Mark Richt Also In Favor of Eliminating Kickoffs
by Year2 on Jun 14, 2011 1:31 PM EDT
in SEC Football
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PrintRutgers coach Greg Schiano made some waves when he suggested that kickoffs should be eliminated and replaced with the scoring team having a 4th-and-15 scenario at its own 30-yard line. His primary motivation for bringing up such a change is the paralyzing injury that Eric LeGrand suffered on a kickoff last year. Football Study Hall's Bill Connelly took a look at the proposal at Football Outsiders and determined it should be more in the 4th-and-12 or 13 range, but Schiano's proposal has been well received in a number of places.
Today, Mark Richt came out behind eliminating kickoffs too. In doing so, he referenced the career ending injury that his own player Decory Bryant sustained on a kickoff in 2003. That two coaches who have seen career ending (and life threatening, in Schiano's case) injuries happen on kickoffs is not at all surprising.
Richt didn't go as far as Schiano did, as he just suggested giving the team that gave up the score the ball at their own 23-yard line. He picked that number because he thinks it might be the average spot kickoffs are returned to (I don't know what it is myself), so it wasn't that the number 23 is special to him. The problem with doing that is it keeps teams from having the chance to get the ball back after scoring like they have with onside kicks now, something that Schiano's idea takes care of.
I'm certainly interested to find out if more coaches and players would be supportive of eliminating kickoffs. I have no doubt that there would be some resistance to it; in this very article, Richt's defensive captain Christian Robinson spoke out in favor of keeping kickoffs. Ideally, someone will hit up the coaches at SEC Media Days to find out their stance on it (nudge nudge, cocknfire).
Richt also spoke about oversigning and morality. For the details on that, head over to Dawg Sports via that there link.
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I'm not in favor, but I can see how those two coaches might be.
If kickoffs were eliminated, Carolina would instantly become a better team.
Dum spiro spero - "While I breathe, I hope"
State motto of South Carolina
by The Feathered Warrior on Jun 14, 2011 2:04 PM EDT reply actions
I don't follow kickoffs that much,
….except for how Auburn does. I say move the kickoff back to the 35, or even the 40, like it was in the 1970s and before. Your average FBS kicker’s going to translate that 60-65 yard kick into touchbacks, and you’d have a lot fewer returns.
…..Auburn had a string of kickers from 1996-2006 that could produce touchbacks most of the time. Jarrett Holmes, Rob Bironas, Damon Duval, Phillip Yost, and Matt Clark. They moved it to the 30 yard line in 2007, and we discovered that we had a really poor kick coverage team!
......Drowning in cool elixir.
I can see a lot of reasons both for and against
On one hand, there have been a lot of horrific injuries occur on kickoffs; I could stand to do without that. As Rutgers well knows, a player with a broken neck is horrible thing, and none of us want to see that.
On the other, I think we would all agree that there is something electric about a kick off. The excitement, to start a game, the big plays that turn a game around, change field position, etc.
I kind of like your idea of moving it back up 5 yards, because now most guys will get it to the goal line if not 5 yards deep. Meaning the vast majority of the time it will be a touchback, but would still lead the occasional exciting plus, this minimizing the potential risk associate with kick offs.
by BamaThrasher on Jun 15, 2011 12:22 AM EDT up reply actions
So, obviously, I'm not great statician
But I looked into the defensive kicking stats to see just what the average spot people got the ball was. The only stat I needed was average kickoff distance, but I didn’t get that (unfortunately, and even that would flaw an exact number in a way) so I made a spreadsheet to look at the numbers. Assuming the ‘average’ kickoff return is fielded at the 2 yard line, the number would be very close to the 23 for average final ball spot.
______________________________________________
That's (333333jorkland)^2 and $$$$$$$$immons to you, chump.
I'm all for safety...
but this could end up being not so good against the cupcakes of the world. 4th and 15 might not be so daunting if the opposition is totally outclassed, and everyone has a few cupcakes on their schedule. Make ’em take ’em!
"If we score, we may win. If they never score, we'll never lose."
-Erk Russell
i disagree
you don’t see many coaches going for that down and distance at the 20 in regular game situations, outlassed or not. It’s true that they’re probably more likely to make a 4th and 15 than an onsides kick. But even if they did, they’d still have to go at least 65 yards to get to the endzone as opposed to an onsides kick. If they don’t convert, basically its an automatic field goal. Not to mention you’re more likely to have ints that can be returned in a situation where a team is trying to convert from their own 20 yd line.
by Mark Mandingo on Jun 15, 2011 10:37 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
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