Coach ,

Oregon State is on the rise.  Coach Johnson gives us a quick preview of the season for the #16 Beavers and shares Special Teams Coordinator Jake Cookus’s coaching points for improving punt coverage.

-Coach Grabowski

Season Preview Capsule

Oregon State posted double-digit wins last year for the first time since 2006. And with one of the nation's top offensive lines and ground attacks in place, the Beavers just need to reload on defense and jumpstart their passing attack behind Clemson transfer DJ Uiagalelei in order to contend for the Pac-12 title.

But in order to have a shot at the Pac-12 Title special teams need to keep getting better. Oregon State boasts the Pac-12’s best set of kick (Bolden) and punt (Gould) returners, as both earned all-conference honors in 2022. Everett Hayes, OSU’s regular placekicker the past four years, looks to rebound after struggling with a groin injury last season.

Coach Jake Cookus is Oregon States Special Teams coordinator with an impressive career spanning nearly two decades, and he shares his punt strategy that has helped him get to the success that he is at today.

Release

In punt coverage, release is everything and the Oregon state punt team are masters at release. They have three main points when it comes to release and those are shock, lock, and release. 

First is the shock. Shock is the initial hit with both hands you make. Coach Cookus makes it a point to teach shocking through the chest plate to create the most power behind the punch. 

Next is the lock. Simultaneously with the shock the player locks his arms out and shoots his hand as high as he can. This will create and upward angle that should lift the opponent and get him off balance.  Once your player feels the opponent off balance they can start the release. 

Coach Cookus allows his players to either rip through the opponent or arm over the opponent. Now the arm over is not a swim move it is a quick arm over the top of the opponent's arms to get the opponents arms clear of your body. This will allow you to move the opponent out of the way for a clear path to the ball.

In this video Coach Cookus explains his Shock lock release drill.

Video: Shock,Lock,Release

Cover

Now that you have released you are in the cover zone. This is where you will have to fight to get back up to full speed. This is when swarming the ball is the most important aspect of the coverage. 

In the swarm there are three on the right, three on the left, and center down the middle. In this coverage the two outside players are the TAZ players. They are told to take a shot at the returner. They are doing this to stop all vertical returns. The rest of the front line is secondary players and are there to stop the horizontal. 

If your players are in the right position that they are supposed to  be in there is no return that will be able to escape this swarm. It accounts for all types of returns and will make your punt cover team look like all americans.

In this Video Coach Cookus shares his TAZ scatter drill.

Video: TAZ scatter drill

Finish

The punt coverage is only as good as how you finish it. You can release perfectly and cover perfectly but if you do not finish those other things do not matter. Coach Cookus expresses the belief that you need to practice finishing not just the other two aspects of the punt coverage. In all Coach Cookus drills and tackling he teaches wrap and roll. This is just like it sounds. 

You will come in for the tackle and wrap your arms completely around your opponent and then you will roll your body into the returner. This will cause the returner to either get tackled by the initial hit or fall over you when you roll into him.

In this video Coach Cookus runs you through how he practices finishing

Video: Wrap and Roll

As Special Teams coaches we can learn alot from Coach Cookus who has shown that these techniques and schemes work. He goes into great detail on how he and his team have become one of the top Special Teams units in the nation in his clinic talk which supports Lauren's First & Goal. 

Always Learning!

Coach Johnson