🏈 How do you want Saban to handle kickoffs this season? Not who, mind you, but how? (UPDATE: Video a

[TerryP]

One thing we don't know, at least in my eyes, is IF it's going to change.

You look at last years numbers and you see the good and the bad. We allowed fewer touchbacks than any team in the SEC but on the other hand we allowed more yards in returns than any other team as well.

Some have had issues with special teams play throughout Saban's tenure here. We've had a tendency to allow a few big plays per year and some of those have resulted in touchdowns.

Just to put numbers out there, out of the 120 teams in D1 play there were nine teams that allowed two touchdowns on kickoffs last year: we were one of them. Toledo allowed three, Washington State four, and it's pretty evenly split between teams that didn't allow any versus teams that allowed only one.

The team allowed an average of right around 21.5 yards per return on the season (including OOC games.) While that ranks right in the middle of NCAA teams, you also have to take into account there's very little difference in comparing one team to another. As example, Mississippi State ended ranked 20th in yards allowed and Louisville came in with the last place ranking (in terms of less than 25 yards per return) at 116th. The numbers are so close you'll find 25 teams that allowed between 20 and 20.9 yards per return.

Miami (OH) looks great with only 14 yards per return but they kicked off half as much as we did.

Beginning to see part of the point? So, so many ways to look at the numbers.

Given the choice, how do you want to see the special teams handled this year? Do you want to see the kicks falling just short of the goal line and taking our chances on pinning our opponents inside the 25? Or, would you rather just eliminate the chances of someone getting a decent return in a game and just give them the field position?

SEC Stats below. National stats here.

G	No.	Yards	Avg.	Return	TB	Net Avg.
1.	13	66	4546	68.9	619	38	48.0
2.	12	43	2909	67.7	626	12	47.5
3.	13	93	6310	67.8	1135	40	47.0
4.	12	44	2868	65.2	563	14	46.0
5.	12	48	3009	62.7	724	6	45.1
6.	13	65	4190	64.5	1063	10	45.0
7.	13	74	4853	65.6	1327	12	44.4
8.	14	94	6001	63.8	1540	16	44.1
9.	14	87	5680	65.3	1383	24	43.9
10.	13	66	4141	62.7	1120	7	43.7
11.	13	90	5624	62.5	1821	5	41.1
12.	13	71	4321	60.9	1363	6	40.0

<tbody>
[TH="colspan: 2, align: left"]KICKOFF COVERAGE[/TH]

[TD="align: left"]Auburn [/TD]

[TD="align: left"]Ole Miss [/TD]

[TD="align: left"]Arkansas [/TD]

[TD="align: left"]Kentucky [/TD]

[TD="align: left"]Tennessee [/TD]

[TD="align: left"]Vanderbilt [/TD]

[TD="align: left"]Florida [/TD]

[TD="align: left"]LSU [/TD]

[TD="align: left"]Georgia [/TD]

[TD="align: left"]Miss. State [/TD]

[TD="align: left"]Alabama [/TD]

[TD="align: left"]S. Carolina [/TD]

</tbody>

 

[doemasters]

I would make the team return the kick and try and stop them inside the 20

 

[Bo]

With our defense, I think I'd prefer just to put it into the endzone and eliminate the chance of big returns. At least when going against a team that has a big time return guy.

 

[XXL TideFan]

Bury the KO in the end zone, make 'em start on the 20.

 

[TerryP]

Bury the KO in the end zone, make 'em start on the 20.

25, that's the point XXL.

 

[UAgrad93]

Given the 5 yds that KO are moved up to, our kicks will more than likely hit inside the 5 to a couple yds deep in the end zone. I would say keep it the same and put the big decision on the return guy. Either take risk and get to the 20 or kneel it and get the ball at the 25. I think we just need to eliminate the bonehead miscues of making a lane for the return guy by someone going around the block the wrong way!

 

[TheChief]

Kick the kickoff all the way through the end zone, through the uprights even, for the touchback. Through the end zone and there is no chance for a score. Returns past the fifty are a good chance to score (maybe even if it is just a field goal, it's a score). Or, Bama could be on the bad side of the situation of field position in a defensive striuggle. Kick the ball as far as possible.

 

[BamaDelta]

Dang if this subject doesn't make me a nervous nellie. Looking at stats like that (and from our '09 team as well) you'd be surprised that it didn't up-end our title hopes along the way.

From the old school football line I think there's no way we win titles with our special teams play. For as long as I can remember (and maybe I am forgetting the Tiffin and Doyle days) but Auburn and UGA always seem to have a great punter and kicker. We always seem to be somewhere around average to a little below. Even when we think we have the top kicker in the country something happens along the way. Just strange.

 

[psychojoe]

I've said, only half jokingly. that the new rule helps us. Assuming that Foster is still our guy (and I like that from the point of view of a kicker who can tackle), typically his kos landed from the 5 to the 15. Assuming that he hasn't suddenly found the strong leg he had in high school, they would now be from aroung the goal line to the ten. Assuming that we fixed our coverage problems from the Ga. South and Aub games last year we should be able to corral the other guys inside the 25 most of the time. Of course you deal with each game situation separately. If the otther guys have an especially dangerous return guy, then putting the ko through the end zone would be an option.

 

[UAgrad93]

Another difference between Cade then and now is the fact that in HS they kick from the 40 and college was from the 30. He lost 10 yds before he ever touched the ball with his foot. Most all of big returns come from a blown lane assignment NOT the depth of the kick. Direction of the kick can be a factor if done by design. Cade or whoever wins the job this fall will gain 5 yds back due to the new rule.

 

[TerryP]

Another difference between Cade then and now is the fact that in HS they kick from the 40 and college was from the 30. He lost 10 yds before he ever touched the ball with his foot. Most all of big returns come from a blown lane assignment NOT the depth of the kick. Direction of the kick can be a factor if done by design. Cade or whoever wins the job this fall will gain 5 yds back due to the new rule.

That's a point that falls on deaf ears.

The year before last, or 2009, during a discussion with special teams it was pointing out who missed the lane. Hell, even with video evidence the blame went to the kicker.

I can find reasons to want both, but my gut makes me think we'll see balls kicked high and inside the 10. We have SO many athletes we can put on special teams getting gunners down there to cover won't be a difficult thing to do. Having guys play inside of our scheme and maintain their responsibilities?

 

[UAgrad93]

We used to directional kick at the HS I last coached. It was irritating as hell to have a kicker kick the ball to the side that you have called your guys to run to the opposite side. Example, Kick the ball to the left sideline and guys run around blocks to their left. Instead, kicker kicks it to the right, guys run left as assigned and the ball gets returned to midfield. Everyone blames the kicker. Look again at the Barns' return last season. Trey DePriest went the wrong way, he went left instead of right. The man to his right went to the right but Trey going opposite opened up a huge ass lane that Jesse Williams could've gone thru untouched.

 

[Bo]

A lot of teams kick it to the corner, trying to keep it between the 10 and the goal line. Then you use the sideline as an extra defender, and if everyone covers their lane, the return guy is brought down inside the 20, hopefully around the 15. The key being everyone covering their lane.

I don't like this strategy much myself, but a lot of coaches do, and my next game as a head football coach will be my first.

 

[doemasters]

did they change where the ball will be placed if kicked out of bounds?

 

[XXL TideFan]

25, that's the point XXL.

Well, that made me look like a dumbass. I would claim that being under anethessia early this morning made me slow, but I cant remember the rule change. Try to put it inside the 5 and punch 'em in the teeth.

 

[UAgrad93]

That is true but in HS many of his kicks landed out of the back of the end-zone and some landed on the track around the field. No something happened on the trajectory and angle of his kicks when he arrived at Alabama.

You also need to take into account that in HS, he didn't have closed in stadiums to affect the wind. ALOT can be contributed to his mechanics.
Bo said it best that kicking to a sideline, you use the sideline as the 12th defender. You expect the kicker to place the ball on the numbers at about the 5-10 yd line. You expect the 10 guys going down on coverage to stay in their lanes AND go full speed. I coached for 13 years and we had mixed success with this KO. When we reviewed film, you could ALWAYS place the blame on one of the above. When it worked, it looked great.
CF technique has changed IMHO. His approach looks different. This change can be accounted with the strategy employed on the type of coverage.

 

[UAgrad93]

Question: Why do you think CF always kicks the ball into the right corner knowing that it takes so much away from his distance?

To measure a straight away kick versus a kick to the corner you must multiply the distance of the straight kick by 1.414.

CF can kick the ball through the end-zone if he were allowed to kick the ball straight away and at a lower trajectory.

I don't think CF has a weak leg, I think he is kicking the ball at an angle and higher by design, the same was true for Leigh Tiffin... ( I used to play golf with Leigh)

That being true, I believe we will just see even higher kicks in the corner this year...

You kick it to the corner to use the sideline as that extra defender. If you use 2 safeties, you have 9 guys covering in their lanes+the sideline or with 1 safety, you have 10 covering + the sideline. Kicking with a lower trajectory allows for the return man to get a better return and it limits the amoount of ground that the cover team can gain on the return man.

 

[paintrockfan]

Exactly, we are not trying to get touchbacks, we are trying to pin the opponent inside the 20. I have been hearing the same thing over and over ever since Saban arrived; Why can't we find a kicker that can kick the ball in the end-zone?

Answer: We don't want our kickers to kick it deep into the end-zone, we want them to kick it in the corner inside the 5 (if possible) and by using the sideline pin them inside the 20.

We have had kickers who can kick it deep all along if and when the coach tells them that is what he wants done, it just depends on the situation.

To Saban the kickoff is just another opportunity to play defense.

I have heard him say just the opposite of this. He has stated many times that he wished the kickers would put it into the end zone.

 

[bamaraider]

Kick through the endzone. Last year we could afford having a team start at out 30 or 40 because it would eventually become a 3-and-out.

But i do remember at times when Cade kicked it to the endzone and the player would come out with it and we ended up tackling the player at the 15 yard line.. Good question

 

[TheChief]

If they return it, they can score. If the kick is a touchback, we play D.

Someone who has more time than me can look, but how many turnovers did Bama get on the kickoff? Bama gave up two TD's, so if it's two I suppose it's a wash. Let them return it.

I still think that if I had a kicker who could kick it through the end zone, that's what I would do.