How often do teams have a punt returner also return kicks? VT has rarely had that, and I can see Beamer's point. But isn't punt returning like 10 yards of the quickness/start-stop then you need to have similar open field skills?
I thought Beamer liked guys who could take a hit on KO returns, and Stroman may be a bit too light to take a big hit. Big hits seemed to steal Knowles' confidence. It's telling he's dropped from 28 ypr to 18 ypr.
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JMO but punt returns are quite often smaller guys with more wiggle as opposed to KR being more like running backs with some more weight behind them. Probably has to do with the increased speed and impact that occurs during kickoffs as compared to punts. i'd like to see whichever RB is #2 or 3 back there.
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I think PR's are the guys that can make that first guy miss. It's not so much about straight line speed. KR's are the guys that see the hole and can hit it full speed.
That's probably why historically, DBs have done double duty as PRs, and RBs have done double duty as KR's. DBs have that hip swivel necessary for punts, and RBs have that quick acceleration for kickoffs.
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More players should take a knee in the end zone in general. 87 teams last year neither scored a touchdown on a kickoff return nor averaged 25 yards per return. The whole point of pushing touchbacks on kickoffs to the 25 was to lessen the number of kickoff returns (which it has done) yet teams aren't taking enough advantage of it.
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After getting really ticked during one of the games last year, I pulled the kickoff stats. For some reason, I still have that file saved. It only goes through the Pitt game.
In 7 games, there were 30 kickoffs to the Hokies. 21 of those kickoffs went to the endzone. 11 were touchbacks. Of the other 10, there was only 1 kickoff where someone (in this case, Knowles) was able to take the ball from the end zone and past the 25 yard line. (He got to the 29.)
Of the 9 non endzone kicks, only one was returned for more than 25 yards. (Knowles got it at the 1 and ran 26 yards, then OSU gave us 15 yards on top of it.)
Now, the one thing I didn't dig deep enough to see was if a kick went through the end zone or was downed. But I'm sure that stat would only make our returners look worse.
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Ugh. Not saying this is a huge stat, but with this team every single yard is going to count. We need to improve, which I think we will because it would be tough to take a step back. Hopefully this adds to the offensive turnaround by being smart when/if to return a punt/kickoff. I actually like Stroman and McMillan
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Comments
How often do teams have a punt returner also return kicks? VT has rarely had that, and I can see Beamer's point. But isn't punt returning like 10 yards of the quickness/start-stop then you need to have similar open field skills?
I thought Beamer liked guys who could take a hit on KO returns, and Stroman may be a bit too light to take a big hit. Big hits seemed to steal Knowles' confidence. It's telling he's dropped from 28 ypr to 18 ypr.
JMO but punt returns are quite often smaller guys with more wiggle as opposed to KR being more like running backs with some more weight behind them. Probably has to do with the increased speed and impact that occurs during kickoffs as compared to punts. i'd like to see whichever RB is #2 or 3 back there.
I think PR's are the guys that can make that first guy miss. It's not so much about straight line speed. KR's are the guys that see the hole and can hit it full speed.
That's probably why historically, DBs have done double duty as PRs, and RBs have done double duty as KR's. DBs have that hip swivel necessary for punts, and RBs have that quick acceleration for kickoffs.
All I want in a kick returner is someone who has the ability to tell if he can get to the 25 yard line or not from the end zone.
More players should take a knee in the end zone in general. 87 teams last year neither scored a touchdown on a kickoff return nor averaged 25 yards per return. The whole point of pushing touchbacks on kickoffs to the 25 was to lessen the number of kickoff returns (which it has done) yet teams aren't taking enough advantage of it.
Which is even more amazing considering how risk averse coaches are in general during games
After getting really ticked during one of the games last year, I pulled the kickoff stats. For some reason, I still have that file saved. It only goes through the Pitt game.
In 7 games, there were 30 kickoffs to the Hokies. 21 of those kickoffs went to the endzone. 11 were touchbacks. Of the other 10, there was only 1 kickoff where someone (in this case, Knowles) was able to take the ball from the end zone and past the 25 yard line. (He got to the 29.)
Of the 9 non endzone kicks, only one was returned for more than 25 yards. (Knowles got it at the 1 and ran 26 yards, then OSU gave us 15 yards on top of it.)
Now, the one thing I didn't dig deep enough to see was if a kick went through the end zone or was downed. But I'm sure that stat would only make our returners look worse.
Ugh. Not saying this is a huge stat, but with this team every single yard is going to count. We need to improve, which I think we will because it would be tough to take a step back. Hopefully this adds to the offensive turnaround by being smart when/if to return a punt/kickoff. I actually like Stroman and McMillan
and hope that every single punt or kick doesn't magically drop at the 5 yard line...every...single...time...
Unless our 4th down QB is punting