Kicker and Punter

I can see it: A month from now, we're down one to UGA, seconds left, and Birr is lining up for a 40-yarder from the left hash. Shanahan with the hold.
 
Meanwhile, Gavin Stewart, now at Georgia Southern, is 7 of 8 on field goals with a long of 53.
 
Just my opinion.....

First, we need to be able to block on special teams both kicks and punts.

Second, Shanahan has been inconsistent punting (inconsistent is generous) and has had issues catching the ball on both punts and holding. The snaps on the kicks yesterday were not good, but a good holder could have gotten them down IMO.

Third, snapper had a really bad day yesterday. I do not recall this being an issue previously. Have not really looked at it closely though.

Fourth, not sure that Birr is the problem. Missing 45+ or 50+ yd FG's happens and there have been blocking issues. Wondering if there is something about the holder / snapper exchange that is throwing him off. One season, years ago, we had an issues where the holder would look up shifting the position of the ball right as the ball was being kicked and it never got fixed and surprise the kicker had a bad year.

Fifth, why do we keep getting called for substitution penalties on special teams and why has this not been fixed? This is what 3 games in a row? We also had some instances of illegal formation on special teams earlier in the year. These are dumb, dumb penalties that are the hallmarks of bad coaching. Strong indicator that there are other issues with players not knowing their assignments though I have not looked that closely at it. These should not be happening and need to get fixed ASAP.
 
I will ask one more time. Given the critical nature of special teams, why can't we afford to hire a coach dedicated to special teams?
 
justafan said:
I can see it: A month from now, we're down one to UGA, seconds left, and Birr is lining up for a 40-yarder from the left hash. Shanahan with the hold.
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Birr lining up for a 40 yd FG from the left hash. Shanahan, who has had a bad go of it this season as the holder, is ready to receive the snap. UGA has the LOS stacked going for the block. This kick is for the win and the biggest upset of the college football season. UGA' s #1 ranking on the line. Here we go. The snap rolls back to Shanahan...Shanahan scrambles to set it. HOLY MOSES he gets it placed, Birr has to stutter step during the approach, but gets off what looks like a low line drive fluttering dead duck. It's up and hits the crossbar and right upright. There's no signal from the befuddled referees standing underneath the goal posts. Referees are looking at one another, and now conferring...
 
WracerX said:
Yep. Beyond 47, he is pretty much a guaranteed miss. Having him kick at that range is a coach’s decision. He’s solid below 40. That makes him lower P4 and about average for FBS.
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Yep. Kickers in the P5 must be able to hit beyond 50 yds and be better than 70% beyond 40yds. You want to play in big boy P5 football, you gotta make big boy kicks.
 
savbandjacket said:
The first snap was awful. 50/50 at best on whether anyone else would have gotten it down for a clean kick.

Second snap was better and Shanahan handled it slow which led to a late kick that Birr did no favors for by kicking a line drive.
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I did go back to look at the FG's. I've only found the the one at 3 mins left in 3rd quarter. I admit that that snap was high but Shanahan recovered it nicely and didn't seem to throw off the timing. It must have freaked Birr out because Shan did a good job maintaining the timing.
 
First FG attempt before the half, sun right in Shanny's eyes, ball snapped upward toward his helmet.

1729525293223.png



Second attempt, he had to raise his right knee off the ground to handle the snap which was traveling high and behind him slightly. I couldn't get a perfect snap of it.


1729525520359.png
 
coit said:
First FG attempt before the half, sun right in Shanny's eyes, ball snapped upward toward his helmet.

1729525293223.png



Second attempt, he had to raise his right knee off the ground to handle the snap which was traveling high and behind him slightly. I couldn't get a perfect snap of it.


1729525520359.png
Click to expand...
Both snaps were bad but most people would also expect a holder to be able to manage both of those snaps. I don't think Shanahan has very good hand-eye coordination and doesn't seem like a "gamer." He seems timid and jumpy. I know some of that may be PTSD from our crappy punt protection, but last week against UNC he had a snap hit him in the hands and just flat out dropped it. Luckily the ball bounced right back to him. Twice against ND and several in the past few games I've noticed he's kicking line drives even when he has time back there.
 
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