Dan Ferrigno Addresses Special Teams Issues
File this one under "oh crap, they're lining up to attempt a field goal!" and "catch the damn ball!"
Michigan's new special teams coach, Dan Ferrigno discussed the placekicker and punt return situations with Angelique Chengelis in this DetNews article:
"We're going to put these guys under pressure. Anybody can kick field goals in practice. What we do, we generate some pressure situations where, let's say at the end of practice, we bring them out and say, 'Hey, look we've got to make all of these. We don't make these, the whole team is running.'"
Ferrigno said the entire team will close in tightly aroundthe kickers and make as much noise as possible. "That's what we do," Ferrigno said animatedly. "It's fun, see? Then they've got to kick it. The other thing we'll do, we'll just blow up practice in the middle of practice. Brady will blow the whistle, 'OK, field goal! Boom!' Again, with ramifications. You have to create those situations. Is it 115,000 people in the Big House? No. Not even close. But it's as close as you can get."
One of the goals of spring practice...is to emerge with a starting kicker, Ferrigno said. "We will try to come out with a good one going into fall ball, with a new guy coming (Wile), and put him under that same pressure and see who wins the job. We need to improve there."
Ferrigno has studied enough of last year's kicking problems to know some of it was mental. "I liken it to playing golf. When your swing's going, it's great. When it's not, it's tough to fix sometimes. It's a little bit like a golf swing — it looks real easy, but it's not that easy. There are so many minute things that can go wrong. I think once that happens, certain kids will lose confidence, other kids fight through it, so it's my job as the special teams coach — these kids are all decent kickers or they wouldn't be here — so it's my job to see it done right in my mind and to coach them off of their good mechanics. I don't want to reinvent the wheel every time we miss a field goal to where now they're headcases."
Ferrigno also mentioned Michigan's punt returns. "Do you know that after every punt that hits the ground, do you know how many yards you lose of field position? Seventeen yards. That's the average, so that's a huge deal. We're going to teach those kids how to get to the ball and how to catch it and hold onto it."
Sounds good to me.
Just having a dedicated special teams coach is going to make as much of a difference as anything else.
He's split between special teams and tight ends:
http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/ferrigno_dan00.html
Yep. I don't know why people are pretending that we didn't have a guy responsible for special teams before.
I suppose teams other than UM also don't have a special teams coach, but reading causes me to shake my head about RR not giving more attention to so critical a part of the game.
Interesting insights into special teams, thanks for posting. Love the kicker pressure in practice.
I'd be curious to see the numbers behind losing 17 yards on punts that hit the ground. I'm assuming he means letting the punt hit the ground but still being able to return it versus "hitting the ground" meaning a fumble.
...is correct.
Which means automatically 0 return, plus however many yards it (usually) bounces and rolls back. Think about a 10 yard return gone and s 7 yard roll, and it adds up.
I know we always get excited every offseason.. but.. I'm really excited about the direction this coaching staff is taking us. Let's hope the changes mean some big wins!
All coaches try and simulate pressure on the kickers in practice. This is nothing new.
I'm a golfer and can see the similarities to the problems of last year. Once you lose your nerve off the tee the ball will go all over the place. You could see the guys aiming it last year and not letting it go.
They'll be fine. They will improve a lot. Things just steamrolled on them last year.
Wow, comparing hitting the ball thru the windmill at Uncle Tooties Putt Putt to hitting a field goal in college football.
I love how guys like to go all, "Yeah, I once had a beer with a football player, so I know what it takes to win in the NFL and stuff."
The point, you missed it.
Shoring up actually catching punts would be nice too.
KICK THE DAMN BALL
It drives me crazy when a punt hits the ground. If you don't have to catch it on a sprint or dive to catch a punt, it ought to be caught.
... but I also feel that our guys are too often sprinting to catch punts which seemingly looked normal. I don't know if they just weren't reading punts right, were too slow in reading them, or if it was my imagination, but just getting your feet set under the punt would be a big step forward.
I agree. Gallon especially.
Is this another case of needing glasses, or is it a case of a kid having nobody to give him advice on how to address a punting situation? You've gotta figure, simply having a guy back there with years of experience and a job requirement to watch film of opposing kickers will help in that respect.
"Alright, I watched the film and he's not going to punt it more than 45 total, but he's got a strong tailwind, so you're gonna want to line up on X yard line. Also, his punts go left a lot, so shadow that way."
Instead of:
"Alright. Go stand out there somewhere in the backfield and catch that punt."
March 14th, 2011 at 10:55 PM ^
I don't really know what Gallon's issue is. Some people just have a knack for judging/fielding punts. Gallon doesn't really seem to have that natural ability.
Personally, I see Dileo as having more potential as a returner. I don't think he's necessarily a big play guy, but he's got good hands, good judgment, and enough speed and moves to get solid returns consistently.
The pressure idea is amazing, i think it will def help the kids in high pressure situations.
17 yards is a ton of yardage to give up, which is why I am in favor of putting 2 men back deep to return punts. It doubles your chance of having a guy in good position to field the punt cleanly.
Stonum at kick returner for one more year?
to teach them and condition them for the pressure situations is awesome to see.
it's obviously not as important as actually kicking the ball high, long, and straight, but putting them in the right position is a big deal. Too many times over the last 3 years I saw Rich Rod make the dumbest mistake. He would run to the right on 3rd down with a right footed kicker. Ask any right-footed soccer player where he'd want to be for a field goal and he'll say "left hash". It's an optical illusion thing, but it's real. I can't believe a guy like Rich Rod was too stupid to realize that after so many missed field goals.