I enjoyed watching Meyer become one of the better Frosh Kickers I've seen. But as the season went on he lost some of his distance on Kick-offs. I am not completely sold on how our coaches deal with kickers. I am seeing Mossbrucker challenging Meyer next year for time. How do people see this playing out. Having a consistent distance on our Kick-offs will be important to getting our special teams playing like they should too.
Kicker Situation
- Thread starter Foval21
- Start date
Kickers get less distance as the season goes on. The weather is a big factor and the kicker's have become tired. There are fewer overall touchbacks in November than there are in September. It's because of those reasons.
hawkdrummer1
Well-Known Member
Colder weather I can understand, but the "tired leg" thing is just something I don't grasp. A kicker kicks the ball somewhere between 1 and 10 times on a given Saturday. How can that wear out a 20 year-olds' leg? And it doesn't seem to affect punting.
Sure there's practice, but if they're kicking 50 balls a day knowing it'll wear them out...that's pretty foolish.
SixAMtailgate
Well-Known Member
I noticed that the kickoffs were getting shorter. But I also noticed that our coverage was "better" (I said better not great).
I wonder if the coaches told Meyer to focus more on where he was kicking it rather than just kicking it deep. A well placed kick can just as effective if you allow your coverage to know where it is going and can position themselves.
I wonder if the coaches told Meyer to focus more on where he was kicking it rather than just kicking it deep. A well placed kick can just as effective if you allow your coverage to know where it is going and can position themselves.
hawkfarmer
Well-Known Member
I think if you focus on the control of kicks for field goals then you have to do kickoffs as well you can get tired. If you think a guy only kicks 50 times during 1 practice you are crazy. There's field goals, extra points and kickoffs they practice for. I don't even want to venture a guess on how many they kick during a day. Finally he's a freshman, he's not used to kicking that much during one season. he will hopefully have better stamina next year.
hawkdrummer1
Well-Known Member
10-15 game kicks is a pretty high volume for a college kicker, unless you're regularly scoring over 30 points/game. For example Meyer had 11 total kicks in the Insight Bowl...spread out over a 3 hour period. You have to go back to the Michigan St game in October to find a game where he had more. (13 kicks)
So, it would seem that practice is the problem. And it doesn't take a rocket scientist (or an above average coach) to realize you're kicking a guy's leg out and you should back off.
patmyne
Well-Known Member
He is on the squad. I've heard he is very inconsistent with his kicks. He can kick bombs, just not regularly at all. Same as the other punter whose name has slipped my mind...
Hawkeye11en1
Well-Known Member
Dude, you do realize how important a kicker is, right? Yeah, a punter can change a game. Sure. But when a kicker misses a 35 yarder that could give you a 10 pt lead....they may have just lost you the game. Kicking is heavily relied on and is a reason many of the good college football teams have good kickers. Example: Boise St. Amazing kicker that cost them a BCS bowl game. Pretty important.
ibahawkeye
Well-Known Member
I think Meyers distance on kickoffs was over hyped right from the start. People got excited because he kicked it deep on his first couple kick offs when he had a nice breeze at his back. I think people underestimated the wind or just got excited because it was his first game and didn't know what to expect. For some reason this notion about the deep kick offs never left even though the deep kick offs on the field did.
hawkdrummer1
Well-Known Member
And if fatique is the issue...with both of them dressed, why not use Mossbrucker's fresh leg for the kickoffs? Use every tool at your disposal. As AHawk1 put it, why is that so hard to grasp?
Again, our special teams coaching was AWOL.
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hawkfarmer
Well-Known Member
because Meyer's tired leg was still better than Mossbrucker at full strength.
I think from wathing that Mossbrucker's issues are between the ears. He seems to be wound really tight and when something goes wrong he can't get past it
Doesn't have the short memory a good kicker needs
