Sleep-Dalton

[Zstatman]

And we thought Michael Sleep-Dalton transferred to Iowa so he could punt in bad weather conditions. The below two paragraphs in the AZ Republic are from an article discussing Arizona St's game last night with Kent St.

'ASU defensive coordinator Danny Gonzalez lavished praise on punter Michael Turk, a transfer from Lafayette College who sat out in 2018 but kicked well enough while redshirting to convince Michael Sleep-Dalton to transfer to Iowa.

Turk launched a textbook 64-yard punt on his first major college attempt and followed up with punts of 62, 65, 49 and 75 yards for a school record 63-yard average (previous high for five punts was by Danny White in 1972).'

 

[Fryowa]

And we thought Michael Sleep-Dalton transferred to Iowa so he could punt in bad weather conditions. The below two paragraphs in the AZ Republic are from an article discussing Arizona St's game last night with Kent St.

'ASU defensive coordinator Danny Gonzalez lavished praise on punter Michael Turk, a transfer from Lafayette College who sat out in 2018 but kicked well enough while redshirting to convince Michael Sleep-Dalton to transfer to Iowa.

Turk launched a textbook 64-yard punt on his first major college attempt and followed up with punts of 62, 65, 49 and 75 yards for a school record 63-yard average (previous high for five punts was by Danny White in 1972).'

1) For the last two years we have had the absolute statistical worst punter in D-1 football. That’s not exaggeration. I’m sure he’s a nice kid, but it’s simply the truth. Literally any punter is an improvement.

2) That’s a homer news site bragging up a player just like the DMR or Lincoln Journal Star.

3) It’s punting. You don’t have to be outrageously good. All you have to do is average at or above 43 ish yards and not do stupid stuff like shank the ball all the time. We’re not asking him to be Ray Guy out there; just be capable and don’t contribute to wrecking games like Rastetter did.

 

[smhawk]

Yea being beat out by a guy that can punt 75 yards... i don't think that is a cause for concern.

 

[CP87]

1) For the last two years we have had the absolute statistical worst punter in D-1 football. That’s not exaggeration. I’m sure he’s a nice kid, but it’s simply the truth. Literally any punter is an improvement.

2) That’s a homer news site bragging up a player just like the DMR or Lincoln Journal Star.

3) It’s punting. You don’t have to be outrageously good. All you have to do is average at or above 43 ish yards and not do stupid stuff like shank the ball all the time. We’re not asking him to be Ray Guy out there; just be capable and don’t contribute to wrecking games like Rastetter did.

Near the very bottom in average per punt. Iowa was 89th in net punting (i.e. putrid, really their one bad special teams unit, but net number much better than gross punt average). Surprisingly, Wisconsin, Maryland, and Michigan were all worse.

I think the coverage units will be stellar this year. As you said, if the punter can just be competent, that is a big boost.

 

[InGoodCo]

 

[Northside Hawk]

1) For the last two years we have had the absolute statistical worst punter in D-1 football. That’s not exaggeration. I’m sure he’s a nice kid, but it’s simply the truth. Literally any punter is an improvement.

2) That’s a homer news site bragging up a player just like the DMR or Lincoln Journal Star.

3) It’s punting. You don’t have to be outrageously good. All you have to do is average at or above 43 ish yards and not do stupid stuff like shank the ball all the time. We’re not asking him to be Ray Guy out there; just be capable and don’t contribute to wrecking games like Rastetter did.

Ray Guy had to be seen to believed. Like Reggie Roby, he kicked them as high as he did far. In a pro bowl game he hit the bottom of the gondola that used to hang over midfield in the New Orleans Superdome, at least 100 feet in the air (by contrast I once hit the roof of the old bubble practice facility in Iowa City during an intramural flag football game but that was maybe forty feet high)

At least one rival coach (Houston's Bum Phillips) suggested that Guy may have been kicking helium filled balls, sort of predating Deflategate. This accusation, of course, was proven to be for naught.

Walter Payton, Brett Favre, Jerry Rice and Ray Guy were all from Mississippi. Three of them could be argued to be the best ever at their positions. The fourth (Favre) probably would have clinched it had he won a second Super Bowl.

 

[Fryowa]

Near the very bottom in average per punt. Iowa was 89th in net punting (i.e. putrid, really their one bad special teams unit, but net number much better than gross punt average). Surprisingly, Wisconsin, Maryland, and Michigan were all worse.

I think the coverage units will be stellar this year. As you said, if the punter can just be competent, that is a big boost.

I used gross punting over the past two years (he was the worst if you combine them) because the punter has a negligible effect on the margin between gross and net punting, since you don’t rely on your punter to cover and make tackles.

 

[Zstatman]

Out of curiosity I looked up more on the new ASU punter, Michael Turk, and ASU punting. I'm not at all trying to say that Sleep-Dalton is bad for the Hawks, I support what Fryowa says in fact. But we here in hawkeyenation like to have as much info as we can on all things related to our Hawks.

Turk played high schol football in the Dallas, TX area. For some reason he didn't get offered by any big schools and settled for FCS Lafayette in the Philly area. He averaged 42.7 yards per punt as a freshman and decided he could play at a higher level. His uncle is Matt Turk who punted for many years in the NFL and coached Michael. He told Michael he needed to work on his overall strength which is what he did in his redshirt year. He's now a muscular 6;1", 220 lbs.

I got the below paragraph off an article on azfamily.com:

ASU had some struggles with their punting game in 2018. Starter Michael Sleep-Dalton had some success last season, including dropping 19 punts inside the opponent’s 20. However, the Sun Devils ranked just 73rd in the FBS in net average at 37.2.

My take is putting 19 punts inside the 20 is a good thing. That would cut down on your net punting yardage but help with field position.

I'll look forward to watching our new punter against Miami.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

And we thought Michael Sleep-Dalton transferred to Iowa so he could punt in bad weather conditions. The below two paragraphs in the AZ Republic are from an article discussing Arizona St's game last night with Kent St.

'ASU defensive coordinator Danny Gonzalez lavished praise on punter Michael Turk, a transfer from Lafayette College who sat out in 2018 but kicked well enough while redshirting to convince Michael Sleep-Dalton to transfer to Iowa.

Turk launched a textbook 64-yard punt on his first major college attempt and followed up with punts of 62, 65, 49 and 75 yards for a school record 63-yard average (previous high for five punts was by Danny White in 1972).'

Holy F!! Look at those punts. Talk about changing field position.

Why the flying F did he redshirt?? Makes no sense.

 

[CP87]

I used gross punting over the past two years (he was the worst if you combine them) because the punter has a negligible effect on the margin between gross and net punting, since you don’t rely on your punter to cover and make tackles.

Hang time, directional punting, blah blah blah...I know, he has stunk. I don't buy your conspiracy theory as to WHY he is out there, but a major failing by the staff that he HAS been out there the past 2 years.

He did get my hopes up with some beauts against N. Illinois last year, but then...

 

[SpiderRico]

Holy F!! Look at those punts. Talk about changing field position.

Why the flying F did he redshirt?? Makes no sense.

More than likely, he had a 5 yard shank for every 65 yarder he boomed. Coaches hate inconsistency in their players more than just about anything else. You can be below average, but if that's what you're going to be, be below avg consistently....don't be below avg one play and downright shitty the next. Coaches can work around players that aren't stellar, as long as they're consistent.

 

[Fryowa]

Hang time, directional punting, blah blah blah...I know, he has stunk. I don't buy your conspiracy theory as to WHY he is out there, but a major failing by the staff that he HAS been out there the past 2 years.

He did get my hopes up with some beauts against N. Illinois last year, but then...

I’m not trying to get too into the statistical weeds, I’ve just always hated net punting as an evaluation of the punter. Too many variables with respect to how good your team is at coverage and tackles, and how good your opponents are at returning the ball.

And I don’t offer the opinion that S-D is really good because I’ve never watched him punt, but I was more saying that just by statistics and odds, Rastetter’s replacement—whoever it is—almost by default has to be better. It’s one of those rare cases where the saying, “well, it can’t get any worse” actually applies in real life.

 

[Fryowa]

Ray Guy had to be seen to believed. Like Reggie Roby, he kicked them as high as he did far. In a pro bowl game he hit the bottom of the gondola that used to hang over midfield in the New Orleans Superdome, at least 100 feet in the air (by contrast I once hit the roof of the old bubble practice facility in Iowa City during an intramural flag football game but that was maybe forty feet high)

At least one rival coach (Houston's Bum Phillips) suggested that Guy may have been kicking helium filled balls, sort of predating Deflategate. This accusation, of course, was proven to be for naught.

Walter Payton, Brett Favre, Jerry Rice and Ray Guy were all from Mississippi. Three of them could be argued to be the best ever at their positions. The fourth (Favre) probably would have clinched it had he won a second Super Bowl.

Favre and Rice were surpassed by Brady and Moss, but I digress...

Ray Guy there’s no question.

 

[CP87]

I’m not trying to get too into the statistical weeds, I’ve just always hated net punting as an evaluation of the punter. Too many variables with respect to how good your team is at coverage and tackles, and how good your opponents are at returning the ball.

And I don’t offer the opinion that S-D is really good because I’ve never watched him punt, but I was more saying that just by statistics and odds, Rastetter’s replacement—whoever it is—almost by default has to be better. It’s one of those rare cases where the saying, “well, it can’t get any worse” actually applies in real life.

Don't you wish you had more practice footage to know if it was that brutal in practice as well, or if he actually kills it Sunday-Friday and then just falls apart on Saturday?

 

[Northside Hawk]

Favre and Rice were surpassed by Brady and Moss, but I digress...

Ray Guy there’s no question.

Guy changed special teams in the NFL. When he was drafted in 1973 many NFL teams didn't even have a punting specialist. You would see a placekicker do double duty, or a quarterback or wide receiver would also punt.

Guy had long legs and generated whip like speed with his leg, kind of like how Darryl Strawberry or Tiger Woods generated bat speed or club speed respectively. He was ahead of his time with the science of punting, stretching, strengthening his hips, all of it.

By 1978 Danny White of the Cowboys may have been the only punting position player left in the NFL. Everyone else had drafted actual punters.

Moss was an athletic freak who probably could have played multiple professional sports. I would have him and Rice at 1 and 1a but that's just my opinion.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

I’m not trying to get too into the statistical weeds, I’ve just always hated net punting as an evaluation of the punter. Too many variables with respect to how good your team is at coverage and tackles, and how good your opponents are at returning the ball.

And I don’t offer the opinion that S-D is really good because I’ve never watched him punt, but I was more saying that just by statistics and odds, Rastetter’s replacement—whoever it is—almost by default has to be better. It’s one of those rare cases where the saying, “well, it can’t get any worse” actually applies in real life.

Net Punting - Yea, a punter could have some games where asked to make some shorter punts depending on where are on field.

 

[Fryowa]

Don't you wish you had more practice footage to know if it was that brutal in practice as well, or if he actually kills it Sunday-Friday and then just falls apart on Saturday?

I do remember there was media coverage of him having regular visits with a sports psychologist before last season, and I heard coaches at various times say as diplomatically as possible that he boots it in practice but gets the yips during games.

 

[Hawk90]

1) For the last two years we have had the absolute statistical worst punter in D-1 football. That’s not exaggeration. I’m sure he’s a nice kid, but it’s simply the truth. Literally any punter is an improvement.

2) That’s a homer news site bragging up a player just like the DMR or Lincoln Journal Star.

3) It’s punting. You don’t have to be outrageously good. All you have to do is average at or above 43 ish yards and not do stupid stuff like shank the ball all the time. We’re not asking him to be Ray Guy out there; just be capable and don’t contribute to wrecking games like Rastetter did.

Unfortunately, in my mind at least, all Iowa punters are measured against Reggie Roby, and few college, let alone Iowa punters can compete.

 

[NCHawker]

How did Ron Benjamin do?