Interesting article on the punt formation

On his radio show last night, a caller asked Miles about the reason he changed to a new punt formation. Miles reply was that they were not sure if the Jacob O'Hair, the new deep snapper going into the season, could handle snapping in the old formation. He then said that that concern was compounded when O'Hair was injured and P.J. Zimmermann took over. Tigerbait recently posted and article with an interview from Chris Jackson that seems to contradict what Miles was saying. It seems like they are not on the same page on this.

http://lsu.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=593947

 

Actually, you don't see it in the NFL because the rules for linemen being downfield during punts are different between college and the pros. In college, the linemen can go downfield at any time, while in the pros, linemen have to wait for the punt as if it were a pass. (someone on this board sent me to the rule book on this last year.)

The lineup is designed to free up the linemen to run downfield to cover the punt better. To do this, they allow the defenders through much like a screen pass. Most receiving teams will bring some of their blockers with the linemen so they can create the lanes the returner needs. The three blockers are supposed to shield the punter well enough to get the punt off. The rugby kicks give a punter who has trouble with hang-time a few seconds of a delay so the cover guys can get further downfield. The three blockers can do their job better if the punter is moving, since when the punter moves the rushing defenders have to stay in their lanes to prevent him from running for the first down.

The problem is Jackson has great hangtime, and doesn't feel comfortable rolling out. Traditional punters who punt out of this formation are sitting ducks for block teams because the three blockers can easily be overwhelmed. Both LSU and Florida have traditional punters--both teams had a punt blocked last Saturday and could have had more blocked. I can only remember seeing one blocked punt out of this formation when the punter was moving--Hester's block agains ASU last year. In that case, the punter waited too long to decide whether he was going to run, and never actually punted the ball. Hester knocked it down before he got his foot on the ball.

In the NFL, the linemen are closer together because you don't want to limit the number of people running down the field. Since only 5 players can go downfield before the punt (the 2 ends and the 3 others in the backfield), they need the linemen to actually block someone. The 2 guys behind the guards are supposed to release immediately unless the defensive team runs someone right at them.

I have never liked the new formation when other teams ran it and was glad to see LSU figure out how to stop it vs ASU. I am extremely disappointed to see the Tigers run it this year, since the only other time we ran it was on the first punt in the Sugar Bowl--you know the one that set up OU's 2 yard TD drive.

GEAUX TIGERS

 

Just another sign of cluLESness to me. They are going down fellas, I just hope it's a short fall.

I also THINK (just a feeling I have) There is a cancer eating in this team we will never know about until after the fact. Pay close attention to late season and spring/summer blotters for playas getting in trouble. That will be our first clue.

 

Talk about an informative reply. Thanks for the info.

 

I'm glad to know we are more worried about punt coverage than punt blocking ................clueeLESs.

 

That would be me! And, I must now say, ya done good Thorny!