On Monday New York Giants Veteran Punter Jeff Feagles brought his youngest son Blake back to his home town of Phoenix, Arizona for a One on One Punting Lesson with Coach Zauner.
Jeff Feagles was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. He graduated from a local high school and attended Scottsdale Community Junior College where he was an outstanding punter. He received a full scholarship from the University of Miami.
My Goggle search gave me these facts:
Jeffrey Allan Feagles (born March 7, 1966 in Anaheim, California) is an American football punter for the New York Giants of the National Football League. He was originally signed by the New England Patriots as an undrafted free agent in 1988. He played college football at the University of Miami.
Feagles is known for using the "coffin corner" punt. He earned Pro Bowl selections in 1995 and 2008 and won a Super Bowl ring with the Giants in Super Bowl XLII.
Early years:
Feagles attended Gerard High School in Phoenix, Arizona and was a letterman in football, basketball, and baseball.
College career:
Following a single season at Scottsdale Community College[1], Feagles played college football at the University of Miami, joining the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity during his time as an undergraduate. He won a national championship with their 1987 team.
Feagles was inducted into the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame at its 40th Annual Banquet on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 at Miami's Jungle Island.
As a youngster, Jeff attended Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic School in Scottsdale Arizona.
Professional career:
2007 marked Feagles' 20th NFL season. Prior to his affiliation with the New York Giants, he played for the New England Patriots, the Philadelphia Eagles (Jeff Feagles of the Eagles), the Arizona Cardinals and the Seattle Seahawks.
He was a member of the New York Giants in their Super Bowl XLII win over the New England Patriots on February 3, 2008; it was the first Super Bowl of his 20 year career. Feagles called 'tails' at the coin toss, with the coin tossed by Ronnie Lott landing in the Giants' favor paving the way for a 9:59 opening drive, the longest in Super Bowl history culminating with a 32 yard field goal by Lawrence Tynes. At 41 years, 10 months, 26 days of age, he was the oldest player to have played in a Super Bowl, until the Colts' Matt Stover participated in 2010 (42 years, 11 days old).[2]
Prior to the start of Giants mini-camp in May, Jeff and his fellow teammates were invited by President Bush to the White House to honor their victory in Super Bowl XLII.[3] Feagles earned his second career selection to the Pro Bowl in 2008.
Records
On November 27, 2005, Feagles broke the NFL record for consecutive games played, with 283. The record was previously held by Minnesota Vikings lineman Jim Marshall who played from 1960 to 1979. His record continues, standing at 352[5] through the end of the 2009 NFL season. He and Saints placekicker John Carney are the last remaining NFL players from the 1980s, and the last remaining players who were featured in the seminal Tecmo Super Bowl video game. Feagles has appeared in one NFL game a week (excluding bye weeks) since Ronald Reagan was President.
Through the end of the 2009 NFL season, Feagles holds the following NFL records:
Most consecutive games played, career: 352[5] (streak still active)
Most punts, career: 1,713[5]
Most punts inside the 20, career: 497[5]
Most punting yards, career: 71,211[5]
Blake Feagles One on One Lesson:
Jeff had called me a couple of weeks ago asking if I would work with his two sons Blake and C. J. He had talked to former Chicago Bears Kicker, Kevin Butler and Kevin mentioned that he had brought his son Drew to Scottsdale, Arizona for some One on One Punting Lessons last spring.
Drew Butler has mentioned to me that his goal was to be the starting punter at Georgia last spring. He exceeded his goal and was not only the starting punter but received the prestigious 'Ray Guy' Award as a sophomore punter.
Drew and C. J. Feagles are friends. C. J. who is attending the University of North Carolina mentioned to his father that he would like to work with me.
Since Jeff was coming back home to Phoenix to visit his family he decided to have his youngest son Blake work with me on this trip and C.J. would come out on the next trip in March.
During my One on One Punting Lesson with Blake, his father Jeff was on the other end of field watching and shagging balls most of the time. Jeff wanted his son to have a private lesson with someone else rather than his dad.
Jeff mentioned that both of his son's had the same problem with them both taking a dramatic first step inside. In the photo below you can see Blake's footwork. Jeff wanted my opinion on how to fix both his son's problem.
After watching Blake go through some of his drills and hitting a couple of punts I knew exactly how to fix the problem. I introduced Blake to my Drop Progression and One Step Drills.
I explained to Jeff and Blake my Power Zone Punting Technique philosophy. Even though Jeff doesn't use the term Power Zone he knew exactly what I was talking about.
Jeff Feagles like Gary Anderson and Kevin Butler have tried to coach their sons but sometimes kids are kids. They don't want to listen to their parents no matter how right they might be.
So for a couple of hours Jeff who is one of the nicest guys anyone could ever meet watched and listened and let Blake experience somebody else's coaching technique.
Blake was a pleasure to work with and was a quick study. He watched and listened and worked each drill diligently. Once he got the hang of my drills he started to hit some excellent spiral nose over Power Zone Punts.
When his footwork started to improve he was in much better position to punt up and through the ball. Punters with poor footwork usually walk on the balance beam and try to wipe a spiral punt causing them to be inconsistent.
After our One on One Punting Lesson we went back to my office and reviewed the video. I tried to explain my teaching philosophy and gave Blake some drills and a progression to fix his footwork problem.
At the end of the lesson Blake said he learned a lot and appreciated me taking my time to work with him.
It was a pleasure meeting and working with Blake. With hard work Blake will resolve his footwork problem. The key to any kicker or punters success is hard work and repetition. Blake has to correct the muscle memory of stepping inside and use what I call a drift approach. The Drills will help Blake to achieve new muscle memory and take his punting game to the next level.
Jeff Feagles Practice Video:
I have never worked with Jeff Feagles but have admired his technique. He was an artist when it came to directional and pooch punting. As I listed from his BIO above he holds several NFL punting records. Below is a short video clip that Jeff gave me to put on my website for young punters to view his punting technique.
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