IMO, one of the biggest moves Miles made when he got here was put emphasis on special teams--an area that I REALLY think was neglected under Saban. With Miles getting a dedicated special teams coach, I look for Virginia Tech-type production from our special teams (VT was benefited GREATLY due in large part to their dedication to coaching special teams the same way they coached their offense and defense, and with all of their team speed--which we have a boat-load of). So, I'll buck the trend a little bit, and stray off course from naming an individual player or two (besides, all of you guys have done a great job of throwing out names) and instead, I'll say that our special teams play AS A WHOLE, will be one that the majority of us fans will be saying, "Damn! That is quite a turnaround from last year and boy did we have great production!" Over the past two seasons, I used to HATE the punt formations we used. The 3-upback formations used vs OU in the Sugar bowl and vs Iowa in the Cap One are two VERY good examples of a formation that didn't work. Even when I first saw it I thought, "What the hell is THAT crap?! We're asking to give up a blocked punt" ....and sure enough, we did. The past few seasons, our special teams hurt us at times when they should have helped us 99% of the time. From missed FG's and inconsistant kicking, to giving up blocked punts, or not truely being aware of where our return man was standing when he fielded a kick, or took a knee. I look for all of those things to be radically adjusted and am expecting good things. It'll translate into better field position for our offense and more points on the board.
i went to Nick Sabans football camp with him a couple of years ago and this kid can play. Not only that he is a great guy and took time to help me work on some drills.
i think saban did a great job emphasizing the defense of special teams. its pretty important too. its half of it, i guess. pinning the other team deep and getting good field position is just as valuable as a 50 yd kick return.
If Chis Jackson is someone we say, "Damn, he's much better this year", this team won't lose. A game. At all.
2004 Southeastern Conference Football KICKOFF COVERAGE G No. Yards TD Avg ----------------------------------------------- 1. LSU................. 12 46 759 0 16.5 2. Florida............. 12 43 715 0 16.6 3. Georgia............. 12 47 806 0 17.1 4. Tennessee........... 13 42 767 0 18.3 5. Arkansas............ 11 37 681 0 18.4 6. Ole Miss............ 11 25 476 0 19.0 7. Alabama............. 12 36 691 0 19.2 8. Vanderbilt.......... 11 28 567 0 20.2 9. Mississippi State... 11 17 356 0 20.9 10.Auburn.............. 13 33 692 0 21.0 11.Kentucky............ 11 19 460 1 24.2 12.South Carolina...... 11 34 834 1 24.5 PUNTING G No. Yards Avg Ret Yds Avg Net/P ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Tennessee........... 13 59 2387 40.5 24 88 1.5 39.0 2. Auburn.............. 13 49 2008 41.0 23 147 3.0 38.0 3. Alabama............. 12 65 2611 40.2 22 150 2.3 37.9 4. Mississippi State... 11 68 2816 41.4 33 293 4.3 37.1 5. Ole Miss............ 11 66 2789 42.3 34 352 5.3 36.9 6. Arkansas............ 11 54 2041 37.8 23 80 1.5 36.3 7. Florida............. 12 56 2352 42.0 22 323 5.8 36.2 8. Kentucky............ 11 64 2567 40.1 27 258 4.0 36.1 9. LSU................. 12 56 2134 38.1 20 120 2.1 36.0 10.South Carolina...... 11 56 2092 37.4 22 113 2.0 35.3 11.Georgia............. 12 56 2225 39.7 28 252 4.5 35.2 12.Vanderbilt.......... 11 56 2051 36.6 26 306 5.5 31.2 no part even decent #1 kickoff coverage in sec #3 punt return D in sec did you even watch a game last year?
^^^^Well, apparently I was wrong statisticly speaking but I would not have guessed those numbers from watching the team play last season. We looked sloppy in every special teams aspect to me. In fact, I remember several times Nick mentioned that we were not doing kickoff coverage properly & that there were lots of blown assignments in return Defense. I'm not sure how we managed to get such good numbers with play that appeared under-par to me.
Good post. I agree, our special teams didn't look that good under Saban. Blocked punt in the 03 Sugar Bowl cost 7 pts. and they came close another time. Extra points have been dicey the last few years, cost us the Auburn game last year? Les Miles has this as a definite opportunity to improve.
there certainly were problems, especially last year, but effort was always there. that is 90% of it, and it was often not there before saban. im hoping for improvement under clm :geauxtige
