O
n behalf of the staff at Valdosta State
University, it is an honor to have the
opportunity to share some of our special
teams philosophies and coaching tech-
niques with you. I have been blessed to
work with a great head coach and staff that
are willing to emphasize the importance of
special teams in every football game. I
would like to share our philosophy on spe-
cial teams and specifically concentrate on
one of our special teams, the punt rush and
return team.
Philosophy
Our philosophy on special teams is sim-
ple. We treat each football game as one
that has three components, offense,
defense and special teams. Many staffs
concentrate so heavily on offense or
defense that special teams becomes a
mere after-thought. We feel if we can win
two of the three phases each game, the
scoreboard at the end of the game will read
in our favor. An opponent may be as good
or better than you on offense or defense,
but there is no excuse for not preparing
your team for some type of advantage
when it comes to special teams.
As you know, football is a game of field
position. We talk to our players every week
about special teams winning the battle of
field position. I hear coaches talk about
how they emphasize special teams to their
teams. Yet, some sacrifice talent for just a
body on the field. We play our best players
on special teams, regardless if he is a
starter, all-conference player or All-
American. I never want to sacrifice ability,
especially when a special team play can be
so important during the course of a game.
We put our “best 11” on the field every
special team play. One special team play,
good or bad, could change the flow of a
game. The quickest way to change the
momentum of a game is to have some spe-
cial team big play. Our players are told this
every day, and they ultimately understand
the importance of each special team play.
I emphasize to our players if fatigue
becomes a factor in a ballgame, take a play
or two off on offense or defense respectful-
ly. Many disagree with me on this issue, but
again I go on the philosophy of a special
team play changing the momentum of a
game and changing it quickly. We never
take a rest on any special team play. Our
general philosophy every year is stated as
such: Special teams will determine the out-
come of any close game.
Coaching
Attack Mode:
A unique aspect of our special teams
approach is our coaching style. Just like we
never sacrifice talent on our special teams,
we coach in the same manner. During spe-
cial team periods at practice, our coaches In st al l in g
the Rush in
are not on a break. I may be responsible for
the special teams at Valdosta State, but
Y o ur P u nt
each coach on our staff will coach as
though they are coaching offense or
defense.
We may have five or six coaches on any
phase of special teams. We try to limit the R u sh
player to coach ratio to no more than three
to one. This ratio gives our players the best
opportunity to be coached and to learn.
These coaches are coaching their players
as hard as they would their own position
players. Not only are they coaching hard,
but they are coaching with enthusiasm.
Our players see the enthusiasm of the
special team coaches and they in turn feed
off of this enthusiasm. They realize the
importance of special teams when the
defensive coordinator is coaching the end
on the punt team or the center on the kick-
off return team. One other technique I have
used that has been successful for us is
assigning graduate assistants or student
assistants to “coordinate” a certain phase
of the scout special teams.
They are responsible for the scout depth
chart and coaching of the opponent’s tech -
niques and schemes. I have also used
these same graduate assistants and stu-
dent assistants in coaching on other spe-
cial teams. You will be surprised how hun-
gry these guys are to coach. They do film
and computer breakdowns, draw cards,
etc., just waiting for an opportunity to
coach. By allowing them to coach the var-
sity players, you will be surprised how hard
they coach. They take this opportunity very
seriously.
Most coaches hire graduate assistants
and promise them an opportunity to learn
to coach, yet all they do is computer or card
work. You can live up to your promise by
allowing them an opportunity to coach on
your special teams. They will certainly
appreciate the opportunity and make the
most of it. It is certainly a morale boost for
many. I have been pleased with every
graduate or student assistant coach I have
had helping me in coaching special teams.
Punt Rush and Return
I have been blessed to work with some
great staffs, all of whom share my belief in
the importance and enthusiasm of special
teams. It is because of this enthusiasm I
believe we have been successful in our
special teams.
Our most successful special team over
the last two years has been our punt rush
and return team. After the 2000 season, I
approached our head coach, Chris
Hatcher, on our philosophy of punt rush. I
requested that we become more aggres-
sive and try to block more punts or force
our opposition into bad punts. It was a rare
occasion that we attempted to block punts.
We had a more conservative approach
to be safe and just field the punts and
maybe break a return or two. He agreed to
my request and we immediately put an
emphasis on attacking punts. I wanted pun-
ters to fear our rush. I thought if people
would put more emphasis on stopping our
Punt Rush and Return team that other spe-
cial teams would be sacrificed in practice.
Many head coaches schedule only a
certain amount of time for special teams in
a practice. For example, a head coach may
schedule 20 minutes for punt and kick off;
with usually the minutes being split evenly,
10 and 10. I wanted our punt rush and
return team to force a 15 or so minute peri-
od and then kick off would be trimmed to
five minutes. Obviously, the kickoff team
would not get the proper practice and pos-
sibly suffer on Saturday. Advantage us!
From the first day, we talk about this
phase of special teams with the staff and
with the players, we always refer to it as
punt, rush and return. We have made the
decision to block more punts, but realisti-
cally know we cannot get every one. Thus,
we have to then set up a return. We put an
emphasis on finishing the play. If we do not
block the punt, the play is not over.
Bust your fanny and set up a great
return. This is why we always refer to this
team as punt rush and return! We started a
list of what we refer to as “Make a
Difference” (MAD) plays on this team. Ever
since our emphasis has switched to an
attack style team, we have had 51 MAD
plays in 74 block attempts. This doesn’t
mean we have blocked 51 punts. Included
in the MAD plays are fumbled snaps by the
punter, punts of less than 20 yards due to
our pressure, blocked punts, stopping a
fake, returns for touchdowns or returns that
create a 20 yard or less net punt.
We have blocked 15 punts over the past
two years and returned three for touch-
downs. The others have fallen into the cat-
egory of shanks, big returns, fumbled
snaps or stopping a fake. As you can see
by simple algebra, we have a MAD suc-
cess rate of 69 percent on block attempts.
As stated earlier, it is a game of field posi-
tion. When holding your opponents to 20
yards or less per punt, you are giving your -
self a very good chance of winning.
Teaching Phases
We install punt rush and return in seven
phases. I will give you the phase and the
number of practices we normally use in the
installation period. Depending upon your
team, returning players, etc., the length it
may take to install, can and sometimes will
be varied.
Phase No. 1, Fundamentals of the
block (1.5 practices): We teach our play-
ers, when blocking a punt, to never leave
your feet. The fastest way to get to the
block point is to run through that point. We
begin by standing one step from a punter.
As the punter drops the ball (he will not
take a step), we step across his foot and
take the ball off of his foot. It is important to
always use a punter as to insure a proper
drop.
Simply using a body will not suffice, as
this “body” never practices a drop. This is a
great opportunity to work with your punters
on their drops. We film this phase and
coach the blockers, as well as our punters
on the drop. We will put two punters on
each hash. Our blockers form a line outside
of the hash and, as stated earlier, will be
one step from the punter.
As the punter drops the ball, the blocker
will extend his arms and hands creating a
term we use as a “big mitt.” Placing the
hands close together, palms to the ball,
with the thumbs and pointer finger approxi-
mately one inch apart creates the “big mitt.”
Expand your fingers as much as possible
to create a large mitt. The fingers should be
extended but relaxed. The hands should
never move apart.
We teach our players to run and reach
out at the last second for the ball. It is at
this last second that we form the “big mitt.”
The eyes should be focused on the foot-
ball. We take the ball off of the foot with our
eyes and hands. Keep a coach close
enough to see the eyes of the blockers.
You always want to make sure that they are
looking the ball off of the foot, and also are
not closing their eyes.
The worst technique that a player may
use is to swat at the ball as it comes off of
the foot. Swatting causes the timing of the
block to be thrown off. It also does not give
the advantage of a reach in front. The
reach on a swat is up, the reach on a prop-
er block is out. A block that is made by soft
hands is every bit as good as one that is
swatted backwards. This is a common mis-
take by players first learning to block kicks.
An understanding of forward momentum
through the block point, coupled with the
hands on the ball will many times force a
blocked ball in the same direction as your
momentum, backwards. Swatting doesn’t
insure the block will go backwards.
Common phrases you hear during this
installation period by our coaches will be,
“see the ball of the foot,” “take the ball off of
the foot” and “do not swat at the ball.” Make
sure players are going through both lines in
order to assure the block is coming across
the punter from the right as well as the left.
Phase No. 2, Moving through the
block point (1.5 practices): When you
feel your players have a good feel of taking
the ball off of the foot, back the blockers up
five yards and also move the punter back
two yards. Stay at an angle coming across
the punter’s foot. During this phase, the
punter will take one step and punt the ball.
Your blockers should make a five-yard
burst through the block point. Emphasis
should be made that the block point is two
yards in front of the punter, not where the
punter is standing.
Placing a hat or small cone at the block
point will assist in teaching this concept.
Have the players run through the block
point. Never slow down. The techniques
taught in Phase No. 1 are still stressed. It
just becomes a more up-tempo period and
the balls are coming off of the foot a little
harder. The blockers should again change
lanes in order to come across the punters
foot from the right and the left.
Phase No. 3, Getting off on the snap
(Two practices): By this time, you should
be able to tell who has a good feel of what
it takes to block punts. We will now install
getting to the block point as quickly as pos-
sible. We teach a sprinter’s stance; high
butt, off arm high in the air, weight on the
down hand and eyes on the football.
Emphasize staying low when the ball is
snapped.
We use the off hand that is high for a
power thrust and we stay low and skinny.
You do not want to show your jersey num-
ber. Showing the jersey number will create
a large circumference area for the punt pro-
tector to punch. We want to give the pro-
tector as little to punch as possible. Getting
underneath the blocker is the ideal rush
technique. We always use a snapper. I do
not like to use ball movement from a coach
kneeling down.
I want our guys to see a snapper’s
movement and get used to picking up slight
movements before a snap is made. We will
use every snapper we have in our program
so the rushers do not get focused on the
actions of just one snapper. At the begin-
ning of this phase, we will place a cone ten
yards from the ball representing the block
point. We will get off on the snap, concen-
trating on our stance and coming off low
and hard, and accelerating to the block
point. No punting is used at this point.
After getting quality reps, concentrating
mainly on our quickness off of the snap, we
will place the punter into the reps. We will
not use a punt protection team, only the
snapper and punter. We go one rusher at a
time, getting off on the ball and running to
the block point for the block. This is a rapid-
fire drill. We will use several punters and
snappers. My thinking on not using other
punt protection personnel is to create con-
fidence on the block. This really helps the
players get a great feel of blocking the
punt.
Phase No. 4, Scheme of the block
(One practice): With the first three phases
taught, your personnel should be close to
being set. You should know who has the
great get off, the understanding of the block
point, taking the ball off of the foot and see-
ing the ball into the hands. We take our six
most successful players from the first three
phases and designate them as our rushers.
Likewise, we take the next six best as the
second team and then the next three as a
third team. Players that are not as good rush-
ing as the first six are then used as the cover
men and fake stoppers. The lone remaining
man on this team will be our returner. We
always use quality meeting time during sum-
mer camp to install this phase. We are now
implementing our block scheme.
Our installation will take place in our
meetings so we use as much grass time as
possible to get quality reps. For the six
rushers, we use a numbering system of
one to six. Each rusher will be given a num-
ber. The numbering system is used
because of the changing rush schemes
from week to week. Each week they will
have a gap to attack en route to the block
point. Although No. 1 may change a gap
from game one to game two and so on, his
rule is simple, win that gap and get to the
block point.
The cover men and fake stoppers are
numbered seven to 10. As is the case with
the numbers one to six, they may change
their alignment or depth from game to
game, but their assignment will always be
the same. All of the teaching techniques for
the first three phases now are implemented
with our attack scheme. A new phase of
teaching will apply to numbers one through
six should they penetrate the protectors
and are now being picked up by the
searchlight.
We designate the searchlight as the last
player before the punter. Depending upon the
alignment scheme, the men aligning farthest
to the left and the right will always veer off to
the left or right respectively if the searchlight
is blocking them (Diagram 1 and 2).
Diagram 1
Diagram 2
We do this to try and draw the search-
light away from the punter. The four rushers
aligning inside of the two outside rushers
will, upon being blocked by the searchlight,
stop their charge and grab the searchlight
(Diagram 3). We do not want to push the
searchlight back to the punter. We want the
searchlight to concentrate on the one guy
Diagram 3
he decides to block. By using the veer off
technique and the grab technique, we
insure that the searchlight only blocks one
rusher.
We are trying to open lanes to the block
point. The worst thing that an outside rush-
er can do is cross the face of the search-
light and possibly close a lane to the block
point by another rusher. Similarly, if an
inside rusher tries to swim the searchlight,
he may be bumped into an outside rusher,
thus closing his lane to the block point.
Accept that you are being blocked by the
searchlight and be a team player. In prac-
tice, anytime we block a kick we go by our
rules, “scoop and score” if it is behind the
line of scrimmage or “get away” if it cross-
es the line of scrimmage. This will be our
first live action versus the scout team.
Phase No. 5, Scheme if we do not get
the block (One practice): As mentioned
earlier, we always use the title punt rush
and return. If we do not get the block, the
play is not over! As with the previous
phase, a meeting to install before you go to
the practice field will allow plenty of time for
quality reps on the grass. Each man (1-10)
has an assignment if the punt is not
blocked.
We normally set up a wall return when
we try to block a kick. Nos. 9 and 10 will
form a mini-wall in front of the returner to
allow him to get to the wall. They will
always try to push any coverage man in the
opposite direction of the wall. There is no
predetermined place for the wall to be set.
Some like to set the wall on the hash or the
numbers, but we conversely like to take the
wall to the returner as quickly as possible.
The sooner he makes it to the wall, the
better the chance we have for a big return.
We do not like to put the returner on an
island for a long period of time. By using
this philosophy, we very rarely lose any
ground in getting to the wall. Nos. 7 and 8
will be the first to the wall. No. 8 will be the
foundation of our wall.
He sets the wall by running to the return-
er. His aiming point is one yard in front of the
returner. He will not slow down until after the
returner passes him. He picks off any cover-
age man trailing the returner to the wall. No.
7 will have approximately a five-yard sepa-
ration from No. 8. After Nos. 1 through 6
rush the block point, they will then peel to
the wall. The first to get out will find No. 7
and have a five-yard separation, and so on
for each player getting out. You can never
get an exact alignment for the wall.
 As the players get out, they find the
same color jersey and form the wall. The
five-yard separation is not always exact
either. We give our players a five-yard aim-
ing point. As long as they are not shoulder-
to-shoulder or have very wide separation
from the man in front, we are happy. As the
returner reaches the wall (No. 8), each man
will turn and sprint for the goal line. We
want a moving convoy. We never leave the
wall. We wait for the coverage men to
come to the wall before we make the block.
A player should never try to block
behind himself. In other words, if he is run-
ning and a coverage man tries to run
behind him into the wall, he will let the man
behind make that block. We do not want
him to stop and try to make a block. This
will create too much separation between
wall members or we may have two players
blocking one coverage man.
Phase No. 6, Film study: We always
go back and look at previous year’s blocks
and returns. This is a great way to teach
why a block was or was not made or why a
return went for big yardage or not. We also
watch film of our rushes from an end zone
camera to insure proper gaps are being
attacked. We watch our return and wall
from a sideline camera to insure proper
separation in the wall.
Phase No. 7, Fake prevention (One
practice): We take an extended period
during our summer camp to talk about all of
the fake opportunities by punt teams. We
usually do this at a time of camp when the
players need to get their legs back up
under them. A good time may be a practice
before a scrimmage. Nos. 7 through 10
have already been made aware that their
first responsibility is the fake.
Even though blind-side and peel-back blocks are legal near or behind the neutral zone in certain
instances, the AFCA Ethics Committee reminds the membership that teaching players to block
below the waist in those instances is ethically improper and should be avoided because of the
high possibility of serious injury.
The Football Code states: “Teaching or condoning intentional roughing, including blind-side blocking an
opponent below the waist anywhere on the field, is indefensible.”
At this phase, you can get much more in
depth as to the different fake possibilities.
Nos. 1 through 6 have thought about nothing
but block and return. Now is the time to
make them aware of the fake possibilities
that they could face. This is the last phase
we cover because we like our Nos.1 through
6 players concentrating solely on the tech-
niques we are teaching for the block.
You may have noticed that I never men-
tioned in the teaching phases about any
roughing of the kicker. We do not mention
this to our players either. We feel if we prop-
erly teach the techniques of the block and
stress the importance of the block point, it
should never become a factor. Every player
you have knows the consequences of hitting
or running into the punter. We do not want to
take the aggressive nature away from our
rushers, cluttering their mind with the possi-
bility of touching the punter. We instead con-
centrate on the basics of coming off low and
quick, angle to the block point, watching the
ball off of the foot with the eyes on the ball
and then scoop and score!
Final Thoughts
With our change to an aggressive
nature on the punt rush and return team,
our players find special teams exciting. I
have been associated with teams that play-
ers felt it was a burden to be on special
teams. They would much rather take a
knee during this period in practice.
Ever since becoming a special teams
coordinator 10 years ago, I have tried to
build my special teams around two or three
players. These players are the ones that
may be a second team offensive or defen-
sive player, getting very few plays during a
game, but live for the snaps they take on
Avoid Teaching
Blind-Side Blocking
Below The Waist
special teams. They are the ones that are
usually on every special team and are a lit-
tle bit crazy!
To play special teams, you have to be a
little bit crazy, with all of the high-speed col-
lisions and sprints. Somehow these crazy
guys have a tendency to rally others on the
team. They take their role as a special team
extraordinaire to heart. This is a reason we
watch our special team film from a game as
a team. We point out the great efforts not
only by the special team only players, but
also the starters. We brag much more on the
efforts of special team players than we do
offensive or defensive players.
This is exemplified by the fact that our
special teams players of the games are our
captains the following game. Our success
on the punt rush and return team has defi-
nitely created a lot of excitement and
enthusiasm throughout our team. Our
offense and defense feed upon the enthu-
siasm created by this team. Consequently,
each of the other special teams has taken
the same aggressive attitude as well. This
is why I get so many requests by our play-
ers to be a part of our special teams now. It
may also be the reason we have had the
special teams player of the year in our con-
ference the last three years.
I hope at least one idea or thought may
help you or your team. I have tried to be very
basic. I may have bored you with trivial
points, but this is the way we coach. I feel
that to be successful in whatever you do you
have to have a great capacity for boredom.
You must be willing to do the same thing
over and over, until it becomes routine. This
is the way we coach and we have been
pleased with our success. Good luck to you
in the coming season. Thank you.