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Special Teams- Future

PhillyBuff

no longer awaiting CU football's return... we here
Club Member
Can someone explain to me what our prospects are for kickers over the next 2-3 years?

How old are Mason Crosby's kids?
Didn't Mitch Berger have any kids?
 
well we're set at punter for 2 more years

WORST_PUNT_EVER.0.gif


and apparently the two headed monster known as Graham Price is good enough to forge ahead with since we aren't recruiting a kicker at the moment
 
Mac is a great coach but 4 years of ST futility is on him. I don't know if there is an answer except maybe some stud position coach that kicks butt in ST...a TE/ST coach would be great.
 
Getting a 10th coach and having them only focus on special teams has to be the answer. We have some kicking problems, yes, but we have significant coverage issues to go with it.
 
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well we're set at punter for 2 more years

WORST_PUNT_EVER.0.gif


and apparently the two headed monster known as Graham Price is good enough to forge ahead with since we aren't recruiting a kicker at the moment

Two things combined to make that an epically ugly play.

Offensive lineman gets pushed back so far he is almost where the punter is and then the punter conveniently kicks a line drive into the lineman's butt.
 
STs have been a disaster for CU since GB left. Hawk didn't have a clue, Embree was to busy cussing guys out for doing what he told them to do, and M2 put it in the hands of Nienas.

We have built a championship caliber defense and an offense good enough to support that defense. Our STs would sometimes be an embarrassment to a good HS program. People point to the Sefo injury but it is not hard to argue that our inability effectively punt the football cost us the Michigan game and that STs were also significant enough to cost us the USC game.

We aren't recruiting a kicker this year. I do expect us to see at least one walk-on though. With decent protection and coverage teams I think Kinney can be an average PAC12 punter. He needs the support though to get and keep his confidence.

I don't know what to think of Graham. Kickers are known for being flaky and his performance fits that. Similar to the punting game I think with some coaching and give him quality protection Price can be a guy who hits the extra points and consistently hits the short to mid FGs. As his season went on he was doing better at getting the ball up out of range of getting blocked.

It would be nice to have another Crosby or Berger or Helton but at this point I'll be happy with competent.
 
This seems pretty dramatic.
Is it? Based on his track record at CU (words and actions), I think you would have a hard time making an argument he thinks they are important.

We have seen significant improvement in the offense under M2
We have seen dramatic improvement in the defense under M2
We have seen what with the special teams under M2?

Proof is in results.
 
Is it? Based on his track record at CU (words and actions), I think you would have a hard time making an argument he thinks they are important.
I'm not saying he views them as important as Offense and Defense (I think you'd be hard pressed to find any HC who dedicates as much time and resources to ST as they do O and D), but to imply that our HC doesn't think Special Teams are important simply because they aren't good seems pretty short-sighted.
 
MM does not believe special teams are important.
I think that's overly simplistic. It's not that he doesn't value special teams, it's that he doesn't have the depth to put in talented freshmen and sophomores that could contribute there.
Just like last year with the OL, I suspect we will start to see an improvement in our special teams just due to increased talent across the whole roster. Isiah Oliver is a great example of this. Dude isn't a starter, but he's a heck of a punt returner.
I do remain perplexed at the reality that we haven't recruited a kicker. I suppose they feel like Diego will come back next year. Had Diego been healthy all season, we probably wouldn't have had the issues we had this year. But he wasn't, and we did. Based on his portfolio of work this far, I'm willing to see what happens next year before I throw MM under the bus for special teams problems.
 
I'm not saying he views them as important as Offense and Defense (I think you'd be hard pressed to find any HC who dedicates as much time and resources to ST as they do O and D), but to imply that our HC doesn't think Special Teams are important simply because they aren't good seems pretty short-sighted.

He hired Toby Neinas to be his special teams coach. Dramatically underqualified and then kept him around for three years (recall that he fired his DC after two years when it was clear things were not working out). Add in his postgame reactions to games like Michigan and I do not think it is a stretch to say he treats them as an inconvenience.
 
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I'm not saying he views them as important as Offense and Defense (I think you'd be hard pressed to find any HC who dedicates as much time and resources to ST as they do O and D), but to imply that our HC doesn't think Special Teams are important simply because they aren't good seems pretty short-sighted.
He hired Toby Neinas to be his special teams coach. Dramatically underqualified and then kept him around for three years (recall that he fired his DC after two years when it was clear things were not working out. Add in his postgame reactions to games like Michigan and I do not think it is a stretch to say he treats them as an inconvenience.
Schek has a point, but ultimately I side with Duff on this one. ST's will get marginally better with better athletes, but with an obvious lack of emphasis on them until they cost us or almost cost us a game, they will be lucky to be average in the future.
 
Diego isn't a good kicker either. He was rocking a 62% fg last year, Graham and Price were both higher this year. And that's assuming he even gets granted another year.

Also Kinney booted that right into Shane Callahan's ass. And Chido was one of our gunners this year. It's not like we had a bunch of walk-ons running around ****ing up special teams. It's a coaching issue.
 
He hired Toby Neinas to be his special teams coach. Dramatically underqualified and then kept him around for three years (recall that he fired his DC after two years when it was clear things were not working out. Add in his postgame reactions to games like Michigan and I do not think it is a stretch to say he treats them as an inconvenience.
Special Teams are an inconvenience and honestly, I don't think they are as important as people make them out to be. I think 2016 summed it up nicely... CU might have beaten Michigan had Special Teams been a great unit, but this team won 10 games and made it to the CCG despite having some of the worst STs in the country. You think a 113th ranked Offense or Defense gets this team to the same place?

To me, this is like saying Nick Saban doesn't think the kicking game is important because missed kicks have been the cause of some big losses over the years for Alabama. Bama's STs aren't as bad as CU's because almost every guy playing on their KO coverage unit would start somewhere at CU. I just think saying implying that MM doesn't care about them is very simplistic.
 
Schek has a point, but ultimately I side with Duff on this one. ST's will get marginally better with better athletes, but with an obvious lack of emphasis on them until they cost us or almost cost us a game, they will be lucky to be average in the future.
I think you're underestimating the effectinvess of having 11 guys like Olugbode, Moeller or Laguda (guys who are starters for us now but would be ST guys at an elite program) running down on punt or KO coverage, instead of the borderline P5 guys that comprise the majority of our special teams now.
 
MM is a smart guy. When he goes back to what didn't work this year, special teams will be near the top. Blown coverages, missed field goals and muffed punts cost us games. He will find someone to address that. He has seen the results that new staff can drive if they are the right guy, and he will attempt to replicate it.
 
Special Teams are an inconvenience and honestly, I don't think they are as important as people make them out to be. I think 2016 summed it up nicely... CU might have beaten Michigan had Special Teams been a great unit, but this team won 10 games and made it to the CCG despite having some of the worst STs in the country. You think a 113th ranked Offense or Defense gets this team to the same place?

To me, this is like saying Nick Saban doesn't think the kicking game is important because missed kicks have been the cause of some big losses over the years for Alabama. Bama's STs aren't as bad as CU's because almost every guy playing on their KO coverage unit would start somewhere at CU. I just think saying implying that MM doesn't care about them is very simplistic.

I have said nothing in this thread to suggest I expect CU to have great special teams. Competent special teams is not a high bar.

But thanks for making my point for me. I do not think MM feels like he has to change anything on special teams because he does not think they are important.
 
Special teams aren't important until they cost you football games then they get real important.

Way to many examples of games where special teams play was the difference between winning and losing. Florida State and Alabama fans can probably argue that STs cost them national championships.

I will go back this season. We had Michigan on the ropes, all we had to do was successfully punt the football and pin them into having the majority of the field to cover against our defense to score, a defense that at the time was dominating the game.

Still can argue that we wouldn't have won without Sefo to finish the game but I'd like our chances.
 
I have said nothing in this thread to suggest I expect CU to have great special teams. Competent special teams is not a high bar.

But thanks for making my point for me. I do not think MM feels like he has to change anything on special teams because he does not think they are important.
Ha, it would be more accurate for you to say, "TSchekler doesn't think they are important". Every aspect of a team is important to a head coach, some are simply more important than others. My point is, you are a very knowledgeable/influential poster making a pretty big indictment about what our head coach thinks, when you do not, in fact, know what he thinks. I fully expect ST to be markedly improved next year.
 
When NewMac got here there were raging dumpster fires in all three phases. There are only so many hours in a day and a limited number of practices to fix everything. You concentrate on fixing offense and defense first, and do what you can with ST with the time leftover. As this team gets better on O & D and the talent level increases, ST should get better. A dedicated ST coach with ST chops would help too.
 
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