Meyer's kickoffs

PJHawk

PJHawk

Well-Known Member
I don't know the exact stats but to start the year Meyer was kicking a lot of touchbacks in the endzone and Eddie was raving there was no one more happy about it than Norm Parker. Now unfortunately it seems like Meyer mostly only kicks the ball to the ten yard line or so.
 






ajones1996 said:
im starting to think its on purpose for coverage purposes....if it is its still not working that great
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They have intentionally tried to kick them short 15-20 yd line and have the upback cover them. I don't know if that was the game plan today. Our gunners just look tentative, like they're over thinking their lanes.
 






papathawki said:
I agree. Kicking high and short in no way is as good as in the end zone. He hasn't kicked one in the end zone for a long time except with a big tail wind.
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You kick the way that you can do most consistently. You can try to boot it to the end zone ... however, if you can't do it consistently, then that can really end up hurting the cover team.
 




Considering this is probably the most abysmal kickoff coverage unit of the Kirk Ferentz era, if Meyers has the ability to kick it in the end zone and he is being coached not to it is an awful strategy.
 




homerHAWKeye777 said:
Another thing is that in colder weather, you're kicking a harder ball. That can also impact how well you kick it.
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Nailed it. Kicking a ball in colder weather can feel like kicking a rock. Come January when the climates much nicer he'll find his leg again.
 


The last few games have been in the 60 degree range. We aren't kicking in the 20's. Maybe a tired leg is too blame. He is a freshman, unless a team advances deep into the playoffs, HS Football is over.

Now the question for the ages...can a kicker "hit the wall?"
 








You guys do remember that Meyer wasn't ever really kicking them out of the endzone or anything, right? A lot of the kicks early on were landing near the goal line and were returnable. Add to that an atrocious kick off coverage team, and the best thing that would happen was that our opponents would start at the 35-40yd line.

The fact that he's consistently kicking off to the 5-10yd line makes me think that it's so that it gives the coverage time to get down there.
 


Perhaps its time we started kicking it low and bouncing it on the ground downfield. We can't be giving up any more return yardage than we currently are, and you may take the ball out of the hands of the opponent's best returners. Unfortunately, Meyer is not the second coming of Nate Kaeding. Its going to be an adventure no matter how we do our kickoffs.

By the way, how is it that damn near every other major college program can routinely place a kicker on the field that can kick the ball into the end zone for touchbacks but us? That includes other cold weather teams.
 


Where do they get the ball when its kicked out of bounds? The 35 or 40? Anyway, the only cold game we played in this year was PSU, so a harder ball excuse is a joke.
 


Very simple reason. He never truly kicked it into the endzone. Jon was here raving about how great his kicks were in the first game of the season, but he only kicked them into the endzone with the wind that game.
 


Some of you people must have been too drunk to remember the actual games. The first four games of the season Meyer had seven touchbacks, including all five of his kicks against AZ going for 70 yards. The last five games have been a big drop off with Meyer getting only two touchbacks.
 


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