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How does BAMA fix the kickoff coverage??

BAMA504

BAMA504

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Jun 28, 2007
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Since we all seem to be in shock that our kickoff coverage is well just terrible how do we fix the problem..... I am not sure terrible is correct but allowing a TD per game on kickoff coverage is pretty bad no matter how many good coverages we make it's the one bad one that shows up on the scoreboard...

So how do you guys think we fix the problem??

I have my views on it and to me with 4 and 5 star guys on the kickoff team there is no excuse why this should be happening but the one weakness I see is there is no wedge buster or a guy who just runs down there and throws his body in there like a madman.... We have always had that but it seems this year we are just running down there and trying to contain which allows us not to contain there is no head hunter blowing up the blocking scheme.... I think we need to put some guys out there who want to lay the lumber and maybe have two guys stay back near mid-field like safties just in case they do get by the front.... Or as some have said do we need to reshuffle the staff and let another coach get a crack at it??
 
I hold my breathe every time we kick the ball off. One kick off we'll tackle the guy around the 18 and then the next the guy is gone for a big gain or TD. It's also disheartening to me that we have a guy like Javier Arenas back there returning kick offs but we never seem to get many long kick off returns (of course we make up for it on punt returns). I wonder if Frank Beamer is available as special teams coach ;)
 
Obviously talent and athleticism aren't the issue; we have those two things in loads. Kickoff coverage, from my meager experiences playing HS football comes down entirely to effort and discipline. You have to hustle, and you have to maintain the integrity of your lanes.

I don't think anyone will argue that we aren't playing hard/hustling, so that's not the problem. I think we just have a lot of raw, eager talent that hasn't totally learned how to contain their emotions and control them.
 
I'm no expert, but the problem seems to be our outside containment. Both TD runs we had a player who should have had outside containment get too far inside. I think that boils down to discipline, like Danish said, and just being able to stay in your lanes. We have the athletes, they just need to execute.

And so far, Rod Woodson has been that headhunter on special teams. He's like a heat-seeking missile down there, it's awesome.
 
herri026 said:
Obviously talent and athleticism aren't the issue; we have those two things in loads. Kickoff coverage, from my meager experiences playing HS football comes down entirely to effort and discipline. You have to hustle, and you have to maintain the integrity of your lanes.
I don't think anyone will argue that we aren't playing hard/hustling, so that's not the problem. I think we just have a lot of raw, eager talent that hasn't totally learned how to contain their emotions and control them.
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The highlighted area is ALL WE NEED! That says it all! Meager experiences in high school or not, that's it!
 
No special teams expert here, but I agree with those who have said it will take better discipline to one's assigned lane, but one thing we are overlooking is the opposing return team is also blocking our guys to bust up our lanes. Maybe a little more beef in our kickoff team might offset this. Courtney Upshaw was the biggest guy I saw on the kickoff team. The rest were smaller/speed type gunners the best I remember. Maybe a combination of wedge busters and gunners (plus a safty valve other than the kicker) might help.
 
BamaMoon said:
No special teams expert here, but I agree with those who have said it will take better discipline to one's assigned lane, but one thing we are overlooking is the opposing return team is also blocking our guys to bust up our lanes. Maybe a little more beef in our kickoff team might offset this. Courtney Upshaw was the biggest guy I saw on the kickoff team. The rest were smaller/speed type gunners the best I remember. Maybe a combination of wedge busters and gunners (plus a safty valve other than the kicker) might help.
Click to expand...

I personally don't think that size has any factor in why WE allowed this to happen twice. If you watch our kick off coverage unit closely you'll see the outside guys are giving up their assignments too fast and committing to making a tackle. If they allow the guy next to them to get sucked in to fast and they do the same one quick step outside and you're toast...which is exactly what has happened. We're not getting beat up the middle...we're not BREAKING DOWN and slowing down...we're having our first line of defense guys going full speed ahead (not the wedge busters) and they are over persuing and missing the tackles...that leaves their lane open...then you'll see our outside gunners getting sucked too far inside and you have a guy like T.Y. Hilton see a hole, he's gone! No way to react once you're sucked in! We need to breakdown, stay in our lanes and keep the game in front of us! If we do that, we'll stop them from getting big plays!

I want to give a kudo's to Leigh Tiffin too! He has really improved the depth at which he's kicking off! Most of his kicks are getting to or just inside the endzone and the ones that are shorter are REALLY high and inside the 5!
 
Guess if I would of waited CNS addressed this very issue today......... Just like many of you have said no one is staying in their lanes getting sucked in and getting beat..
 
Post a help wanted ad :(

Yes , vacating lanes - #8 in week 1 and #24 in week 2 .
 
I sure as heck don't know the answer, but maybe if the fast gunners on the outside would close to keep the runner going more to the middle where most of the defensive traffic is. I noticed in the VT and FIU game that the runner started towards the middle but veered more away from the middle, kind of towards the hash marks.
 
p'colabamaman said:
I sure as heck don't know the answer, but maybe if the fast gunners on the outside would close to keep the runner going more to the middle where most of the defensive traffic is. I noticed in the VT and FIU game that the runner started towards the middle but veered more away from the middle, kind of towards the hash marks.
Click to expand...

It looks to me like the a couple of the outside guys are closing to the middle too soon and too extreme . IDK . Maybe , maybe not :conf3:
 
All I know is that kick off cover guys need to be a little crazy and wanting to attack.

To me we seem tentative. Sometimes we're down the field in a hurry. Sometimes not.

And possibly we let down when we're dominating a game. Both returns against us have come when we had our opponent shut out and were seemingly in control of the game at that point. I know it was only 6-0 and 10-0 leads, but still, in both games our opponents had done virtually nothing offensively until the kick return.

Get some crazy folks out there. Git er Done!!

sip
 
I think in both cases some players overran the play. These are very fast 4+ star athletes and they haven't learned that in this case containment is far more important than how fast you get down there.

The solution is simply time and work. We have a very talented team but most of the talent is young. We have a great staff, they will get it right in time.
 
This much we know, it is not a case of not having the talent. CNS's staff will figure it out even if they don't read this thread!
 
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