Can anyone justify why Dave Legg is still in charge of Special Teams? He is a good recruiter but there is no way he csn keep running this unit. Crazy
Special Teams
- Thread starter SpiderFan26
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We beat a good team today. It would have been a dominant performance if it wasn't for the special teams. If Legg has full control I'll be shocked. Danny just talked about making adjustments to the kickoff coverage this week that mostly worked but failed on that one kick. He mentioned they would take a step back and reevaluate the entire special teams this week. He knows it's an issue.
After last year (remember the MD game?) I figured the coach had some compromising photos of Danny. That's all I can figure.
At least mix it up, and the runback needs to have some variety, we run the same thing every time.
Personally I think we are playing a pretty good group. Guys like Madison Day and Charles Mack are strong D players. Keels and Grant at CB also play. Thats why I think its more of a scheme issue
Dave Legg will never be fired. Period
This is my biggest wish:
TAKE ONE SCHOLARSHIP AND SET IT ASIDE. THEN SEND OUT SCOUTS FAR AND WIDE, AND FIND JUST ONE KID WHO CAN KICK THE F**KING BALL INTO THE END ZONE. I WATCH A LOT OF FOOTBALL, BELIEVE ME, THE COUNTRY IS FULL OF THEM. THEN, GIVE HIM THE SCHOLARSHIP........end of problem (at least on kickoffs anyway)
This is my biggest wish:
TAKE ONE SCHOLARSHIP AND SET IT ASIDE. THEN SEND OUT SCOUTS FAR AND WIDE, AND FIND JUST ONE KID WHO CAN KICK THE F**KING BALL INTO THE END ZONE. I WATCH A LOT OF FOOTBALL, BELIEVE ME, THE COUNTRY IS FULL OF THEM. THEN, GIVE HIM THE SCHOLARSHIP........end of problem (at least on kickoffs anyway)
But it's just not kickoffs. We had one punt blocked and returned for a TD and several others were close to being blocked besides the kickoff return to our 5. You just can't be a championship calibre team and give up points and chunks of yardage on Special Teams. We have been discussing this for years. Time and time again special teams hurt us. Our special teams blunders today kept Colgate in the game. We got away with it today, but it was a lot closer than it should have been.
Legg is so consistently bad. Special teams will cost UR at least 1 more game unless changes are made. Like DR but this is his responsibility and hard to believe he cannot see what entire stadium does. Anyone know why ODU transfer is not kicking off? Hit a 50 yard FG agst UVA and then disappears while UR struggles with kickoffs.
At Stoney Brook, we kicked off three times. One was returned for a TD and the other two were returned to mid-field. Why not on-side kick! If you kick to the sideline, we have a 20% chance of recovering (2000-2012 we show 757 onside kicks, with 149 of those recovered by the kicking team for a 19.7% success rate.- http://www.sports-reference.com/blog/2012/12/onside-kicks-updated-in-play-finder/) and if we don't, the ball goes out of bounds or they recover near midfield. It eliminates the TD return.
Might be on to something here. Not sure Day was on the field during the long kickoff run-back -- 4 other Spider kickoffs placed Colgate at or inside their own 25. While consistency of coverage is an issue, not sure that solutions are quite as simple as some might think... kicking out-of-bounds, onside, firing coaches, etc. not necessarily in the realm of reality.
44 has the leg to only get kickoffs to the opposition 10-15 yd line.It happened against Seawolves,it happened against Raiders.Pooch kick,high and toward a sideline.Simple solution.Very obvious from end zone viewpoint this Saturday.Except for his 50 yarder vs Cavs,haven't seen 42 on the field.
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We aren't talking about a bad season or two, this has been happening for a long time now. I get we aren't going to pin them deep each time or never give up a big play, but overall you would have to say our special teams have been at least below average for a while. If you want to stay ranked and have a chance in the playoffs we at least need to get to the point where we aren't saying "just kick it out of bounds."
Let me get this straight, you want to give the opponent an 80% chance to recover the ball on your own 45 yard line to prevent the possibility of a return for a touchdown??? Just an FYI -- if the kickoff goes out of bounds, the receiving team is likely to take the 5-yard penalty under your scenario and have the kicker put the ball in play again, but this time from the 30! Think we ought to head back to the drawing board with this one...
Both teams were trying to kick it to the corner all day. That's the "new play" in this age of 25-yd touchbacks. Colgate's kicker was better at executing it, though a couple of times (like the last one) we should have just let it go either into the end zone or our of bounds. Returning that last one was a high risk low reward play in a game we were clinging to a lead.
I will say our kicking game - actual FG/XP kicking - looks the best I can recall. No goofy lineups and nothing close to being blocked. I believe we're 100% on the year so far.
I will say our kicking game - actual FG/XP kicking - looks the best I can recall. No goofy lineups and nothing close to being blocked. I believe we're 100% on the year so far.
I truly rather kick kickoffs out of bounds, most teams get it back to the 30 to 35 and to often break one.
This is not a legitimate strategy. Three options for receiving team -- none of them good for the team that has kicked the ball out of bounds:
1) Take ball on 35
2) Take ball where it went out plus 5 yard penalty
3) Take 5 yard penalty and make kickoff team re-kick from the 30
At the risk of appearing to be a broken record -- Spiders held Colgate at or inside the 25 yard line on 4 of 7 kickoffs (great coverage). On two other kickoffs, the Spiders allowed Colgate past the 30 (not so good coverage). On the only kickoff that everyone remembers, the returner nearly took it to the end zone (atrocious coverage). Think it is possible to replicate the coverage on 4 kickoffs that did not get Colgate good field position, cover the 2 better that got them out in the vicinity of the 35, and figure out how they broke contain on the 96 yard return last week and the long one again this week without resorting to "strategies" that are not soundly reasoned?
I have tried to avoid criticizing the schemes of our special teams for years. I felt that, under Coach Scott, the problem was in the offensive line coaching. Blaine McCorkle showed up, and the offensive line woes mainly disappeared. Now, however, Colgate had the same player breaking free up the middle for a blocked punt and a key quarterback sack. Why? We need to reevaluate the schemes, and the guy who transferred from Old Dominion needs to suck it up and start kicking off, so that our kickoff team has a chance to get a field position chance. It ain't rocket science.
No way, Seeger is too valuable to waste on kick offs. We need to make sure he is healthy when we need him.
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My original post was meant to cover all special teams, not just kick coverage. It is more of an all-encompassing issue based on how we can't return kicks even back to the 25, our shakiness with punts over the years, plus the kick coverage issues.
His value is questionable. I wondered why he has not been kicking so I went back and looked closely at his performance at ODU....exactly why did ODU let him go?
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Seegar has no value standing on sidelines. Only have him for one year so must use him if physically able. Hard to reason that he can kick 50 yd FG and, 4 weeks later unable to kick. Not saying he is not injured as that is unknown, but with meat of CAA schedule now upon us, use him if at all possible.
Last time I checked, Spiders were perfect on placements this season... Furthermore, look at the unsung hero performance of a guy like Graham Latham on special teams -- now in his 3rd season of superior performance snapping for punts and FG/PATs. Don't get sucked into thinking that there are magic personnel bullets available and that all special teams play stinks because we failed to cover kickoffs on several occasions and had a punt blocked last week. Heard a lot of the same noise with the "suggestion box" after Likely ran all over us at Maryland last year. This is a quality coaching staff that is blessed with a hard-working and talented group of players -- let's have some faith that Coach Rocco will straighten out the problems that he is paid to correct and build toward an even better finish than last season...and that was pretty damn good!
When the other team is catching the kick around the 12-15 yard line with a full head of steam, it is very difficult to cover a kick. Does anyone know if Yoder can come back and boot it into the end zone for us?
Nevermind, I am sure I'm thinking about Colgate
(12:57 - 4TH) GRIFFIN TRAU KICKOFF FOR 55 YDS , ABU DARAMY RETURN FOR 84 YDS TO THE RICHM 6
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