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FWST: TCU puts a bigger emphasis on special teams in second practice

TopFrog

Lifelong Frog
TCU puts a bigger emphasis on special teams in second practice

BY STEVEN JOHNSON

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As preseason camp continues for TCU, the Horned Frogs put a big emphasis on special teams on Wednesday.

Mark Tommerdahl, who previously coached at TCU from 1998-2000, has returned as the new special teams coordinator. He coached at Texas Tech, Purdue and Utah State over the last five years.

After another energetic warm-up session, TCU went through its punt packages with Jordy Sandy and Easton Black taking most of the snaps at punter.

Read more at: https://www.star-telegram.com/sport...niversity/article264130576.html#storylink=cpy
 

Limp Lizard

Full Member
I know griping about fake punts being successful against us has been a big deal for years, but I only remember two: Fake punt by Boise in the Fiesta which was a huge factor in our loss: fake punt by Wisky in Rose Bowl which led to a late first half field goal. There were others for sure, but not all that many. Muffed punts probably have hurt us more...we have been feast or famine on finding returners who were sure handed. My favorite complaint is roughing the passer which it seems nearly always leads to a score for the punting team.

Since we joined the B12 our national rankings in the kicking game have been all over the place. Never consistently bad but (sigh) never consistently good, either. We were good in defending punt returns in 2014 and 2015 (#1 and #5) but also #99 in 2013. Overall, for 2012-2021:
Kickoff return TD's: 6; Opponents KO TD's: 1
Punt return TD's: 12; Opponents PR TD's: 2

Could have been better but could have been worse. To me the biggest coaching blunder was the two #1's. Hopefully nothing like that will happen again. I think the Special Teams Coach is a good thing, but things were never as bad as some here think.
 

CountryFrog

Active Member
I know griping about fake punts being successful against us has been a big deal for years, but I only remember two: Fake punt by Boise in the Fiesta which was a huge factor in our loss: fake punt by Wisky in Rose Bowl which led to a late first half field goal. There were others for sure, but not all that many. Muffed punts probably have hurt us more...we have been feast or famine on finding returners who were sure handed. My favorite complaint is roughing the passer which it seems nearly always leads to a score for the punting team.

Since we joined the B12 our national rankings in the kicking game have been all over the place. Never consistently bad but (sigh) never consistently good, either. We were good in defending punt returns in 2014 and 2015 (#1 and #5) but also #99 in 2013. Overall, for 2012-2021:
Kickoff return TD's: 6; Opponents KO TD's: 1
Punt return TD's: 12; Opponents PR TD's: 2

Could have been better but could have been worse. To me the biggest coaching blunder was the two #1's. Hopefully nothing like that will happen again. I think the Special Teams Coach is a good thing, but things were never as bad as some here think.
On the fake punt point. If you think there haven't been that many fake punts that succeeded against us, just compare it to the number of fake punts that we ran successfully ourselves in the last 20 years and see how that shakes out.

Also, the last few seasons GP was clearly so frightened of having a fake run against us that we didn't even attempt to setup a return about 50% of the time. Instead of simply coaching guys on how to detect a fake and adjust accordingly while still having a chance to return a punt, we threw in the white towel on returns by going all out to defend against a possible fake. And this is while we've had a myriad of issues offensively and the return game was one of our best chances to get chunk yardage. Not to mention all the "hidden yardage" given away over the course of a game that you would think a defensive minded HC would be concerned about.
 

Eight

Member
On the fake punt point. If you think there haven't been that many fake punts that succeeded against us, just compare it to the number of fake punts that we ran successfully ourselves in the last 20 years and see how that shakes out.

Also, the last few seasons GP was clearly so frightened of having a fake run against us that we didn't even attempt to setup a return about 50% of the time. Instead of simply coaching guys on how to detect a fake and adjust accordingly while still having a chance to return a punt, we threw in the white towel on returns by going all out to defend against a possible fake. And this is while we've had a myriad of issues offensively and the return game was one of our best chances to get chunk yardage. Not to mention all the "hidden yardage" given away over the course of a game that you would think a defensive minded HC would be concerned about.

you hit on a key point that gets overlooked in this discussion all to often and that is the impact on field position resulting from yards gained or given up

how often have we seen kick returners run out kicks where the better option was take a knee and put the offense in decent position to start a drive instead of in a hole?

how many times have we seen a punt returner field a punt inside the 10 taking a fair catch?

who didn't love when gsry would play the field position game and punt near the opponent's forty and the punt would end up in the endzone allowing the offense to start at their 20

a few strong legs and some dangerous returners have made the frogs look capable on special teams when decision making and execution has been spotty at best
 

PurpleBlood87

Active Member
Can they bring back the kickoff return play where the player lays in the end zone trying to hide?

It would have worked except the lateral wasn't a lateral.

 

Eight

Member
Can they bring back the kickoff return play where the player lays in the end zone trying to hide?

It would have worked except the lateral wasn't a lateral.



outlawed

they ran it perfectly in the alamo bowl game versus stanford (had reagor lie down in the tcu colored endzone) for a touchdown, but was called back

hoping they ran it to see if the officials wouldn't make the call similar to offensive linemen downfield and not because we didn't know about the rule change
 
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