More Emphasis on Special Teams?

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 10:26 pm

cowboyjoe wrote:Are you serious? Pope wasn't even the deep back. He was in the second line and was being used to block. Give me a break. You don't put a 1,000 yard rusher in on special teams to block.

Yes you do. You put your best players on the field, especially against a team like Wisconsin. You have to put your best athletes on the field regardless, of the situation. Injuries can happen on any play and are a freak occurrence. If you start to coach to not get hurt you won't be winning any games.

Rollo83 · Post by **Rollo83** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 11:04 pm

I have to agree with Cowboy on this one. P.J. should not have been out there in my opinion. He's too valuable to have helping form the wedge on kickoff returns. That's not "playing to not get hurt"...it's just playing smart. Any number of players other than PJ could have made that block. If getting your best athletes on the field is the goal of special teams, why doesn't LaDamian Tomlinson and Michael Vick play special teams?

San Diego Falcon · Post by **San Diego Falcon** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 1:01 am

If getting your best athletes on the field is the goal of special teams, why doesn't LaDamian Tomlinson and Michael Vick play special teams?

Doesn't Steve Smith return punts for Carolina? He should have been the league MVP this year.

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:16 am

San Diego Falcon wrote:
If getting your best athletes on the field is the goal of special teams, why doesn't LaDamian Tomlinson and Michael Vick play special teams?
Doesn't Steve Smith return punts for Carolina? He should have been the league MVP this year.

Smith does return punts for Carolina.

However, BG is not the NFL. We do not have 53 world class athletes on our roster, as every NFL team does. In college it wouldn't surprise me if LdT did return some kicks, and to be honest with ya I'm almost surprised that Vick didn't. Beamer is the posterchild for putting your starters on STs, although apparently that doesn't apply to his QB.

In the college ranks its VERY common to play your starters on STs and the teams that don't do that are usually the ones that get dominated on STs. Look around the nation at who's returning punts/kicks. At OSU Holmes/Ginn are out there, clearly their 2 best WRs. At UM it's Breaston, their best WR. Miami(FL) has had guys like Andre Johnson & Santana Moss returning kicks. KSU had Darren Sproles out there when he was their best player. That's just looking at the returnmen. I think if you looked throughout the college ranks you'd be pretty surprised how many starting LB/DB/TE are out there on kick coverage/protection units.

At a school like BG where our best athletes are an even more rare breed than at the BCS big boys we have even less choice. If you want to leave our STs into the hands of players who don't play on offense & defense, we'll never stop complaining about our STs units.

Jacobs4Heisman · Post by **Jacobs4Heisman** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:22 am

Although I agree with you hammb, Breaston was UM's third best receiver.

And although I agree with the general principle in college of putting your best players on ST, I question the decision to use Pope specifically as an upback. If you're gonna have him in there, let him return the ball with BJ.

And you'll notice that nobody around here complains when Chuck or Corey takes a punt return to the house.

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:29 am

Jacobs4Heisman wrote:Although I agree with you hammb, Breaston was UM's third best receiver.

Depends on how you look at it. He doesn't have the stats, but he's the one that opposing teams are most afraid of, IMO. He can do a lot with the ball in his hands. Either way, discount him & I can come up with countless other examples of having #1 WRs returning kicks

I question the decision to use Pope specifically as an upback. If you're gonna have him in there, let him return the ball with BJ.

It seems odd to me to have him as the upback, but I figure that I'll give the coach the benefit of the doubt on this one. I haven't been in practice, but I'll bet that Brandon believes that Pope is his best blocker in that situation, mobile enough to get to where he needs to be & a solid blocker. By having him there he's also guarding against the short popup kick that often ends up in the hands of players who don't know what to do with the ball.

I look at it this way: If Pope right there is the guy who can best block the opposition and allow us to set up a large return I'm not going to complain. I want my coach to put the best 11 out there for every situation, especially when you're playing an opponent that likely has more athletes.

Flipper · Post by **Flipper** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:33 am

PJ was playing the upback to guard against the "short" kick that teams sometimes use to catch the other team napping. We've done it in the past agaianst a number of teams. You kick the ball very high and short...to about the 25 yard line...that gives your cover guys a chance to flood the area when the ball lands. If the other team has a bunch of LB's or bigger guys with bad hands back there to block for the return, you stand a decent chnce of recovering a fumble deep in the other guys territory.

THAT'S why PJ was back there...

Jacobs4Heisman · Post by **Jacobs4Heisman** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:36 am

Flipper wrote:PJ was playing the upback to guard against the "short" kick that teams sometimes use to catch the other team napping. We've done it in the past agaianst a number of teams. You kick the ball very high and short...to about the 25 yard line...that gives your cover guys a chance to flood the area when the ball lands. If the other team has a bunch of LB's or bigger guys with bad hands back there to block for the return, you stand a decent chnce of recovering a fumble deep in the other guys territory.

THAT'S why PJ was back there...

Point taken, but Wisconsin bombed it deep almost exclusively. Their kicker had a cannon.

Flipper · Post by **Flipper** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:41 am

No offense, but I think our staff has probably scouted Whisky's tendencies more extensively than any of us...

Jacobs4Heisman · Post by **Jacobs4Heisman** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:44 am

Flipper wrote:No offense, but I think our staff has probably scouted Whisky's tendencies more extensively than any of us...

None taken, but they were wrong.

Flipper · Post by **Flipper** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 9:42 am

No...they were right

cowboyjoe · Post by **cowboyjoe** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 10:54 am

Pope was the up back every game last year too? Were we trying to protect against the short kick in every game last year too?

Flipper · Post by **Flipper** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 11:45 am

Perhaps...why don't you email Gregg Brandon and ask him

doughash · Post by **doughash** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 12:05 pm

If I remember correctly we botched one of those short kickoffs near the end of the 1st half of the Ohio U game. As the season went on other teams tried it against us and we always fair-caught the ball. FWIW.

Rollo83 · Post by **Rollo83** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 2:59 pm

The up-back guarding against a short kickoff usually has the job of fielding the ball cleanly. My point is that any number of players other than PJ could be doing that job. We don't need our number one running back in that position. Then consider when they do kick it long he has to become part of the blocking wedge. Ouch! You could see that injury coming a mile away.

I have no problem putting on of your starters as the return man if you think he gives you the best opportunity for field position. But not as a an up-back. Come on now!