Sprea Punt - Protect And Cover

Spread Punt: Protect & Cover

Chris Knutsen Special Teams Coordinator University of Montana Missoula, Mont.

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am very excited to represent the University of Montana and our football staff with this contribution to the 2002 AFCA Summer Manual. My thanks go to Joe Glenn, the staff and players for making our Punt Protection and all Special Teams so productive. Through the run to the National Championship (which truly started with our win over Weber State to make us Conference Champions) the punting team gave our defense great field position with a 22.8-yard line drive start average. Mark Spencer (our punter) and the coverage team also had a net punt average of 39.3 yards, with six punts inside the 10-yard line and 11 punts inside the 20-yard line. The average get off time was 1.99 seconds; we did not fear a punt would be blocked (when a punt is blocked, 90 of those teams loose the game). Each time we punted, our team knew we would give the opponents a long field to travel for a score. Let me now talk about our protection. Each spring and fall we start with the same emphasis; protect, protect, and protect. A strong foundation must be laid before we move on to coverage. Each special team segment usually lasts anywhere from seven to ten minutes, maybe fifteen when we insert a particular unit. With that amount of time, rules must be simple, easy to communicate, and repeated often. Our Philosophy: We are a Man Count and Zone Drop Punt Protection. Man count means, each player in the blocking scheme is responsible to block a man. The zone drop portion emphasizes separation off the ball or depth of the ball; this technique allows our players to see the rush. We will pass off or switch all twists by the rush team. Alignment: The center must have a stance that will allow him to first, snap the ball, and second slide back off the ball to block his count. From the centers stance to the guards we have a six-inch split, this is not a great distance but does add to width of the protection. The split between the guards and tackles will be 12-inches. We like separation between the rush and our line. To widen the neutral zone we align the head of the tackles and guards at the waste of the center. The wings are off the ball with their inside foot just outside the outside foot of the tackle. The depth off the ball is one arms length reaching out to the tail of the tackle. Our bullets are on the line of scrimmage 12 to 15 yards from the ball,

• AFCA Summer Manual — 2002 •

not closer than five yards to the sideline. The personal protector will have his heels between five to six yards off the ball and behind either guard. We like him to vary the side he positions himself to elevate tendencies with our protection scheme. Our punter puts his heels at 14 yards off the ball. The launch point will generally be at 10 yards when starting from this position. The splits are important when looking at the width of the protection cone. Our alignment allows us to have a wide corner that creates a longer block point from the edge. The tight alignment to the inside gives us solid inside A gap protection. Counting the Rush: We start from outside and count in, counting one to four from each side. We do not count the man on our bullet, any time the bullet is uncovered we must throw the ball to him. Generally the rush team will have eight men in the box ready to rush. When counting your man we will point out and call out the playersí jersey number. We want to communicate to every player in the protection which opponent they are responsible to block. Any time there are only seven players in the box we must know where the eighth man is, we will not count that player until he is at linebacker depth. With seven in the box the personal protector will be a clean up blocker (the man without count). Communication: When the rush puts four men on each side of the center we make an Even call, which is the base count, all calls vary from this point (Diagram 1).

Diagram 1

Sliding a man either way, five men to a side, a load call will be made (Diagram 2). Away from the load call, they make a solid call, which tells each man to that side they are man on man (3 on 3) (Diagram 2).

Diagram 2

Staking or moving men off the line we would call stunt alert, look for possible twists (Diagram 3).

Diagram 3

When the rush team aligns with three men wide outside our wing and tackle (three outside two) they will make a heavy call, alerting the inside men the rush team is trying to stretch our protection (Diagram 4).

Diagram 4

Again these calls help to alert and communicate the possible moves a rush team may make in an attempt to confuse our protection. Protection Scheme: The wing will block #1, the tackle will block #2, the guard will block #3, the center and personal protector will block the #4’s. With this in mind we teach that the rush must come through a gap to block the punt. Again, our emphasis is to protect gaps. The center is at a disadvantage; first he must make a great snap to the punter, and then work our protection scheme. This is how we help him. Each man will punch with their inside hand to protect the inside gap as they gain depth off the line of scrimmage. The punch and the depth gives time for the center to get on his block. We are helping each other from inside/out to protect gaps. Each man must know the relationship of their count and the man inside their count. This relationship will tell them the zone drop they will use to protect their gap and the launch point of the football. The coaching point we use for this technique is, the wider the rush the deeper the drop or the tighter the rush the firmer the drop. This coaching point can be repeated over and over very quickly with great emphasis by coaching with these words, Wider; Deeper, Tighter; Firmer.

The Footwork: We use a staggered stance, the inside foot is up with the outside foot back. This stance allows our players to lower their hips and bend their knees to keep the pad level down. The staggered stance also allows us to step back with the inside foot first. Stepping with the inside foot will give a great amount of separation from the rush. This step will also initiate the punch of the inside hand (every action has opposite reaction). This separation helps our protection in a few ways, first we will see any twists and can pass them off easier, second we can read the path the rush has chosen to attack the punt, and third we must help each other from inside out so we gain a little time to get the center into protection and the rest of us to our count. The coaching point for footwork sounds like this, kick-slide-kick (the punch will be automatic). Add another kick-slide if your man is wider, again this allows for more depth in your drop. The Release: Our release off the protection scheme differs from most punt protection philosophies. The release starts with a hard punch to the chest. The objective of the punch is to stop penetration and to use the momentum of the rush to help create a wider cone of protection. As we release, we bounce or hop our feet, working across the face of the rush, rotating our back to the sideline (we are now facing towards the middle). This process turns our shoulders perpendicular to the line of scrimmage. With our shoulders in this position we will now dip and rip with the forearm and run to coverage. From footwork to release these are the coaching points we emphasize, (1) Kick-Slide-Kick, (2) Punch the rush (3) Bounce to release, (4) Dip-RipRun to Coverage. Coverage: Our philosophy is to cover 2/3ís of the field. When the ball is in the middle of the field, we cover top of the numbers to top of the numbers, when the ball is on the hash, we will cover the side line to just outside the opposite hash (Diagram 5). Anytime the ball is miss kicked or we directional kick, we will adjust the coverage according to the ball. (Diagram 6) The players release to landmarks that help with covering the field and establishing the gaps they will control in covering the return. We emphasize spreading the field by the time our players are 10 to 15 yards down field. Our players learn to attack the return man as if he were the top of a triangle (Diagram 7). The bottom right and left points leverage

• AFCA Summer Manual — 2002 •

Diagram 5

Diagram 6

Diagram 7

the return man to the middle. The men in coverage want to use leverage to create a cut off angle to the ball. I coach this same philosophy on defense with the linebackers. (I believe we must use carry over terms from offense and defense. They already understand those concepts; reuse them to get a special team point across to them.) When the ball is coming down hill (like a lead play on defense) and you have outside leverage, we leverage and attack the ball back to the man inside keeping our outside hand free, if the ball is running to sideline (like outside zone or sweep), we check for wall return but remain patient, if

the ball is to our outside we will spill (attack with our outside shoulder) the ball to the man outside. The wings have contain, they will always leverage the ball back to the inside, never letting the ball outside. We cannot get stacked up in another players gap this opens up running lanes. The inside players will fill the gaps to control the middle of the cover zone (approximately five yards apart). Landmarks are just reference points to give our players equal spacing (Diagram 5). Our coaching points: (1) spread the net, (2) funnel the ball down gaps, (3) keep leverage on the ball, (4) over lap and scrape from outside when the ball turns up inside. I hope these coaching points will give you the insight needed to teach or improve any of the important aspects of punt protection and coverage. Again we work hard to use terminology used on

Spread Punt Teaching Progression • Philosophy - Wider; Deeper • Alignment - Tighter; Firmer • Rush Count • Footwork - Even - Stance - Load - Post Hand; punch with inside hand - Solid - Inside Step First Stunt Alert - Punch Count - Stack - Bounce Feet - 7 Up - Dip, Rip, Run to Coverage - Two Return Men • Coverage - Two on Bullets - Landmarks - Heavy - Gap Control • Protection Scheme - Leverage and Spill - Protect Gaps - Tackling - Pass Off Twists - Pursuit - Work through rush to Count offense and defense to emphasize our points with special teams. Our players really understand coaching points when

they are repeated through out practice. Our hard work with punt protection truly paid off.

Caution Your Team About Player Agents A problem for all coaches is the proliferation of agents and would-be agents who seek to make agreements with players prior to the completion of their eligibility. The activity of these people has increased, and it is imperative that all of the consequences of making an agreement with an agent are known by your players. Contact with players by agents almost always is done without the knowledge of the coach. Some agents openly admit they will continue to make contacts and agreements with players before their final season has been completed. This could lead to forfeiture of games. Some agents are advising players not to risk injury by playing. Your players must be warned about this problem. Do it more than once.

• AFCA Summer Manual — 2002 •