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Home | Back Issues | Oct
2002 | The Big Play
Clinic
The Big Play
By the time you read this headline, someone’s special teams
just made another "game-breaking" play that changed the
game's momentum.
By Jim Boccher
Special Teams Coach, University of Michigan
If you liked this article, here are three others just like
it:
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There
is not a head coach in the country that won’t expound on the
importance of having good special teams play. We all know how to say
the right thing, but unless a head coach is truly committed to special
teams, your players will look at the “teams,” as we call
them at Michigan, as just a break between offense and defense. But
most importantly, special teams must be important to the head coach.
Why are special teams so important? For one, special teams account
for approximately 20 percent of the snaps in any given game. With
this in mind, your meeting and practice time should at least reflect
this percentage. That means for every hour of meetings you have as
a team, 15 minutes should be devoted to special teams. On the practice
field this equates to four or five periods of special teams for every
24 periods of practice (with each period representing five minutes,
24 periods would be a typical two hour practice). Keep in mind; these
figures are the minimum amount of time that should be spent on special
teams. While the proportion of practice time should be a reflection
of snaps taken in a game, there is another variable that should influence
more special teams work – “the big play.” There is
not an offensive or defensive coordinator in America that doesn’t
stress the importance of either creating or limiting big plays. On
offense, you may want five big plays or “game breakers”
each week. On defense, your success is largely predicated upon limiting
your opponent’s big plays. A defense should always make the offense
“earn it” by not permitting any cheap scores. There is no
other aspect of the game that has more big play potential than special
teams. The reasons are simple. Special teams are played in the open
field. “Teams” players must be able to:
1) Maintain blocks in space
2) Defeat Blocks in space
3) Make someone miss
4) Make an open field tackle
When special teams are viewed in this manner, it is easy to see the
big play possibilities. A coach can be certain that special teams
will determine at least two games on your schedule this season. Without
question, we at Michigan had three games impacted by special teams
in 2001, both positively and negatively.
The third area of the game that illustrates the importance of special
teams is field position. I recently conducted a study that examined
the starting field position for a team’s offenses and how it
related to their chance of scoring either a touchdown or a field goal
(See Diagram 1.). This chart demonstrates how important field position
really is. Just look at your team’s chances of scoring if the
kickoff return is advanced past the 30-yard line. What if the punter
could pin opponents inside the 10-yard line or the opposing offense
never achieved possession of the ball past their own 40-yard line?
Consider this, every ten yards you gain on a punt return is one less
first down that your offense needs to get.
How does a head coach emphasize the importance of special teams his
players? The single most effective way to do this is to put the best
players on the “teams”. This accomplishes several things.
First of all, it makes these units stronger for the obvious reason
that the top personnel is being utilized. Secondly, the commitment
to win each and every play is made clear to every player. It demonstrates
to the rest of the team you consider special teams to be as vital
as the offense and defense. It establishes a certain level of performance
that everyone must uphold.
At the University of Michigan, I am fortunate to work for a head coach
in Lloyd Carr who is committed to maintaining great special teams.
No player is too good for the “teams.” Case and point is
the recent success we have had with our punt rush team. Last season
we blocked a school record seven punts, largely due to the personnel
we had on the team. Marquise Walker, our leading receiver and owner
of many school records, was a standout performer on our punt rush
team. Marquise blocked three punts (and set up several other blocks
and caused numerous shanks) over the past two seasons that resulted
in a touchdown, a field goal and a safety. His performance and success
on this unit inspired our other players to participate on a high level
on this team. They all saw how they could impact the game and help
Michigan win. Not limiting your personnel pool is the first way to
emphasize special teams to your players. As a general rule of thumb,
I never hesitate to assign any offensive or defensive starter to two
of the six special teams and any reserve to as many as all six.
The second way to demonstrate the importance of special teams is to
involve offensive and defensive coaches in different phases of the
“teams.” For example, at Michigan, both defensive coordinator
Jim Herrmann and offensive coordinator Terry Malone coach the right
and left side of our punt team respectively. We benefit not only from
having two great teachers coaching these units, but it also demonstrates
the importance of this phase of the game to our players. Even though
we utilize our entire coaching staff in different phases of the game,
I coordinate the meetings and practice agenda for organizational purposes.
We like to say that we “Coach with many eyes, but one voice.”
What I mean is, we all want to use the same coaching points and terms
so that everyone is on the same page.
Another way to demonstrate a stern commitment to special teams to
your players is to meet on special teams as a full team, players and
coaches included. This has several benefits. For one, position coaches,
who may not be involved in a specific phase, may rather meet individually
for the fifteen-minute special teams meeting. However, their presence
at these meetings has a great impact on the players. Secondly, Coach
Carr will sit right in front and make coaching points during this
meeting; this undoubtedly impacts how serious the players view the
sessions. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, when players know
that the entire team is going to watch their performance on special
teams, there is a significant impact. Players, just like coaches,
do not want to look bad in front of their peers. This is a positive
form of peer pressure that establishes a standard of performance that
even us as coaches cannot duplicate. In turn, when the players do
well and get acknowledged in front of the rest of the team, it motivates
others not only to participate on special teams, but also to excel
on them.
Once you have selected the best personnel for your special teams,
assigned the high profile coaches to a particular phase and established
a certain level of performance for the players, you are moving in
the right direction. The next step is to establish specific motivating
tools and criteria to maintain the expected level of performance.
As I previously stated, one of the most effective methods of motivation
is peer pressure. One way to create this sense of accountability to
one another is through the use of a production chart (See Diagram
2.). At Michigan we use such a production chart on a game-to-game
basis and also maintain cumulative statistics. Such a production chart
awards points for individual accomplishments such as a tackle, fumble
recovery, blocked kick, etc.... However, we also reward each member
of an entire unit for a particularly exceptional play as well. For
example, if the punt team downs a punt inside the 10-yard line, each
player on that team will receive two points. Or if the kickoff return
team has a return of 30 or more yards, each player on that team will
be rewarded as well. This is important because although we want individual
players to be productive and make plays, we can’t forget about
the guy on the front line that made the block that sprung the return
man on his long return. In addition to giving positive points for
good plays, we also include a few categories that deduct points from
a player’s total. Committing a penalty or committing a turnover
is inexcusable and can cost us a game and would therefore result in
negative points for that player. But overall, the idea behind the
production board is to generate positive reinforcement. Praise the
action you want to see repeated. Each week we will post this board
and the players can see who is producing and who is not. You will
see that the players become competitive with each other and strive
to become better special teams performers. As I said before, there
is no motivational substitute for accountability to your teammates
and competition.
Another motivator that we use that ties into the production board
is the “Special Forces” club. The top special teams performers
of each game receive a T-shirt, which are coveted by our players.
Just giving out T-shirts without a standardized method for doing so
will quickly lose its emphasis as a motivating tool. When our players
become a member of the Special Forces, they are recognized as players
who have produced and helped Michigan win.
The last and most powerful motivating tool for special teams is the
selection of a weekly special teams captain. I believe there is no
greater honor a player can receive than to represent his team as a
captain. This is something our players take great pride in. On a weekly
basis, we as coaches decide who has produced in games, practiced like
a champion, and exemplified all that it means to be a captain for
Michigan.
While we have already discussed means to motivate and evaluate individual
players and units of the special teams, we also want to look at the
big picture. We do this by setting goals on a week-to-week basis.
I strongly believe that when establishing your goals for special teams
there are certain rules you must abide by. They are as follows:
1) Never have more than ten goals. Your players won’t remember
more than this and you don’t have enough meeting time as a coach
to emphasize that many goals. The more goals you have, the more watered
down they become.
2) Select goals that are measurable and relative to your philosophy.
3) Base your special teams goals around field position and big plays.
You’ve talked about why these areas are important, now include
them in your goals.
4) Choose attainable goals. If you don’t have a punter that can
punt the ball forty yards, don’t set your net punt at forty-one
yards.
5) Have clear goals for each phase of the special teams.
Examples of this goal setting philosophy would be as follows:
1) Net punt - 38 yards or more.
2) Punt Return - 10 yards per return or opponent net punt of 33 yards
or block 1 punt.
3) Kickoff Return - Average start of the 28 yard line.
4) Kickoff Cover - Hold opponents to average start of 24 yard line.
5) PAT/FG - 100% of all PAT’s and 67% of all FG’s.
6) PAT/FG Block - Block a kick or hold opponent to 50% on FG’s.
7) Force a Game breaker (Block a kick, recover onsides, force a turnover,
score a TD, execute a fake).
8) Allow no Game breakers to the opponent.
9) No Penalties.
As you can see, these goals are designed to account for teams that
pooch their kickoffs or shank their punts. I don’t want to penalize
our teams for poor return averages if our field position is good.
We also incorporate the big play philosophy of “game breakers”
in addition to field position goals.
Lastly, when developing schemes for your special teams, it is important
that you utilize schemes that optimize your meeting and practice times.
We as coaches can get carried away with the chalk, but when all is
said and done, execution is based on talent, the players understanding
of the scheme, and the player’s ability to perform the basic
fundamentals necessary for them to carry out their responsibility
within that scheme. Remember, your special teams players are playing
and learning their respective offensive and defensive positions. You
may only have them for 15 minutes of meeting time and 25 minutes on
the practice field for all six phases of special teams. Therefore
the first priority is teaching schemes they can understand and execute.
Then repeatedly drill the skills they need to execute their assignments.
Special teams are too important to neglect. If a player does not know
his assignment or gets confused and a punt gets blocked then you have
beat yourself.
One example of this approach would be our punt rush philosophy. I
have already discussed the success that we’ve had with this team
and our philosophies are quite simple. However we drill these principles
to the finest detail daily and at a high tempo. These are our keys
to blocking punts:
1) Crowd the L.O.S. Get your hand in front of your head and you will
always be onside.
2) Get in an explosive stance. Weight forward, rear end up in the
air, toes and power angles pointing straight up field.
3) See the ball. On a punt, both the offense and the defense are going
on ball movement. The man with the quicker reaction has the advantage.
4) Vertically stretch the protection with great burst up field. Stay
low and come out hard.
5) Bend and drive to the block spot. Lower your blocking surface and
dip your inside shoulder. Use your hands to keep the punt protectors
off of you.
6) Shoot your hands at the last moment and take the ball off the punter’s
foot. Keep your feet and run through the block spot.
7) If you can’t block the punt, stay outside of the block spot
and get back into the return.
On a game-by-game basis we may run a particular twist or scheme that
we feel can exploit a particular protection, but our basic principles
never change. Select the right personnel, keep it simple and coach
technique.
In conclusion, it is both an honor and privilege to be able to share
some of our ideas at the University of Michigan with my colleagues
in the coaching profession. Don’t ever underestimate the importance
of your job as a football coach. Now, more than ever, your role as
a teacher and a mentor to the young men of our country cannot be taken
for granted. The values and life-lessons that our sport teaches are
exactly what the young people of America need to get along and succeed
in this new world. |
