johnnytsunami01
Sophomore
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2012
- Messages
- 4,373
I am still dumbfounded by what I have seen from Zach Feagles as a Miami punter. Never in my life have I seen a punter be so consistently bad. While all punters have a shanked punt on occasion, Feagles has a non-shanked punt on occasion.
I don't really know much about punting and don't usually pay attention to it while watching football, but yesterday I paid a bit closer attention to Feagles. After the game I have two main thoughts:
#1 Feagles drops the ball and allows it to free-fall a ridiculously long time before making contact. I remember watching one of the kicks Feagles shanked and the ball dropped at least 2 feet before contact was made with his leg. Clearly Feagles has terrible leg-eye coordination and he just can't square up the ball. He doesn't hit the ball with the center of his foot, instead he catches it with the left or right side. This makes the ball travel sideways and out of bounds rather than up the field.
This happens regularly, watch the -1 yard kick from last year, he drops the ball and instead of making contact with the center of the ball he makes contact with the right side making the ball go completely to the right. This reminds me of when I would fool around with punting and would try to drop the ball and kick it, rarely would I be able to square it up and actually make it go north and south. But based on my common sense, I would end up holding the ball a little longer and have less of a drop to make sure I could square it up. HOW HAS NOBODY TOLD THIS TO FEAGLES?? It might take some distance off his punt, but I'm pretty sure it will still be longer than the 30 yards he averages now.
Again I know very little about punting, but I know for a fact most punters do not have that big of a drop. How has no coach looked at this and tried to change it up? OBVIOUSLY it is not working, either change it or teach him how to square up the punt. It is one thing if the guy doesn't have the leg and it ends up just going 20 yards, but if all his punts go to the right or left and not up the field he is clearly not getting the ball squared up.
#2 We have Jack Spicer on this team. I do not know how he performs in practice or scrimmages, but this guy was a punter at UF and then transferred here. He is a senior with a ton of experience and last year in the championship game against Clemson he had two punts for an average of 42.5 yards. Maybe I am wrong, but in the countless punts that Feagles has had as a Miami Hurricanes I don't recall many that have gone over 42.5 yards. We have legit back-up punter we don't have to go pick up a random guy from the dorms.
I don't really know much about punting and don't usually pay attention to it while watching football, but yesterday I paid a bit closer attention to Feagles. After the game I have two main thoughts:
#1 Feagles drops the ball and allows it to free-fall a ridiculously long time before making contact. I remember watching one of the kicks Feagles shanked and the ball dropped at least 2 feet before contact was made with his leg. Clearly Feagles has terrible leg-eye coordination and he just can't square up the ball. He doesn't hit the ball with the center of his foot, instead he catches it with the left or right side. This makes the ball travel sideways and out of bounds rather than up the field.
This happens regularly, watch the -1 yard kick from last year, he drops the ball and instead of making contact with the center of the ball he makes contact with the right side making the ball go completely to the right. This reminds me of when I would fool around with punting and would try to drop the ball and kick it, rarely would I be able to square it up and actually make it go north and south. But based on my common sense, I would end up holding the ball a little longer and have less of a drop to make sure I could square it up. HOW HAS NOBODY TOLD THIS TO FEAGLES?? It might take some distance off his punt, but I'm pretty sure it will still be longer than the 30 yards he averages now.
Again I know very little about punting, but I know for a fact most punters do not have that big of a drop. How has no coach looked at this and tried to change it up? OBVIOUSLY it is not working, either change it or teach him how to square up the punt. It is one thing if the guy doesn't have the leg and it ends up just going 20 yards, but if all his punts go to the right or left and not up the field he is clearly not getting the ball squared up.
#2 We have Jack Spicer on this team. I do not know how he performs in practice or scrimmages, but this guy was a punter at UF and then transferred here. He is a senior with a ton of experience and last year in the championship game against Clemson he had two punts for an average of 42.5 yards. Maybe I am wrong, but in the countless punts that Feagles has had as a Miami Hurricanes I don't recall many that have gone over 42.5 yards. We have legit back-up punter we don't have to go pick up a random guy from the dorms.
