Special Teams

Swamp Donkey

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I've never seen a special teams unit where the kickers were so damn good, and everything else was so damn bad. :lol:

On that long punt return UK had early in the game, we didn't have a single player in the TV screen when the returner caught the punt. :facepalm:
Imagine what we'd be if we had some FIU/FAU reject kickers too.
 

Uncle Rob

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They're like short bus special. We might have to tell Johnny to kick it out of bounds every time.
 

InstiGATOR1

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Townsend can punt, it's just a shame there's no one around to actually cover those great punts.

This is the worst special teams unit in the history of the game.

Townsend seemingly this year has fallen in love with his gross punting average. The job of a coach is to worry about the net punting and get the coverage better and make Townsend focus more on hang time and possibly direction. I have no complaint about Pineiro's place kicking. Sure he flubbed one KO last night to open the game, but he has been solid.

Thankfully UK was stupidly kicking into the endzone on kickoffs most of the time last night. UF seems hopeless on KO returns and the one time trying to protect the lead that UK kicked in the field of play, UF brought it back to the 20. On punt returns UF is ok, but I would rather see Toney back there. Punt returns can require a patient runner which he is. KO returns require someone to pick a hole and hit it fast.

As far as coverage goes, UF has had some problems on punt returns, but been ok on the few KO returns there have been. (BTW, if you call the UF block in the back on the long return, then you MUST make the same call on UK's long punt return.) I think UF has been ok on KO coverage too which can be hard when you expect the ball out of the endzone each time.

Overall UF seems decent in special teams, but that is more the talent of two guys than being well coached in my view.
 

T REX

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Our staff is just lazy.
Disagree. They just aren't very good coaches. Never mistake effort for results. I believe that they put in the effort but they are just average coaches. No matter how hard they try...they will never be elite. Ever.
 

diehardg8r

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Disagree. They just aren't very good coaches. Never mistake effort for results. I believe that they put in the effort but they are just average coaches. No matter how hard they try...they will never be elite. Ever.
Ok, but I am sticking with lazy. Dabo Swinney doesn't strike me as a genius but his energy and ability to put together a competent staff along with recruiting is bringing success to an ACC team in the middle of SEC country. I agree they aren't good coaches but HS coaches could fix some of the things wrong with this team (ST for starters) and instead of these areas improving, they are getting worse.
 

soflagator

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Disagree. They just aren't very good coaches. Never mistake effort for results. I believe that they put in the effort but they are just average coaches. No matter how hard they try...they will never be elite. Ever.

Teams that have a serious fall-off in talent behind the starters are often bad at Special Teams. ST's are typically filled with a team's depth, players that--while they may not start--are trying to earn time(think Riley Cooper '06 Lsu game kickoff). Those players on this team are not very good. Combine that with average coaching and you get these results.

One thing that Meyer did exceptionally well was making players want to play ST's. You had starters that wanted to be on kick coverage and punt teams because it became part of our culture and was a huge part of our success. I don't see anything close to that right now.
 

gator1946

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Townsend seemingly this year has fallen in love with his gross punting average. The job of a coach is to worry about the net punting and get the coverage better and make Townsend focus more on hang time and possibly direction. .

Yep
 

Renard904

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The next time I see Tyrie Cleveland back to return a kick I'm going to lose my mind. He's a great receiver, but he sucks balls at returning kicks.
 

ChiefGator

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Townsend can punt, it's just a shame there's no one around to actually cover those great punts.

This is the worst special teams unit in the history of the game.

Well perhaps not in the history of the game, but it ranks very low for Gator teams of recent memory. I wonder if anybody is actually coaching them. Don Shula thought them so important that he coached them himself.
 

KronoGator

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The real problem with the ST is the awful conservative play.

We don't cover punts well because everyone stays in afraid of a block.
We don't get good returns on punts because everyone stays near the line afraid of a fake.
We don't block FG's because we are afraid of a fake so only the line guys try.
Kickoffs returns stink because we stay near the kick afraid of an onside.

Conservative play.

BLEH.
 

Swamp Donkey

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Townsend seemingly this year has fallen in love with his gross punting average. The job of a coach is to worry about the net punting and get the coverage better and make Townsend focus more on hang time and possibly direction.
You think it's Townsend's fault that every one of our ST is incompetent?

That is hilarious. There is one ignorant, often sleeping old fool responsible for our ST incompetence.
 

Swamp Donkey

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Disagree. They just aren't very good coaches. Never mistake effort for results. I believe that they put in the effort but they are just average coaches. No matter how hard they try...they will never be elite. Ever.
I'm going with bad coaches, about 4 or 5 of whom are also quite lazy.
 

diehardg8r

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th


The face of energy?
 

BMF

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Jim McElwain literally sabotaged our program. There's no other reasonable explanation.

-The offense is worse than it was under Muschamp....and he keeps the OC (and gives him a raise and contract extension).

-The defense is half of what it was under Muschamp....he replaces NFL talent w/ 3-star reaches.

-The roster is depleted, down to 62 healthy scholarship players (and that includes the Buchanan's, Andrew Mike's, Rayshad Jackson's, Luke Ancrum's, Moral Stephen's, etc).

-The Special Teams is a complete horror show....and he keeps the ST's coach (and gives him a raise and contract extension).

This was in Dooley's back nine thing he does once a week:

13. I have harped all season about how bad the special teams are for Florida and that whoever the next coach is needs to make them a priority. They may be the worst I have seen at UF. Here’s the national statistics to back up what you already know:

• Punt returns — 118th.

• Kickoff returns — 94th.

• Opponent punt returns — 107th.

• Opponent kickoff returns — 129th (to be fair, only four have been returned).

• Blocked punts — tied for last.

Here’s another stat for you — Florida ranks 122nd in long plays from scrimmage. And, as we all know, got its first fumble recovery (technically) when a punt bounced off a South Carolina player. So you take an offense that doesn’t create explosive plays and almost never give them short fields while constantly giving the opponents short fields and that’s how you get to 3-6.
 

Alumni Guy

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Powell muffing punts.

Catching the punt on the goal line multiple times.

No blocked punts

No blocked FGs

No executed fake punts

No executed fake fgs.

Fakes executed against us.

Massive punt returns against us.

Massive kick off returns against us.

Powell running directly into lead blocker on kickoff like it's his job.

Nooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrd
 

BMF

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Powell muffing punts.

Catching the punt on the goal line multiple times.

No blocked punts

No blocked FGs

No executed fake punts

No executed fake fgs.

Fakes executed against us.

Massive punt returns against us.

Massive kick off returns against us.

Powell running directly into lead blocker on kickoff like it's his job.

Nooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrd

PREACH!!!!!
 

NavetG8r

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I heard from a "source" Nuss and Nord will be the only two assistants retained on our staff.













:giggle:
 

backstop13

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Can't blame injuries and lack of depth for our special teams woes this year. Our ST was just as bad last year and we were healthy/no suspensions. Remember how many times you cursed your TV when Callaway fair caught punts on the 3 yard line?

We haven't blocked a punt or even sniffed a decent return in three years. Nord should be nothing more than a D-III coach.
 

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