an imaginary post three yards outside of our defensive left end, and we want all of our players to swing wide and go around this spot before going back downfield. If all of the players do this, our entire line will be running in approximately the same path and our wall will be set up correctly.
Left Tackle—As soon as he crosses the line of scrimmage, he will turn to his left, go around the imaginary post, and head quickly downfield becoming the first man in the wall. His block will be a key one, springing loose the safety man. His depth depends on the distance the punter kicks the ball.
Middle Guard—He follows the same course as the left tackle. He will be the second man in the wall, and he must maintain the proper distance between the first man and himself. When he gets into position, he will block anyone who is in his area trying to break through the wall.
Right Guard—Same course as the left tackle, only he follows the middle guard around the imaginary post and back downfield becoming the third man in the wall. He should keep his proper distance from our middle guard.
Right Tackle—He will rush the punter from the outside, making certain the punter actually kicks the ball. Then turning to his left, he will swing wide, as illustrated in Figure 89, becoming the fifth man in the wall. He must keep his proper distance from our defensive left end who will be the fourth man, as I explained previously.
Right End—He will rush the kicker from the outside making certain he actually kicks the ball. He will then turn to his left, and start around the imaginary post. He will be the sixth man in the wall, and he should maintain a proper distance between his right tackle and himself.
Right Linebacker—The right linebacker will come back to his outside and block the most dangerous pursuer threatening the safety man. He usually blocks the offensive left end as he covers the punt downfield.
Left Linebacker—He will come back fast to his outside, and his responsibility is to block out the offensive right end. The others are blocking toward the wide side of the field. He is the only man blocking toward the sideline.
Halfbacks—They will handle the short kick to their side of the field. Otherwise they are personal protectors for the safety man if he fields the kick. They block the most dangerous pursuer who is in a position to tackle our receiver.
Safety—It is very important that the ball is handled in the air and not permitted to strike the ground and bounce around. Assuming the safety man catches the football, he should start straight up the field in order to give his wall time to form and to draw the pursuers into the middle toward him. Then he swings in behind his wall on the sideline.
Our return up the middle is very similar to our man-to-man kick-off return (Figure 94), in that we assign one man to block one man at the line of scrimmage. Each defensive man is supposed to stay with his offensive man, as illustrated in Figure 90. We use the same defensive alignment as when we are going to return the ball to our right or left (Figure 90).
Figure 90
Figure 91
If we want to be in a balanced defensive alignment, and we know they have a slow offensive lineman, we will line up in a straight 6-2 defense. Figure 91 illustrates our alignment and hold-up return if we know the offensive center is slow. We merely let him go, and our interior linemen and linebackers hold-up the offensive ends, tackles and guards. Our ends rush the kicker from the outside, making certain he kicks the football. The interior linemen and linebackers use the same techniques our offensive backs use when they are protecting the passer. When they feel they are losing their men, then they will go into a cross body block. Our halfbacks will be the personal protection for the safety man. The safety will field the ball in the air and start upfield. If he sees a hole, he will break for it on our middle return.
The kick-off is a very important phase of the defensive kicking game because of the number of times it is used in a game. As you know, the kick-off comes at the start of the game, at the beginning of the second half, and after a team has scored. It is a terrific advantage to get a deep kick-off with good coverage, and tackle the ball carrier inside of his 20-yard line. It is important to eliminate the long run on the kick-off return for several reasons. First, a long run has a demoralizing effect on the kicking team, and gives the receiving team both a psychological and a strategical advantage. With respect to the latter point, if the receiving team gets beyond its 30-yard line, it can open up with its entire offensive attack immediately. Conversely, if the kicking team keeps the receiving team deep in its own territory, the receiving team is forced to run a limited offense, punt the ball or gamble in order to get out of its own territory.
We employ two different kinds of kick-offs, depending upon the particular opponent we are playing. As an illustration, if we know the opposition has two dangerous runners playing deep, we will kick the ball in such a manner that it strikes the ground and bounces around making it difficult for either man to control. This tactic also gives us time to cover the kick properly. On the other hand, if our scouting report reveals the safeties are only fair runners, then we will kick the ball high in the air and end-over-end. Of course, if we had a place kicker who could boot the ball out of the end zone every time, our kick-off strategy would be simple and our problem would be solved. Kickers with such ability are difficult to locate.
I suppose our coverage on the kick-off is like that of most other football teams. We want our men back five yards from the ball in a 3-point stance, all facing toward the football. Our quarterback stands one yard to the side of the ball and a yard off the ball on the 39-yard line with his arms raised ready to give the starting signal to the men watching him. When the kicker approaching the football gets to a point where the men covering the kick-off cannot get off-side, the quarterback will drop his arms as a signal for the men to start forward together. We want everyone but the safeties to cover the kick quickly. Each man is to protect his own area, and then go to the cut-off point. We instruct our ends to be certain no one gets outside of them.
We have two safeties not including the quarterback. If the ball is kicked down the middle, the quarterback is the safety. If the ball is kicked to our right, our quarterback and left halfback will be safeties. If the ball is kicked to our left, the quarterback and our right halfback will be safeties, as illustrated in Figure 92. When our safeties drop out, our other men will converge slightly to close the gaps. The safety men cover slowly, and should always be in a position to tackle the ball carrier before he can score.
Figure 92 illustrates the fullback kicking the ball. If a player other than the fullback is the kick-off man, he and the fullback would merely exchange places in the line up.
Figure 92
It is very important that our men going down to cover the kick-off keep their proper distance from the men on each side of them. If we have two men covering the kick close together, a good block by the receiving team could eliminate both of them, and then our coverage would not be sound.
I explained previously the advantages of returning the kick-off. I like to get this psychological and strategical “jump” on our opposition when we receive the kick-off; consequently, we attach much importance and significance to returning the kick-off. We work hard on our returns. We want a good return so that if we must surrender the ball by punting to the opposition, we’ll give it to them back in their 3-down zone. By this I mean they must make a first down in their first three plays or they will be forced to kick the ball back to us on the fourth down. If we get a poor return and cannot move the ball and must punt it from deep in our own territory, we might give the ball to them immediately in their 4-down zone. Now we have increased their chances of scoring by 25% merely because we did not get a good kick-off return.
Figure 93 illustrates our kick-off return to our right with the men on the receiving team blocking their “numbers” downfield, as indicated. Each man on the kicking team is numbered from one through seven from the outside-in, except the last four men on the opposite side of the kicking line, i.e., the men on our extreme left in Figure 93. If we know from scouting reports who the safety man will be, we do not give him a number. If we don’t know who the safety man is, we instruct our players—if your man turns out to be a safety, regardless of where you line up, then you will block the first man to your inside. The deep back who does not receive the ball will head upfield and block the most dangerous man threatening the ball carrier.
Figure 93
We think our middle kick-off return is very simple and actually takes very little work to perfect it. What we are trying to accomplish is to wall off the opposition in a solid line. This gives our ball carrier time to pick up speed and we let him break where the hole opens up.
In our alignment, illustrated in Figure 94, our front line is about 12 yards in front of our back line. When the ball is kicked, our front line will drop back six yards and get into a good football position, keeping their eyes on the men they are going to block. When we are using this type of return, we commence counting from the outside-in on both ends of the line. The end men are not blocked because we know they are taught to stay outside. If our scouting report shows they converge and other men cover the outside, then we will change our assignments to handle the situation.