Point-Counterpoint

Punting Vs. Blocking the Punt
Air Forse Academy
AF Vs. AP
Austin Peay State University
by: David Purdum
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There is no need for punt coverage, if the punt is blocked. “A blocked kick can turn the momentum of the game more than anything else,” said Air Force legend Fisher DeBerry. “It’s won a lot of football games for us and created some field position for us.” Yet, more and more coaches, including DeBerry, are utilizing the “Shield Punt,” which, admittedly, sacrifices protection for coverage.

“There’s been some kicks blocked if the shield breaks down,” DeBerry said. “If you do it right though, you should be able to protect the punter and yet, at the same time, you should be able to get excellent return coverage.”

“I’m not a big proponent of it,” said Austin Peay Defensive Coordinator/Special Teams Coach Granville Eastman of the punt formation in which a three-man “shield” is positioned a few yards in front of the punter, allowing interior linemen to get an earlier release. “You can release everybody from the line of scrimmage right after the snap of the football,” he said. “But I think it leaves too many things to chance. You gain an advantage in covering, but on the protection side of things, it’s very, very soft. Plus, you have to have one heck of a long snapper.”

Rolling out the punter is an option with the “Shield,” and has been used effectively, including by Florida’s Urban Meyer. But rolling the punter out shortens the distance between the attackers and the punter, added Eastman, who has had only two kicks partially blocked during his tenure at Austin Peay.

Still, regardless the formation, DeBerry’s special teams are annually among the best in the nation. So if he’s willing to concede the protection, the cover advantages that the “Shield Punt” delivers must be prominent. Since 1990, only Virginia Tech has blocked more kicks than Air Force. The Falcons’ success is not an accident. Every practice at the Academy begins with a “kicking circuit,” which consists of at least 10 different drills concentrating on the “little things” of the kicking game. Each assistant is assigned to a specific area of special teams, from punt block to field goal protection. He chooses his staff and personnel.

The Falcons’ goal is to be two-deep at each special teams position. The starting special teams units are published in the game programs, just like the offense and defense. “Sometimes coaches just say, ‘Well, you’re not good enough to be a starter on the offense or defense, so we’ll let you be on special teams.’ That doesn’t send a very good message to the kid individually,” DeBerry explained.

At Austin Peay, Eastman believes in the “Spread Punt.” For punt protection, the Governors utilize an eight-man, zone/man blocking scheme. Techniques like counting the number of potential rushers are used to help players determine whom they are responsible for blocking.

The first thing that incoming freshmen that are going to be on Austin Peay’s punt protection team are taught is how to vertically set. Eastman insists the timing of this “drop slide” or shuffle back is crucial. “Everybody’s got to slide at the same time,” he said, “Because if one guy doesn’t step as big or a quick as another you create vertical seams, and opponents will try to take advantage of that. If the guard steps back and the tackle steps out, you have horizontal seams and opponents will take advantage of that. So everyone must vertically set in unison so that there are not any kind of seams either vertically or horizontally.” Eastman conducts line drills to work on improving the unity of the vertical set. It’s only the beginning of the precision and preparation that the Governors put into their punt protection. “We draw it up just like any football play,” Eastman said. Make Punt Coverage Easy At Air Force and Austin Peay, the best athletes are not always on the coverage teams. In contrast, often the opponent’s best athlete is back returning punts. What are the odds your third-string linebacker can tackle a No. 1 receiver or back in a one-on-one situation? Both DeBerry and Eastman agree that the key is to eliminate those unfavorable match-ups. One of the best ways to prevent big returns and create big coverage plays is by position kicking, says Eastman. Having a punter who can kick the ball consistently to a designed area of the field is a huge advantage. “If you don’t have a punter that can do it on a consistent basis, you’ve got a lot of trouble,” he said.

Kicking the ball down the middle of the field is an absolute no-no at Austin Peay. A major part of the punters’ practice time is spent working on position kicking. The coaches also spend time early in the week looking on film for what specific areas of the field will cause the return team the most problems. Eastman has his punt coverage strategy complete and installed no later than Tuesday.“We’ll know going into the game what our one, two or three options are, based on the opposing team’s blocking ability and return specialist’s ability,” he said.

Position punting is especially crucial when facing a dynamic punt returner. The more effort the return specialist has to expend getting himself in position to catch the punt the less time he has to pinpoint possible seams and where the coverage is coming from. Meanwhile, the coverage team knows before the snap what area of the field the ball is headed and can plot its rout appropriately. “This also allows us to align our cover guys to put them on track to get a head-on or take-out shot,” Eastman added. Make Blocking Punts Fun, Not Painful Getting kicked in the gut with a football isn’t a pleasurable experience. Ribs have been bruised, fingers broken and, at least, the wind is knocked out of players who land hard after laying out trying to make a game-changing play. With every second precious, any hesitation can be the difference of a blocked kick returned for a touchdown or a 55-yard punt that pins you deep. That’s why DeBerry tries to make blocking punts in practice as fun and as painless as possible.

It starts with the players that earn their way on to the punt block team. First, DeBerry judges players’ bursts off of the line. He then measures how quickly a player can close the distance between the line and the block point. “It’s not where the kicker lines up,” he said, “it’s where he’s going to be. We really chart that and really pay close Continued on page 36

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