I was talking to a friend of mine who is a Big East head coach about special teams. Specifically, punt coverage.
This particular article is about extended clearance.
The open punt is the easiest to teach. It can be divided into five S’s.
If you can master those five things, I think you can build your base to play the punt game. Here are more details about the five S’s:
- Clearance and Clearance Coverage
- zone gold men’s set
Our kicker lines up 15 yards deep. You must have a center that can return the ball to him. If we can get the center out and kick in 1.9 seconds, I feel great. If the kick is far in the 2.0, we’ve done our job. We break that down the center at .8 and 1.1 for the kicker. It’s hard to block the kick if you can get the ball out in 2.0 seconds.
Let me give you the two rules for the center of our open punt:
- The center moves away from the kicker or to the right or left.
- If a man calls (3-3) he can drop.
The personal protector is expected to count the defenders. He counts from our left to our right. He must declare in which direction he wants the center to be blocked. Here are the rules for the personal protector in our extended punt:
- The personal protector is responsible for overloading the player. The personal protector will always move away from the center in a 44 call.
- Only count those players whose feet are on the line of scrimmage with the linemen or in a threatening position.
- The personal protector is read from left to right.
- The personal protector scans if there is no man to pick up.
- The center is always counted.
The magic number is
again 8
We have five defenders on our left side. We have three defenders on the right side. Left tells center to screen left.
The center hits the ball and then backs off for a width that prevents a seam from forming. Everyone still takes a zone step to help the player get in. Once the wall is formed and secured, the blockers push out their main defender. The left slot has the number one. Left tackle is number two. The left guard has the number three. The center will always have the number five in a corner. The center throws the ball and then steps back to get big or wide to prevent a seam from forming. Each one still takes their zone steps and helps the player inside.
For example, guards help center, tackles help guards, and slot helps tackles. Once the wall is formed and secured, then you drive out your main defender. The left slot is numbered one, the left tackle is numbered two, the left guard is numbered three, and the center is numbered four on the left. The right guard has number three, the right tackle has number two, and the right slot has man number one. The personal protector has the fourth man on the right side. If we call three, it’s automatic man blocking. If you are in a 33 protection you can drop the center. You have them outnumbered. You can block them from man to man but you never change your steps. three scream torque alert.
It may be intended for the protection of man, but you still need to take the steps of the area. If the defense is running a three-man run on one side, then they will try to run some kind of game on the overdriven side. If we get a 3-pointer, we communicate it from the outside guard to the tackle and slot back. When our blockers listen
This is an overload situation. The personal protector has the number four on the left. We only count players who have their feet on the line of scrimmage. We don’t count stacked outside linebackers.
This is where the zone and man protection come together. I made it clear at our special teams meeting that if you’re on the punt team, you better take your three steps down. You operate in relation to the element of the zone. You must zone the area and remain square. You must use a good three-step mechanic. Now, from there, everyone is working together. If two defenders get close to the screener, he will help inside with his hands before getting to his main man. The three steps help take the pressure off the man inside. After taking the three steps, we prepare to face the main corridor.
Most blockers tend to rush the block. Most of the time they want to go find their man. If they do, they leave the inner man on an island. If the slot goes behind the number four man outside, he leaves the tackle alone against the number three man. If the number four man comes in, the tackle has to face running backs number four and number three. The tackle can’t let number three go because he has to help inside. I try to overemphasize zone steps before talking about man steps. If you’re talking about man steps, they’ll want to set a step and jump their man. It goes against the principles of the three-step series and keeping your shoulders straight.
