It’s not the long snapper. Yeah we had one that wasn’t clean last week, but our issues are with the guy kicking it and maybe the coaching he’s receiving. We haven’t had a kicker that has put up good numbers at a previous stop since Huascka.
My advice? Grin and bear it, and cheer like crazy when one goes in. That’s what we’ve got, or seemingly what we are going to trot out.
My bigger concern is with the kickoffs and our strategy. Bam’s got enough leg to kick it out of the back. There’s a mountain of statistical evidence showing this is the best strategy. DD says he’s got a stats guy. Don’t get cute and try to pooch it to full backs at about the 35 hoping they drop it. They’re on the hands team for a reason. Kick it out of the back, avoid injuries and set up on defense at the 25. That one is pretty obvious and is something we CAN correct this year.
Oh, and enjoy the punting. That’s a part of kicking and we have a great one right now. There are very few spots for punters in the NFL, but Cole may have a shot at one of those. He can boom it and with some serious hang time. Looking at his bio, I wonder why he’s not place kicking:
Senior year stats: Converted 7-of-9 field goal attempts and 33-of-38 extra point tries for 54 points. Of his 42 kickoffs, 32 were touchbacks. No. 13 punter in the country by Kohl’s Kicking in the 2014 rankings. No. 5 kicker nationally…
