Fixing the Dawgs’ ‘scary’ special teams
If Blair Walsh was rushing his kicks, why didn't anyone on the coaching staff notice it? (Associated Press)
Along with the lack of experienced depth in the secondary and the rebuilding project on the offensive line, the aspect of Mark Richt’s Bulldogs causing the most offseason apprehension among fans is special teams, where Georgia will be starting brand-new kickers and trying to turn around last year’s dismal performance.
Plus, doing all of that without the benefit of a special teams coach or coordinator, as Richt stubbornly sticks to the Bobby Bowden model of going without one.
That’s a decision that many have questioned, and the topic came up again over the weekend thanks to a report out of Minnesota, where the Vikings are betting they can fix what was wrong with placekicker Blair Walsh during his disappointing senior season at UGA.
The Vikes’ special teams coordinator, Mike Priefer, told 1500espn.com that after working with Walsh and studying film of last season, he’s figured out how the ex-Bulldog went from one of the nation’s most reliable PKs to making only 21 of 35 field goal attempts.
“He was rushing every kick,” Priefer said. “Every kick he missed, he hit them well, but he was much too fast with his get off time. I don’t know if that was what he was coached to do, maybe that’s what he wanted to do.”
That last bit sounds somewhat like an indictment of Georgia’s special teams coaching … or, more accurately, lack of special teams coaching.
Whether Priefer has nailed it remains to be seen — and there’s still the suspicion that most of Walsh’s problem last season was between his ears — but there’s no doubt Richt’s staff was clueless about how to help their placekicker get back on track, basically leaving it up to the kid to fix himself.
Hopefully, incoming freshman placekicker Marshall Morgan and punter Collin Barber won’t arrive in Athens with any hitches in their mechanics that need diagnosing, because it appears Richt’s staff wouldn’t be able to help them much.
Of course, they weren’t much better at improving any other aspect of special teams play last season, which Richt himself summed up rather generously as “mostly average to scary.”
More scary than average, as the numbers show: Georgia ranked 116th out of 120 teams last year in punt return defense and merely 88th in kickoff return defense, allowing two kickoffs to be returned for touchdowns and another long return by Florida that set up a field goal.
It's off to the races for the Honey Badger against Georgia. (Associated Press)
At least it’s good to know that John Lilly, the assistant coach who oversees Georgia’s punt coverage unit, is still haunted by his team’s performance against LSU in the SEC championship game, where Tyrann Mathieu returned one punt 62 yards for a touchdown and another punt 42 yards to set up a score as the Dawgs quickly lost control of the game in the second half.
“You think about that game every day and what happened there,” Lilly recently told the Athens Banner Herald.
Lilly recognizes that coaching is a big part of special teams play: “We’ve got to do a great job of coaching it,” he told the ABH. “We’ve got to give them a great plan and scheme that fits our personnel and then we’ve got to get the right guys on there and then motivate them. Then, at the moment of truth, we’ve got to make the plays when they’re there to be made.”
He reiterated what Richt has indicated several times, that it’s “all hands on deck,” as the head coach put it, and that starters and other high-profile players need to take the place of the many walk-ons that have populated Georgia’s coverage teams in recent years.
Said Lilly: “You’ve got to put guys in the right place and I do think from a personnel standpoint, I think you’re going to see guys across classes. You’ll see everything from a true freshman to seniors out there. You’ll see everything from a high-draft pick to a guy that might be one in two or three years but hadn’t done it yet. We’ve got to do — I’ve got to do — a great job of motivating them and getting it done. The punter’s got to do a great job of putting the ball where we want it and how we want it there, and I think we’ll be very good again.”
Richt, at least, is talking the talk about special teams … finally. As he put it a few months ago, “If we’ve got to put a bunch of starters on defense on some specials or starters at wide receiver or whatever you’ve got to do — tailback, I don’t care what position. We’ve got to get the best guys out there and understand how crucial it is.”
And he said after spring practice that Georgia most likely will have more live kicking reps in fall practice than in the past because of breaking in a new punter and placekicker. “They need to be under pressure as much as possible and it’s hard to create that pressure unless you’re doing some live situations. But we also just need to see for our own eyes can a guy make a tackle out in the open. Drills are great, but when it gets down to it, you have to have that sensation of being able to corral a guy out there when you’re covering a punt or covering a kick. You need to have your punts rushed full speed to make sure there’s no problems.”
But as David Ching of ESPN’s Dawg Nation noted, “Georgia’s unsightly return defense average doesn’t even include other disasters for the punt team. South Carolina defensive lineman Melvin Ingram rumbled 68 yards for a touchdown on a fake punt, providing points that made a huge difference in the Gamecocks’ 45-42 win. And Vanderbilt nearly pulled off a massive upset a few weeks later when the Commodores blocked a Drew Butler punt in the closing seconds, with Butler’s touchdown-saving tackle being all that preserved the Bulldogs’ 33-28 win.”
Spending more time in practice on live kicks and getting more starters out on the field for kick coverage definitely sounds like a good idea, but beyond that I’d like to see a heightened sense of awareness on the part of both the players and the coaching staff. Last year Georgia was a sucker for a fake punt (not for the first time under Richt). And against LSU you watched the Dawgs punt with a true sense of foreboding because they didn’t seem to know how to counter the Tigers’ return game.
I’d like to see some variation in how the Dawgs approach punting — for instance, on occasion using the rugby kicks that so many teams used to good advantage against us last year. They’re tough to return, and in the SEC championship game, it certainly would have made more sense to kick those, or at the very least squibbers that are hard to pick up, to try and keep the Honey Badger from breaking a long return. Instead, we kicked it right to him and depended on our obviously suspect coverage.
In order for the Dawgs to have a chance of living up to the high preseason expectations that have been placed on this team, there’s going to have to be a major turnaround on special teams. Yes, on-field execution is a key, and that’s on the players up to a point. But coaching is a big part of college football, and the approach taken with Walsh and the punting game last year certainly isn’t going to get it done.
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337 comments Add your comment
BRIDGES over troubled Dawg h2os
June 27th, 2012
1:05 am
Put Coach Grantham in charge of special teams! That easy!
Coastal Dog -- SSI
June 27th, 2012
6:41 am
Why would UGA not have a special teams coach? we have everything else! answer to kickoff returns: sign a kid who can put the ball in the end zone every time. Simple .
ooley tooley
June 27th, 2012
7:38 am
yawn……… when will UGA beat a ranked team?
bubba4dawgs
June 27th, 2012
7:51 am
If it took the observation of the Vikings coach to find out why Walsh missed all those field goals, it should be obvious that the DAWGS need a kicking coach. The coming year is probably the best year in a long time that the DAWGS have a chance for a very good year. Why not pull out all the stops to ensure that they have the very best chance to get there? If what you’ve been doing didn’t work, duh, try something else! Love the DAWGS!!
Cesar
June 27th, 2012
7:56 am
What difference does it make? With Richt as head coach, the dawgs are going to lose anyway.
Angry Birds
June 27th, 2012
8:02 am
Maybe Richt should hire one of the Athens jail deputies to coach special teams. The players already know the deputies from being arrested so many times, so it wouldn’t be like they were hiring a stranger.
85-man rosters are so overrated. | Get The Picture
June 27th, 2012
8:19 am
[...] special teams coaching, we ought to be a helluva lot more worried about what the implications of Richt’s “all hands on deck” requirement for special teams personnel are and second, Georgia’s 2013 recruiting class had better kick [...]
AltamahaDawg
June 27th, 2012
8:25 am
Good call bubba. To hell with the NCAA limits!
AltamahaDawg
June 27th, 2012
8:41 am
Thanks truth detector. Nice that somebody tried to answer that. But no offence, that really didnt answer my question and you went in a different direction. I get that you say the “perception” of Saban’s ST is the difference, (and as far as fans go that would be true probably), but if you look at the actual effectiveness, he has not been any more so that Richt’s team in the past 5 years on the whole.
I do think that putting “starters” on the coverage teams is a factor. However, Georgia has had plenty of starters out there too, and I doubt that every single player on Bama’s punt coverage team is one of the “starting” 22 player on his rosters. The term “regular players” is probabaly more accurate. Such as a 2nd string LB, or a 3rd string WR as the gunner. We do that as well.but I do beleive its a matter of numbers. Bama HAS more depth, so therefore……I’d bet we up the % of regular players on those squads going forward.
kingdaddy
June 27th, 2012
8:45 am
It’s so touching how all these outsiders worry so much about the Dawgs that they feel the need to come on the “Junkyard Blog” to shower us with affection. Ahhhh, the lighter side of trolls…
zbulldawg
June 27th, 2012
8:47 am
It’s those little things that count in close games. I hope it’s just the lack of depht that’s holding UGA back But really it’s just coaching or lack OF.
AltamahaDawg
June 27th, 2012
8:49 am
Would anybody else care to discuss the actual details. We have 5 pages of blanket statements. The emotions are obvious. I understand the meme that its a longterm failed philosophical issue, not to do exactly what the latest Coach X does, but the FACT is that UGA has had one of the more consistant ST units on the whole over the past decade as anybody, so obviously its a bit more complicated than.dumb ol’ coach. Show me any SEC team that had a great year in (various aspects on ST) and I will point you to a year(s) in which they were near the bottom.
Question: Why just THIS past season did our punt coverage team not perform well? The first time in 5 yrs really. Even 2010, as bad as that season turned out, we still had one of the best punt coverage teams in the league.
What variables were there? Something obviously changed.
AltamahaDawg
June 27th, 2012
9:00 am
I also think we as Dawg fans, remember every single play that went wrong on our team. We simply do not have the frame of reference to also rememebr those same kinds of things that happened to other teams over the years too, so our “perception” is that it’s just us.
For example, how etched in your mind is the 6 TD runbacks that Alabama gave up in the past several years in thier kickoff coverage?
Mobile Dawg
June 27th, 2012
9:02 am
Without a ST Coach I think it’s up to the HC to place enough focus on this part of the game and rewards for those who perform well. Special Teams player of the week, year, etc with acknowledgement of accomplishment. How does Beamer work his magic on ST’s? Find a successful model and tweak it to fit your system.
AlatmahaDwag
June 27th, 2012
9:03 am
I love them dawgs. Don’t change anything. As long as we beat the cupcakes and keep Coach Richt, all is well. Nothing wrong with bland and boring. I’ve been that way all my life and look at me now. I’m the smartest UGA fan in the universe. Just ask me.
AltamahaDawg
June 27th, 2012
9:14 am
Excellent post Mobile.
Mobile Dawg
June 27th, 2012
9:19 am
I hack one out every now and then. You’all have a Dawg Day, it’s going to be a warm one down this way.
AltamahaDawg
June 27th, 2012
9:22 am
Well imposter……….I think I am reasonably smart but I personally know some Dawg fans more informed about the team, the game, and I’d even say smarter in general. So your point is incorrect.
But you know what, Bigshot…….correct me if you don’t think I made a valid point.
Wouldn’t it be much more satisfying to prove me wrong, than hide like a punk and take shot?
Joey
June 27th, 2012
9:23 am
The difference in my thinking on Bama’s STs vs UGA’s STs is obvious. Theirs didn’t cost them anything last season, mediocre or not.
Ours cost us, over and over – from the first game to the last. Our punt and KO coverage teams directly led to two losses (SC, LSU), contributed to two more (Boise, MSU) and made at least two more games closer than they otherwise would have been.
Not only directly allowing the points, or near points, such as allowing a runback to inside the our 10 yd line, the momentum swings as a result, were just as bad.
AltamahaDawg
June 27th, 2012
9:23 am
We went from tropical storm conditions to a hot one too, in the matter of hours, over here. Very odd summer so far.
Dawg Whisperer
June 27th, 2012
9:25 am
Bill, you hit that one square on the nail. Good job!
Joey
June 27th, 2012
9:27 am
Mobile Dawg, y’all get much rain from Debby” I’m in extreme southeast GA and we have gotten 18 inches. The St Marys River, the eastern GA/FL border, has risen 20 vertical feet in 48 hours. Gonna be really bad.
AltamahaDawg
June 27th, 2012
9:31 am
True enough Joey. But I don’t know how you fix the “timing” of giving up a TD on a Runback. Alabama gave up 2 and it didn’t cost them. We did and it did.
I’d say that was more a function of other things unrelated. Margin for error, if you will. We had none. Alabama had some. (except I think thier kicking game cost them in the first LSU game, and “should” have cost them a shot at the MNC, so that seem like it cost tham more dearly than us).
But thats and entirely different discussion. I would say for example, that a lack of a soild running game,other offensive woes, incl. TOs, and the defense giving up some points late were much more directly responsible for losing any game than special teams. But this discussion is about special teams. (and more specifically, the philosophy of how to run them) And Alabama’s is no better on the whole.
TJ
June 27th, 2012
9:32 am
So if some of these posts are valid regarding the trends around the SEC, seems that STs are being prioritized in many of our key rivalry programs. And we’ll get around to it too…3 years from now because we’re always behind the curve on what needs to be done. Face it guys…UGA is a follower, not a leader. If there’s evidence to the contrary, I’d like to hear it. We are as predictable and conservative as the day is long and that’s why we’re going to continue to be good, not great and are more likely to be upset and underachieve than we are to pull the upset or overachieve.
Joey
June 27th, 2012
9:37 am
“Margin for error…”
****************
Excellent point – I hadn’t considered that.
AltamahaDawg
June 27th, 2012
9:53 am
But you hit on something there. If you look at the mistakes, be it ST, O, or D, they all happened when the game got tight. To me, that speaks to maturity. 11′ they were better at not falling apart in games that were lesser opponents, (which they did in 10′) but we would like to see them take a step to not fall apart when the big boys are putting on the squeeze.
To me THAT would take care of the ST, and everything else more so that anything else.
AltamahaDawg
June 27th, 2012
10:16 am
TJ, what post do you consider to be qualified expertise as to how other team assign priorities?
SSIgator
June 27th, 2012
10:17 am
“It appears Richt’s staff wouldn’t be able to help them much”
Ah, another overlooked nugget of truth in this gem of an article.
schmeckdawg
June 27th, 2012
10:37 am
Aaron Murray’s ball security and all of our special teams played a huge part in all 4 losses last season. I do not understand why CMR will not hire a special teams coach!!!!!!!!!!!!
Joey
June 27th, 2012
10:37 am
I guess the realization that the “glory days” of Tebow and Myer are gone and dead could make a UF fan a miserable, insulting, lout . . .
AltamahaDawg
June 27th, 2012
10:46 am
BTW, whatever Beamer does, its’s not appointing a full time ST coach. Nor does Chris Peterson. Nor does ths vast majority of the coaches in all the big confences. Full time ST coaches is the exception, not the rule.
To me, I don;t see how it is possible for a single coach to be the expert on all of it anyway. A guy who knows kicking technique as well as running full speed and tackling? Equally expert in punt returning and long snapping? You can bet, MIke Priefer has a full staff to work on all those, each working on different aspects. (which seems logical that the best way to replicate that within the confines of NCAA restriction is to do the same thing)
SSIgator
June 27th, 2012
10:46 am
I guess realizing that 1980 will never come around again is a Dwag downer
AltamahaDawg
June 27th, 2012
10:54 am
Nor can a ST only coach stretch the day any longer to “drill” more than they do. He can’t add more days to the NCAA limits during the summer. He can’t add more player to the roster.
He can however burn one of the limited position coaches spots. So do we just not worry about linebackers, or defensive ends?
That being said, I would say that when the next position coach leaves, a guy who does have a lot of ST experience (such as when we hired Berin) would always be a plus. But, I am assuming that Grantham wanted the best LB he could hire, irrespective of how much he knew about placekicking, that we could get when that spot came open.
AlatmahaDwag
June 27th, 2012
10:58 am
LSU has a special teams coach. They pay him somewhere around 300k a year. I’ve talked to many important people in UGA’s inner circle regarding hiring me as ST coach. I’d do the job as a favor to all of the Dawg Nation, salary free. I love UGA and I love the staff.
Joey
June 27th, 2012
11:03 am
I think most of us realized that when Spurrier started beating Goff like a drum. Even so, no UGA fan on here is so smarmy as you. But keep on keeping on. Clowns are entertaining, after all.
Oh, and the Spurrier days are over too . . .
Drewski
June 27th, 2012
11:10 am
Special teams coverage units boil down to two main things:
1- Who’s will is greater? It’s a one play and out mentality. Either you whip your opponent’s hind end and run off the field high fiving your buddies or you get your hind end whipped and you run off the field with your tail between your legs.
2- Can you play with your head AND your heart? The great special teams players (and no they do not have to be star-studded starters) make plays simply by being able to think while playing like their hair’s on fire.
You win with the guys who WANT to be out there. Sometimes special teams play is “beneath” that star on defense that you might want to see out there so bad… Trust me.
SSIgator
June 27th, 2012
11:12 am
I am glad you have a new attitude Joey. There are more important things in life than weather or not Richt continues to do less with more as a football coach at UGA or he cashes out and opens his own bar. At least he has expertise as a bartender before he decided that being a football coach might be something he would like to try.
Joey
June 27th, 2012
11:33 am
Maybe Muschamp could work the second shift? He may be available before Richt.
SSIgator
June 27th, 2012
11:56 am
Doubtful, I don’t think club owners want bartenders that yell at the customers.
badboy
June 27th, 2012
12:04 pm
As long as we’re talking about history, let’s not forget the year Florida and West VA held onto the ball by suckering us with fake punts.
Joey
June 27th, 2012
12:33 pm
Not to mention the F-Bombs.
badboy, how does one get suckered more than once?
Just wondering . . .
Mobile Dawg
June 27th, 2012
12:41 pm
We were spared Debby in Mobile except for some gusty winds, and those weren’t any more than around 30 mph. The rains started East of here, the further East, the heavier. We had the rain from the last system totaling anywhere from 3 to 15 inches, just depending on where you were. My friends over in the Tarpon Springs and surrounding areas like you were hit hard. Sent me pictures kayaking up and down the boulevards.
AltamahaDawg
June 27th, 2012
12:51 pm
Know what else club owner hate, along with all thier patrons? The jerks who hang around way too long and bore everybody with thier corny immature attempts at being funny trying to get attention. Otherwise know as “that guy”.
dan
June 27th, 2012
12:58 pm
You mean to tell me that an athletic program that brings in MILLIONS of dollars a year can’t afford a special teams coach? Why would you NOT have a special teams coach? And why does Richt not advocate for one? Because Bobby Bowden and his 1975 way of building a football program didn’t have one? Wow…just wow! This is why UGA is second tier! I have seen High School coaches who have run better football programs than Mark Richt, seriously!
AltamahaDawg
June 27th, 2012
1:07 pm
dan. You read that Bowden reference, took it as fact rather than pure opinion by one guy, then question why we “can’t afford one” which nobody has even mentioned as any factor whatsoever. Wow…just wow, indeed.
WarEagle1
June 27th, 2012
1:26 pm
who will be fired first: muschamp or richt??
I predict muschamp–he doesn’t seem to know what he is doing. Even a mediocre auburn team beat uf last year. After another couple of years of 4-5 losses, uf will send him packing. richt’s got enough to keep his job for 3-4 more years.
SEC Fact Finder
June 27th, 2012
1:26 pm
AltamahaDawg
June 27th, 2012
8:41 am
Thanks truth detector. Nice that somebody tried to answer that. But no offence, that really didnt answer my question and you went in a different direction. I get that you say the “perception” of Saban’s ST is the difference, (and as far as fans go that would be true probably), but if you look at the actual effectiveness, he has not been any more so that Richt’s team in the past 5 years on the whole.
I do think that putting “starters” on the coverage teams is a factor. However, Georgia has had plenty of starters out there too, and I doubt that every single player on Bama’s punt coverage team is one of the “starting” 22 player on his rosters. The term “regular players” is probabaly more accurate. Such as a 2nd string LB, or a 3rd string WR as the gunner. We do that as well.but I do beleive its a matter of numbers. Bama HAS more depth, so therefore……I’d bet we up the % of regular players on those squads going forward.
Joey
June 27th, 2012
1:29 pm
You think there may be a couple of clubs on St Simons that have that problem, AD?
chazzo
June 27th, 2012
1:34 pm
Somebody’s probably already mentioned this, but how come we never go for a block? There have been years in Dawg history when blocked field goals and punts were a hallmark. The last few seasons, we just seem to run away. Is this a philosophy thing? Is the risk not worth the reward? Once in a while I’d like to see our guys put some pressure on especially in a big game.
chazzo
June 27th, 2012
1:36 pm
I remember reading an article in the Red and Black back in the Kevin Butler days about a volunteer coach that worked with the kickers. Any truth to that memory? Anyone remember anything like that?