2009 tOSU Special Teams discussion (official thread)

[osugrad21]

DDN

Scrimmage puts focus on OSU kickers

By RUSTY MILLER,
The Associated Press
Updated 2:57 AM Friday, August 21, 2009

COLUMBUS, Ohio ? For most of August, Ohio State's place-kickers and punters labor in relative obscurity, practicing apart from their teammates and doing whatever it is kickers and punters must do to get ready for another season.
The annual kick scrimmage ? both dreaded and anticipated by the participants ? changes all of that.
"I love these things and I hate 'em at the same time," said senior Aaron Pettrey, the heir apparent to replace Ryan Pretorius as the Buckeyes kicker. "I mean, I'm glad I never have to do one again. I think you feel more pressure out here than in a game. I like 'em, but I'm glad it's my last one."
Ohio State's kick scrimmage on Wednesday was particularly illuminating since coach Jim Tressel must find replacements for both Pretorius and punter A.J. Trapasso.
Cont..

[Buckskin86]

2009-08-19 .


A Day For Kickers At OSU
Kickers took center stage at Ohio State practice on Wednesday. UWIRE's Jackie Bardosi hit practice to see if everyone was kicking it up and through.

Palestra video

UWIREvideo

[southcampus]

Despite her Sarah Palin accent, I'm beginning to like what I see from Jackie

[Buckskin86]

Asked for a special teams player to watch, with special teams standouts like Brian Rolle, Austin Spitler and Shaun Lane either starting on defense on gone to graduation, Tressel mentioned backup cornerback Donnie Evege, a sophomore back after missing nearly all of last year because of injury.

Quick hits from Jim Tressel's Ohio State news conference - cleveland.com

[jazzman]

Is it just me or do we truly start worrying about our special teams from now on? I know the offense has been criticized a bit this year....personally, I am more worried about our special teams. I haven't been impressed with the field goal attempts from close....which is exactly the opposite of how it usually is! Pettrey must be one of the best in the country from distance, but he seems to be shaky with chip shots. Also, I am nervous on kick-off returns and our guys being able to hold their lanes.....anyone else think that way? Also, we have had a few dropped balls on punts, and apart from Ray Small's return for a TD, we haven't had a lot of production on punt & kick-off returns. I am just worried that special teams may be the unit that lets us down in that tough 3 games stretch to close out the season.

[Buckrock]

Originally Posted by jazzman

Is it just me or do we truly start worrying about our special teams from now on? I know the offense has been criticized a bit this year....personally, I am more worried about our special teams. I haven't been impressed with the field goal attempts from close....which is exactly the opposite of how it usually is! Pettrey must be one of the best in the country from distance, but he seems to be shaky with chip shots. Also, I am nervous on kick-off returns and our guys being able to hold their lanes.....anyone else think that way? Also, we have had a few dropped balls on punts, and apart from Ray Small's return for a TD, we haven't had a lot of production on punt & kick-off returns. I am just worried that special teams may be the unit that lets us down in that tough 3 games stretch to close out the season.

I'm not as worried about our Special Team play. Thoma is doing a good job, with occasional inconsistency, but he's basically a Rookie who is getting better each game. Decent not great hang time. Our kick coverage has been excellent. Small and Thomas give us big play capability. Pettrey is a very good kicker who IMO has some technique issues with his shorter kicks. He needs to adjust to the natural right to left draw he has on his kicks especially from the right hash. I like the overall speed and kick coverage the most. Our blocking is also very good. Pettrey is perfect over 40 yards. I'd rather have this than a kicker who cannot deliver from this distance. Last year kick blocks were the problem. Not this year. We will block two kicks before the season is out IMO. We've near missed on a couple of occasions. Anyone else offer an opinion?

[MililaniBuckeye]

Originally Posted by jazzman

I haven't been impressed with the field goal attempts from close....which is exactly the opposite of how it usually is! Pettrey must be one of the best in the country from distance, but he seems to be shaky with chip shots..

That's because nearly everyone of the "chip shots" have been from either hash mark, which from in-close are very hard to make. Put him in/near the middle, or put him outside the 30 from where it's not as difficult from the hash marks, and he's money. I can't recall which game it was earlier this year, but he had just missed a real short one from the hash, and then proceeded to drill one right down the middle from around 50 yards.

[jazzman]

Originally Posted by MililaniBuckeye

That's because nearly everyone of the "chip shots" have been from either hash mark, which from in-close are very hard to make. Put him in/near the middle, or put him outside the 30 from where it's not as difficult from the hash marks, and he's money. I can't recall which game it was earlier this year, but he had just missed a real short one from the hash, and then proceeded to drill one right down the middle from around 50 yards.

Absolutely....can't argue with that. But, here's the thing....should we go for the field goal in the red zone if the ball ends up by the hash marks or should we go for it and trust TP to make a play?

[MililaniBuckeye]

Originally Posted by jazzman

Absolutely....can't argue with that. But, here's the thing....should we go for the field goal in the red zone if the ball ends up by the hash marks or should we go for it and trust TP to make a play?

Depends upon the situation. Is it 4th and 1 from the 6, or 4th and 8 from the 17?

The first situation has 1) Only one yard to make the first down, 2) A very difficult kick from the hash (ball being kicked from the 13), and 3) Failing to make the first at leat pins the opponent down well inside their 10 yard line. Nothing wrong with going on 4th down here.

The second situation has 1) Eight yards to make a first down, 2) A somewhat easier kick even from the hash because the ball is now being kicked from the 24 (11 yards further back), and 3) Failing to make to first give our opponent the ball near/outside their 20 yard line vice inside their 10. It'd be stupid not to try the field goal.

[jazzman]

Originally Posted by MililaniBuckeye

Depends upon the situation. Is it 4th and 1 from the 6, or 4th and 8 from the 17?

The first situation has 1) Only one yard to make the first down, 2) A very difficult kick from the hash (ball being kicked from the 13), and 3) Failing to make the first at leat pins the opponent down well inside their 10 yard line. Nothing wrong with going on 4th down here.

The second situation has 1) Eight yards to make a first down, 2) A somewhat easier kick even from the hash because the ball is now being kicked from the 24 (11 yards further back), and 3) Failing to make to first give our opponent the ball near/outside their 20 yard line vice inside their 10. It'd be stupid not to try the field goal.

That sounds reasonable to me....However if we are in a 4th an 3 from the 6.....what do we do if the ball is on the hash?

Another thing is our punt returns haven't been great

PUNT RETURNS No. Yards Avg TD Long
Small, Ray 19 82 4.3 0 18
Sanzenbacher, Dane 2 17 8.5 0 15
Posey, DeVier 1 5 5.0 0 5
Total.......... 22 104 4.7 0 18

I am sorry if the above stats haven't posted properly, but you can see that there isn't great productivity here.

I don't mean to sound picky...but Special Teams has been one of the strong suits for JT over the years, and I don't see this unit being as high as the standards set in recent times.

[MililaniBuckeye]

Originally Posted by jazzman

That sounds reasonable to me....However if we are in a 4th an 3 from the 6.....what do we do if the ball is on the hash?

Then it's a game situation decision then. Are we ahead or behind, and by how much? What quarter is it? How is our offense and defense playing so far? Too many variables to rely on a canned "If you're 4th and X from the Y yard line, you do this" approach.

[BB73]

Originally Posted by jazzman

That sounds reasonable to me....However if we are in a 4th an 3 from the 6.....what do we do if the ball is on the hash?

Another thing is our punt returns haven't been great

PUNT RETURNS No. Yards Avg TD Long
Small, Ray 19 82 4.3 0 18
Sanzenbacher, Dane 2 17 8.5 0 15
Posey, DeVier 1 5 5.0 0 5
Total.......... 22 104 4.7 0 18

I am sorry if the above stats haven't posted properly, but you can see that there isn't great productivity here.

I'll be disapponted if the punt return team doesn't improve that average significantly this week. Watching NMST's last game, their punt coverage looked like the worst aspect of their team. And tOSU should have 8 or 10 chances to return punts.

[Buckskin86]

OSU football: Kicking situation still undecided, Tressel says
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
By Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Ohio State's preparation for its most important date yet this season -- a criticial Big Ten game at Penn State on Saturday -- will include a kickers' derby, it seems.

No. 1 kicker Aaron Pettrey is out for the rest of the season, and thus the rest of his college career, because of a knee injury suffered last week against New Mexico State. OSU coach Jim Tressel said at his weekly media luncheon today that though former professional soccer player Devin Barclay replaced Pettrey against New Mexico State, the team will look at Ben Buchanan this week, too.

Buchanan missed last week's game because of illness, but Tressel anticipates a competition between the two the next couple of days.

"So between Devin and Ben, we've got to step up," Tressel said. "I'm not sure any of us expected that, but that's part of football."

Pettrey was expected to undergo surgery on his right knee today. Tressel said he expects him to fully recover, and Pettrey might be able to play in the Texas vs. The Nation college all-star game in Houston in mid-January.

BuckeyeXtra - OSU football: Kicking situation still undecided, Tressel says

[Buckskin86]

Tressel: Special teams 'unsettling'
Touchdown on kickoff by Hawkeyes, poor punts draw coach's attention
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
By Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Even though Ohio State already has a Rose Bowl invitation and at least a share of a fifth straight Big Ten championship, as it prepares for the regular-season finale Saturday at Michigan, coach Jim Tressel wasn't feeling all that special.

That's because of the special teams play last week in an overtime win against Iowa. Yes, a 39-yard field goal by Devin Barclay won the game, but another special teams play -- a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by the Hawkeyes' Derrell Johnson-Koulianos -- nearly ruined the Buckeyes party.

And the punting game has had its issues, too.

"I know what I have to do; I know I haven't been performing as well as I could," senior punter Jon Thoma said. "And we're going to get better."

Under Tressel, one of the pillars is, "The punt is the most important play in football." That's why the Buckeyes knew special teams would be points of emphasis in practice this week.

Tressel detests losing the special teams competitions, especially this late in the season.

"It's very unsettling," Tressel said. "We call them the special units and we couldn't say that after that game. We didn't win the punt game. We didn't win the kickoff-cover game.

"Now, we can't diminish the one we did win the game with, and that was extraordinary, that was great. But, again, we need to be at our best in all of those. You can't go on the road and lose the special teams and win the game."

Tressel: Special teams 'unsettling' | BuckeyeXtra