Coach ,

The theme this week is Details! In the first three weeks (0-2) of the college season, the details of special teams execution were the difference in many games. This is true for week 1 of the NFL as well as the high school games I have watched.

It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen. ~ John Wooden

Let’s take a look at three key details that can help special teams execution as the season continues.

#1) Train the behaviors which you want to show up on game day

Things do not happen by chance. If it’s something that you expect to see when you click on the film on the day after the game, do not be surprised if it is not there because instead of training it, again and again, it was talked about and assumed as understood.

Justin Lustig, Associate Head Coach, Special Teams Coordinator, and TE Coach at Vanderbilt is very detailed in his approach covering everything from the scheme and technique to how players should celebrate. 

It may sound silly, but when you see it, you definitely understand why he does this.  Here’s what detail looks like (click on image for video):

Video: How to Celebrate

#2) Study, Plan, and Practice the Situations for Onside Kick 

When it comes to onside kicks for Kevin Kelley, the opportunity is every time…for the rest of us, we need to look for the opportunities.

As an example, here is a short clip of the “Copter” onside this one is becoming more and more popular. It’s been used in the NFL and this past weekend in the FBS. There’s several ways to onside. This is for an obvious situation as the return team would certainly notice a ball teed up sideways. Here’s an example from Coach Kelley of the Copter (click on image for video):

Video: Copter 

Others like middle bunt or sniper can be used for the surprise onside. It’s something that UNLV did this past weekend against Cal successfully.

No matter the situation, the success of what is typically a low percentage play like this is dependent on coaching the details at a level your opponent is not willing to go to. Let them cover their couple of onsides on a Thursday while you get very specific and your chances greatly increase.

#3) The Little Things on Punt/Punt Return

There are a ton of details on these units, but today we will highlight one for each.

Covering lanes is important for any type of punt, getting into and maintaining coverage lanes is critical. It does become more challenging on shield punt which a majority of high school and college teams utilize now.  Emphasizing an outside release, of course, will help expand players to their lanes and allow for the correct coverage of the field and punt.

San Francisco 49ers Analyst Austin Mangin specifically addresses this with the shield punt in this video (click on image for video):

Video: Outside Release

Visual representation of concepts we are trying to get across creates imagery that makes the memorization and recall of assignments and techniques easier.  Coach Mangin uses a paint scraper to teach how blockers on the punt return unit can avoid penalties that move the ball backward and hurt field position.

Here’s Coach Mangin explaining the “Scrape Paint” technique (click on image for video):

Video: Scrape Paint

As Coach Wooden said, little things make big things happen. Have a great week of coaching the little things!

Always be growing!

Coach Grabowski