What should Saban/ Bobby Williams plan be for special teams?

BamaJ said:

This 1 million times. I think these boys need to chill out and the coaches need to chill them out. "You're not going to lose your position, just relax. You're fine. Remember last year. Just catch the ball and run with it and hold on to it. Just like you've done until this season. Settle down."

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Jones plays like a guy that doesn't fear losing his job. He probably shouldnt play that way.

I'd like us try out a couple of the young studs on the roster returning kicks that's not getting a awful lot of PT, I know our roster is stocked full of guys with speed, that returned kicks in high school & was really good at returning kicks..I'll trust Coach Saban though..He sees stuff in practice that we don't..I did see ArDarius Stewart play against my old high school team, his senior year of football in high school, & the dude was awesome at returning kicks..He ran a 90yrd+ punt return against us & he made our Boys look plum silly trying to catch him returning kicks..We were lucky to get a hand on him on those returns & our Boys wasn't that bad of a team + we had a lot of team speed that year, but, just couldn't catch his shifty backside on kick returns..

I'd love to see ArDarius giving a shot of returning kicks & see what he can do when the lights comes on & those big crowds cheering him on on the college level, some players just plays their best ball during those times..That's just me though..I'm bias for ArDarius since I watched him with my own eyes returning kicks on the high school level & I know for a fact he's really really good at returning kicks..And would love to see what he can do on the college level returning kicks..

CrimsonForce said:

I would not attempt any 48+ yard field goals. If we are in that area on the field decide on 3rd down to either go for it on 4th or punt and call the 3rd down play with that decision in mind..

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Or "Quick Kick" on third to back them up deep. (Blue font)

CrimsonForce said:

I would not attempt any 48+ yard field goals. If we are in that area on the field decide on 3rd down to either go for it on 4th or punt and call the 3rd down play with that decision in mind..

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I'm sure that'll help get his confidence back, when he clearly has the leg for it

I suggest planning a retirement party for Bobby.

Whatever "Plan B" is. Plan A ain't working.

Did I see Landon Collings returning kicks? If so, bring that to a screeching halt.

I just don't understand how others in this conference can recruit kickers that can consistently kick the ball into and/or through the end zone and our kickoffs rarely make TO the end zone. Best kickoff return defense is one where they can't or won't return it.

Anything in the 50 yard range on FG's and Griffin seems to try to "muscle up" on and either shanks it or pulls it. I think that is more of a mechanical or mental issue. How to fix that is beyond me.

The situation of balls bouncing off players on short punts is simply failure in execution. Anyone that played the game knows the "Peter" call and to locate the ball and get away from it.

beatthemtigers said:

I'm sure that'll help get his confidence back, when he clearly has the leg for it

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At this point it's not about trying to build someone's confidence. It's about winning games. I would do what I mentioned in my previous post. If you don't agree that's fine but we have lost to many games by going missing a multitude of long field goals..

Bama Lee said:

The reason we do not kick through the end zone is be design, not from failure of the kicker. 90% of the time we hold the returner behind the 20 yard line. Kicking it through the end zone brings the ball out to the 25 yard line. Its our philosophy.

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thank you. this has been discussed ad nauseam over the years.

bama579 said:

Did I see Landon Collings returning kicks? If so, bring that to a screeching halt.

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That was only because Arky did a pooch kick last week, and Collins was an up-man. He does stand next to the main return man on kickoffs, but CNS says he likes the second return man to be a good blocker. Therefore, Landon is back there.

Bama Lee said:

The reason we do not kick through the end zone is be design, not from failure of the kicker. 90% of the time we hold the returner behind the 20 yard line. Kicking it through the end zone brings the ball out to the 25 yard line. Its our philosophy.

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Yeah, I agree. But, I think it is worth pointing out that this was a frustration in the Ole Miss game. I went back and checked... We had four kickoffs.
1st: returned 54 yards to the Alabama 39
2nd: returned 39 yards to the Ole Miss 43
3rd: returned 27 yards to the Ole Miss 27
4th: returned 19 yards to the Ole Miss 20

GreatDanish said:

Yeah, I agree. But, I think it is worth pointing out that this was a frustration in the Ole Miss game. I went back and checked... We had four kickoffs.
1st: returned 54 yards to the Alabama 39
2nd: returned 39 yards to the Ole Miss 43
3rd: returned 27 yards to the Ole Miss 27
4th: returned 19 yards to the Ole Miss 20

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And as we learned with Ole Miss's first return, a player getting out of his lane can lead to a big return, which then gets a team and its crowd fairly emotional. On the flip side, the return team and its fans don't get real emotional if the kick team is able to make a play. That is where CNS' thinking of "Do your job and don't worry about the man next to you" comes into play. He will say a big return won't happen if the player doesn't get out of his lane or if a guy gets off a block.

Hey how about let's just work on guys staying in their lanes on kick coverage. Forget all the other stuff.. let's just start with that and see how it goes from there.

1. Let our outstanding punter just kick the snot out of the ball.
2. Fair catch all punts outside the 10 yard line.
3. Punts inside the 10 let it go, get out of the way and pray it goes in the end zone.
4. On kickoff teams stay in your lane and form tackle, don't grab.
5. Don't return any kicks in the end zone.
6. On kickoff returns cover the ball with both hands when a player with a different color jersey gets close.

Bama Lee said:

The reason we do not kick through the end zone is be design, not from failure of the kicker. 90% of the time we hold the returner behind the 20 yard line. Kicking it through the end zone brings the ball out to the 25 yard line. Its our philosophy.

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Actually, I'm pretty sure I remember a press conference a couple years ago where someone asked about Cade Foster doing that (short kicking) and Coach said something to the effect of "I wish he'd kick it through the back of the end zone every time!"

TIDE-HSV said:

However, if a guy stays in his lane and misses his tackle - which has happened a lot lately - then lane discipline doesn't count for much...

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Which kind of goes to my point. While kicking the ball short by design with the chance of pinning the defense inside the 20 may be good in theory, are you really gaining that much if you have kicker that can kick it deep into or through the end zone and giving the opponent the ball at the 25? Especially when you look at the risk of giving up the "big return" of say, 40 or more yards because of poor tackling or lack of lane discipline that we've experienced over the past couple of seasons.

I would give it to them every time at the 25 to start a drive after a kickoff.

CrimsonForce said:

At this point it's not about trying to build someone's confidence. It's about winning games. I would do what I mentioned in my previous post. If you don't agree that's fine but we have lost to many games by going missing a multitude of long field goals..

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Valid point and probably more logical, I'm just as frustrated about it as you are but I guess I'm just still a believer in hoping he gets it turned around. Now. But he's definitely running out of room for error