JMU Missed Punt Block Opportunity
When the James Madison University coaches turned on the tape this morning they saw a lot of opportunities missed. Some of these opportunities were pretty obvious as they digested the 34-31 overtime loss vs Appalachian State. However; one opportunity that slid right by most people watching the game, including the announcers was the punt block opportunity JMU had.
There are a couple of things you should know before you hopefully read on.
First, I am an Appalachian State fan. Thanks to Mack Brown and Sparky Woods, this is where my coaching career began in 1983-1986.
Second, I coached a lot of different positions over my 30 years in the NFL and college football but special teams was almost always a part of my responsibilities.
Yes, the Dukes Had My Mountaineers But...
Now that that is out of the way, if I was in charge of the App punt team last night, I would have been a very nervous coach. The Mountaineer punter short legged at least two punts because of the Dukes punt rush. One television shot showed him coming off the field , obviously rattled.
As I went back and looked at the television copy of the game I saw why. JMU had the App punt protection totally schemed up and they had a free player to the block point on a punt in the first quarter.
JMU essentially lined up with a 7-2 overload to their left. They allowed Appalachian State to get their protection count. This count must have had the front line sliding to the overload and the two shield protectors responsible for the two JMU players to the weak side.
Prior to the snap, JMU shifted two punt rushers to the weak side. You can see them in purple. This ate up the Guard, Tackle and the two Shield Protectors to the weak side.
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Now it’s time to do the math. Let’s start with the snapper who is not in the protection scheme. He snaps the ball and he is off in coverage. He is normally not part of the protection.
To put it mildly the right side of the App protection was screwed. They have three to block four and that is why JMU had a free rusher to the punter’s leg.
To add insult to injury, two of the JMU players to that side pulled out to defend the fake or to be a part of the return. This was a good piece of special teams game planning.
Make Sure You Free The Right Dude Up & Train Them.
Now here is where two important lessons that I learned as a special teams coach comes into play. First, make sure you have the right dude who you free up to block the kick. Some players just have an innate knack for blocking kicks and some do not.
The second thing is to drill the heck out of how to take a punt off of the foot so that your punt blocker is comfortable doing this. My guess is that with teams being thrown together with the transfer portal there are techniques like punt blocking that are either not worked on or maybe not reinforced.
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So congratulations to my Ama Mater and first coaching gig Appalachian State. I am a fan for life even though I coached a lot after I left. Word to the wise though. Whoever you play next week saw this too.
For the JMU special teams coach or coaches who schemed this block up, I say… great job. You had them and it would have probably been a touchdown. You will get another chance down the road.
