Option Punt

MTrain

MTrain

hodl
Joined
Oct 21, 2009
Messages
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Is this gonna be in our playbook now? I love this play.

Does that give them license to cream our punter though? What's the rule on that?
 
I approve. I think it does give them license to cream the punter but who cares. It should open up the return game if the other team is always worried about fakes.
 
Was that really a fake? I didn't go back and watch it again, but I was wondering if he was planning to punt all along. Pretty ballsy call by CPJ if so.
 
It looks to me like our athletic punter is given the license to decide on the roll out
 
He was reading Attouchu"s block. UNC was in a return and their guys were getting back quickly. It was a read for the punter. Go back and look at Attouchu pinning his guy to the inside.
 
This could have been a repeat of UNC's punters failure last year... I am so glad he executed better!
 
Speaking of our punter, if I'm looking at the numbers correctly (on theacc and cfbstats) Poole is 3rd in the country right now in yards per punt.

Very well done. Major under-looked asset that will pay off down the road.
 
It adds some risk - we could get one blocked because he takes half a second longer to read the play before following through with the kicking motion. But if we practice it enough for it to be a smooth read then I like it.

I don't know enough about special teams to speak inteligently on this, but I wonder how easy it is to read the defense in terms of all-out block, mix of block/return, and all-out return. I would assume it's pretty easy to see when a team is going all out block and the punter needs to just get rid of it. Maybe he just gets the option given the defensive look. And as said earlier in this thread, whether he use it that often or not, the threat of it should help our coverage unit.

LSU seems to have had some good success with this kick/run option from the punter in big games recently.
 
It's definitely a lot like a rugby punt. Wonder if gotsis wants to try it. Imagine some poor ST kids trying to take him down haha
 
gtrower said:
It adds some risk - we could get one blocked because he takes half a second longer to read the play before following through with the kicking motion. But if we practice it enough for it to be a smooth read then I like it.
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It only works if your punter can kick it rugby-style. I legitimately don't understand why just about every team doesn't do option reads on punts. If your punter can run at all, you can pick up a LOT of yards if the other team sells out to block for the return. On the other hand, if the defense is ready for the fake, they're not as likely to block your punt and are also less able to effectively block for a punt return.

Seems like a no-brainer to me. It does take some ball since it's an unusual thing to do, but that's right up PJ's alley.
 
johncu said:
It only works if your punter can kick it rugby-style. I legitimately don't understand why just about every team doesn't do option reads on punts. If your punter can run at all, you can pick up a LOT of yards if the other team sells out to block for the return. On the other hand, if the defense is ready for the fake, they're not as likely to block your punt and are also less able to effectively block for a punt return.

Seems like a no-brainer to me. It does take some ball since it's an unusual thing to do, but that's right up PJ's alley.
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Usually, you should be safer, but how many punters can roll out to the right OR the left to avoid rusher? Also, you're putting yourself outside your blockers.
 
slugboy said:
Usually, you should be safer, but how many punters can roll out to the right OR the left to avoid rusher? Also, you're putting yourself outside your blockers.
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Any rugby player should be able to do that with ease, and many soccer players probably could as well. I could rugby-style punt pretty well in college, although I didn't have quite the leg strength necessary to walk on at Clemson.

I agree that many punters probably can't do it, but that doesn't mean they can't learn.
 
johncu said:
Any rugby player should be able to do that with ease, and many soccer players probably could as well. I could rugby-style punt pretty well in college, although I didn't have quite the leg strength necessary to walk on at Clemson.

I agree that many punters probably can't do it, but that doesn't mean they can't learn.
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I'm sure most soccer players would look awful doing it. Only goalies. You never run and drop a ball to yourself in soccer to kick it.
 
MTrain said:
I'm sure most soccer players would look awful doing it. Only goalies. You never run and drop a ball to yourself in soccer to kick it.
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No, but it's easy to learn. I never played keeper it wasn't hard, since soccer players still learn to kick a ball out of the air while moving.
 
This is the sorta thing that works once a year. Now that we've shown it, I'm sure other teams will guard against it.
 
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