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AFM Magazine


Special Forces

Building a solid foundation for special teams
by: Troy Bomgardner
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If you liked this article, here are three others just like it:

1. Coverage the Warhawk Way, July 1999
2. Oregon’s Two-step Punting Techniques, 1st Quarter 1998
3. Gaining an Edge, Nov. 2001


Spring is a time of year for football coaches to evaluate what has been successful in their program and what needs to be emphasized in order to be more competitive.

What needs to be polished in your program? The run offense? Give up fewer big plays on defense? As you evaluate your season, don’t overlook the special teams phase. Many times a coach may be committed to doing “what it takes” to improve offensively or defensively, but this same attitude may not prevail when it comes to evaluating special teams. I believe the special teams phase is still a largely untapped resource for many teams; an effective special teams may keep you in a game against a superior opponent or give you the advantage against an evenly matched opponent. And sadly enough, if you are not well prepared in this phase, it can cost you a game that you should have won against an inferior opponent.

The following article may provide some insights for evaluating your philosophy regarding the third phase in football.

Characteristics of Great Special Teams Players

Related Videos
American Football Monthly now offers a full line of coaching videos. So, if you enjoyed this clinic article, here are a few videos that you may find interesting:

FV-01305A The Spread Punt Formation (Quartaro)
FV-01305B Punt Return & Kickoff Return (Elliott & Woodley)
FV-01305 Cyclone Special Teams (2 Tapes)


To find these videos and many others, view our online catalog at www.AFMVideos.com.

Before we get into what characteristics to look for, I want to spend a few minutes on player selection. Each of the different special team units demand a unique skill; and quite frankly, a skill that is not specifically used on any other down in football. Don’t be fooled into thinking any good football player can operate effectively on these downs. Finding the right players may be the most important job you have as special teams coach.

When to Select
I believe it is essential to be able to see the players operate on the practice field in a contact environment. I’ve made the mistake of choosing players only from our testing data and it has burned me. There’s a tendency to want to start practicing as soon as possible. I’ve discovered it’s more important to practice with the “right” players, rather than have a few extra reps practicing with the “wrong” players. Take a few days to see how they respond in different situation. Do they have a tendency to “dog it” when the coach isn’t looking? Are they hungry to be in on the play? These are factors that you cannot read from a testing report.

Evaluation
I believe there are three primary attributes you look for in a special teams player: speed, toughness (both physical and mental toughness) and intelligence. In all phases you must cover 35-70 yards, so obviously speed is crucial. I’ll add here that there are two types of speed, on the track and on the field. I don’t care how fast you can get to the watch ... I want to know how fast you can get to the wedge. This leads to the attribute of toughness. A better word might be courage; a special teams player must have great courage to operate in space going full speed. Intelligence. You must have a player who is able to understand their role and assignment with a limited number of reps in practice.

Characteristics
Besides speed and toughness, we look for five main characteristics that we expect our special team players to exhibit:

1. Unselfishness
More than offense or defense, a special teams player must be a team player. I stress to players they will not receive much attention outside of our circle. The media and crowd typically don’t understand the every down significance of special teams. I tell players ... You won’t be recognized, accept it and play hard.

2. Discipline
Penalties are a plague for special teams. I tell players they must be disciplined to play penalty free. In the 2000 season, our primary kickoff returner averaged 39 yards a return. We did not have one penalty in 13 games. This is possible if you set the expectation for perfection and discuss it, and coach the fundamentals to achieve it. Secondly, we have to cover or defend the entire field on our units so the discipline to stay in your lane or block your man is magnified on these downs.

3. Game Breaker Personality
Basically, we are looking for the players who want to be in the game to make “The Play.” Let’s be honest, not all players want that responsibility. You have to find players who want to be in the game when it’s on the line.

4. Great Practice Player
Timing is crucial to special teams. We have to practice our timing at full speed. It’s a fact not all players are able to do consistently without a coach riding them. I tell players to become a great practice player and watch their entire game improve.

5. Hunger to be a part of Special Teams
I don’t hesitate to ask a player who I am evaluating, “Do you want to run down on kickoff?” You’ll know immediately by his reaction if he has a hunger for the job. That’s why subjective evaluation is so critical. Take 11 hungry players who live to run down on punts and they’ll out cover your fast guys any day. Don’t underestimate the power of desire to be a part of something. And again, let’s face it, not all players want to cover a punt or block on kickoff return.

Finally, I’ll touch on a subject that continues to be argued in coaching circles regarding special team players. Many coaches will say, “You better put your best players on those units.” Some high school coaches may think special teams are a place for backups. My opinion is I want the best special team players out there. I don’t care if they are starters or not. I have to do my job as a coach to look for those intangible qualities we discussed earlier. Understand the skills needed on the special teams. Your best tackler from the strong safety position may not be the best tackler on kickoff. Our All-American kickoff returner, was a backup tailback. But he had the unique skills necessary for a kickoff returner: great courage, the ability to hit full speed in under 10 yards, and the understanding that the return phase is a north-south game. There’s no doubt you need very athletic players to cover the field, but don’t underestimate those backups, there are some gems hiding on the sidelines. And talk about improving team chemistry. Bottom line is, players want to play, so provide the opportunity for them to find their place on the team.

Hopefully this will get you thinking about the type of players you want on the field for those important “special teams” downs.

Building a Solid Foundation for Special Teams

Motivating and Measuring Special Teams Play
Earlier in this article, we discussed the characteristics of great special teams players. We empasized speed, toughness and intelligence and wanted to find players who exhibited the necessary characteristics. Now, we’ll discuss how to motivate and measure our success as a special teams unit.

Inside the Numbers

Kickoff Team: Average start for 2000 opponents – 26 yard line. In five years allowed only two returns past 50-yard line.

Kickoff Return: 2000 team averaged 25 yards as a team and second Team All-American returner averaged 39 yards a return. No penalties in 13 games in 2000.

Punt Team: Over five-year period, net punt has averaged just under 35 yards. Fifteen successful fake punts were completed in five years.

Punt Return: 2000 Opponents net punt return average – 27. 3 yards. Nine touchdowns in four years on blocks and returns.

2000 Black Zones: MNU - 49 Opponent - 21

Motivation
All of us know that the best motivation is when it comes from within a player or from his teammates. Like it or not, your players will play harder for themselves or their teammates than they will for you. So we try to instill in our players a great sense of pride in being a part of special teams. Everything we do centers around the fact that this is a special group of players, who do special things, on the field each Saturday.

I think as a coach, how you conduct yourself during the special team period sends a big message to your players. If you don’t have a passion for these downs, it is going to show to your players. Don’t be surprised if they play without passion. In addition, we constantly remind our players how critical the special teams downs are. We talk about statistics and how it helps our offense or defense when we provide good field position.

Approximately one-fifth of the downs in a typical game are special teams downs. But I would argue the influence of those downs weighs much more heavily than 20 percent on the outcome of a game. Our players begin to believe what they do actually has a tangible effect on the game. We have a saying, “Offense wins the fan, defense wins the game, and special teams win the championship.” And guess what? Players believe it.

As we discussed earlier in the article, the general public doesn’t understand the importance of starting on the 37-yard line after a kickoff return, so our players know they won’t receive much press. But I believe it is important within the team to recognize the accomplishments of the special teams. Obviously, it starts at the top. Head coaches must be willing to recognize and reinforce to the team the value of great special team play.

At MidAmerica Nazarene University, we were fortunate that our head coach was a passionate believer in special teams and would constantly compliment our units in front of whomever would listen. Obviously, recognizing a special teams player of the game is important. Other ideas I’ve seen is a special team play of the game. Be creative in what you want to recognize. I will add that we didn’t give out a player of the week every game. To preserve the integrity of the award, it took a special effort and typically one that would build over numerous games. One time we passed out a plastic sword as a “Brave Heart” award for a player who displayed extraordinary courage and valor. The team laughed about it but that player stepped up to another level of play for the rest of the season. You never know what will motivate young men.

Measuring Performance
I think the most difficult area in motivating special teams is, “How do you know you are getting better?” Obviously, you can see if you made a field goal to win the game, or that no punts were blocked, but what about the hidden statistics that really measure if you are getting the most out of your special teams. A player must know what he has to do to be successful, and so we are very specific with our players about what is needed in each of the special team phases.

We have two main objectives we use for evaluation. The first one is, “Did we win the field position battle?” You’ve all seen the stat that talks about the percentage of success when an offense begins at certain points on the field. We’ve found it’s pretty accurate. So we sell our players on the fact that we win if we can win the field position game. The stat we use is an average start after a special teams play. Now I know that there are other factors that influence this stat, but players believe that stat is their responsibility and they give great effort to win the field position battle. I’m not sure there has been one game in the past five years that we won and didn’t have the advantage in this area. The second objective we use is simple, “Did special teams help us win or did we contribute to the loss?” This simple question helps players focus on the fact that their play does effect the outcome of the game.

Additionally, we track specific stats in each phase that we evaluate when we watch film as a unit. We set goals in each phase to measure our performance and to use as a standard for achievement. Do your players know what yard line you want to force opponents to begin after a kickoff? Most of these statistics are pretty basic, but again the message is, these downs are important and they make an impact in the game. One stat we take very seriously is the penalty free stat. We have a goal to play penalty-free every game. As mentioned earlier, our 2000 kickoff return team in which our primary returner averaged 39 yards, did not have one penalty in 13 games. Ask any coach that has coached kickoff return and they know the magnitude of that statistic. But we did it because we preached it every week and players knew it was critical in the field position battle. Another stat we take great pride in is the black zone. Everybody talks about the red zone. Ask any offensive coordinator how he likes operating on his own 13 yard line. We track how many times we force our opponent to start on or inside the 20 and how many times they force us to. Again, it reinforces to the players that these downs are crucial and they can influence the game. Every yard is critical in the battle for field position. Our players believe and understand the monumental difference between a 15-yard return and a 27-yard return. We fight relentlessly for those precious yards obtained by special teams. Finally, we track takeaways and turnovers. In five years of kickoff return we have had one fumble. I don’t believe that is by accident, it is by reinforcing the value of the kickoff return and how it fits into our goals as a team. Our returners are constantly reminded of ball security, which is the primary goal ... keep the ball!

In summary, a special teams player is a unique player. Take time to select the players for those units. Don’t overlook the intangible qualities that are crucial to the success on those select downs. Learn to motivate these players like winning and losing depended on it (because most of the time it does). And finally, educate your players on the value of special teams and then raise your bar of expectation for those units through well thought out statistical measurement. You can count on one thing, there will be at least three games next year that your special teams will make an obvious, noticeable impact on the outcome of the game. The only question is, “Which side of the scoreboard will you be on?

About the author
Darryl Jackson

Jackson is entering his third season as the wide receivers coach for the Arizona State football program. For the previous four seasons, Jackson had coached the Boise State wide receivers.





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