Untitled - Fast and Furious Football

SPECIAITEAMS 143
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Developing a Gomplete Kickoff
Return Package
BILLY SEXTON
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We consider the kickoffreturn an offensive playa
play that iB intended to score a touchdown. Our
attack is based on the simplest schemes possibl€.
We break the field down into thrce areas (right,
middl€,left) and incoryorate a misdirection play
(r€verse or throwback).
On our kick rctum team, we want people tbat
can run and hit. Tbe play€rs we use on the tront
lin€ are a wide out, a corner, a fullback, and two
outBid€ linebackers. The end positions are
mannedbytight ends. The fullback positions are
a fullback and a corner. The two safeties on our
retum are tailbacks.
Kick Return Alignment
Under normal conditions, our kick return team
will align as shown in Fisurc 1.
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FIGURE I
Slandard kickofi relurn
PA
This alignment can change, dependjng on the
strength of the kicker's leg. If he's an e(ellent
kicker or has the wind at his back, we may drop
the saleties as deep as the goalline. Ifhis leg is
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weak orhe's kicking into the wind, we may brins
I hc dcep salcl icq up as far a$ rhc I 5-) a rd linF. on
th€ hashes. As a rule, you want your returner to
catch the kick heading toward the opponenfs goal
line, not catching it going backwards or going side-
E)(trcm€ly wet conditions will advemelyaffect
tho flisht of the ball, makine it heavy and less
likely to travel as far or as high.Adjust your safeties
and back wedge people accordingly.
The flont I ine people should be aligned 13 yads
from the ball. If an onside kick attempt is indi
cated by the kicking team's alisnm€nt or the position
of the ball on the t€e, then the front 6ve
should align 10 yards and 3 inches from the line.
We will adjust our ends'alisnment if we anticipat€
a suryrise onside kick, moving them from
the 3s-yard line to midfield to back up the five
liont line players.
Ifthe ball is kicked offfrom the middle ofthe
freld, our center wants to offset 2 to 3 yads, 13
yards from the ball, and the tackles to align 8
yads outside the hash. The en& will line up on
the 35-yad line, 5 yards outside the hash. The
fullbacks align on the 2o-yard line on the hash,
and the safeties align on thehash at th€ goalline.
Alignment on Kick Frcm Hash
If the ball js kicked ofT from the left hash (see
Figure 2) orrighthash, we adjustour alignment.
The tackle and guard on the hash being kicked
ftom will both move outside the hash on alignment.
The guard rdll align 2 to 3 yards outside
the hash, and the tackle 6 to 7 yads from the
sideline. The center will slide 2 to 3 yards towads
the hash being kicked from, as do the far guard
and tackle.
The ends' alignment, along with FBs', won't
change;they must maintain position to field the
bloop kick that is kicked ftom the hash.You may
have to adjustthe safetics ifyouface a t€am that
kicks Fom the hash and has a kicker that is especially
accurate in placing the kickolT 2 to 3 yards