Tuesday's workout with Shane was a tale of two cities. He started very erratically because we were emphasizing get offs. Shane has been punting extremely well, however, some of his get offs have been a little slow.
We noticed on video he had some unnecessary foot movements that were causing him to take up extra time on his get offs and we needed to time up the snaps better or eliminate this movement. This was the focus for me on today's lesson.
The other day we charted punts Shane had too many punts with a handling times of 1.40+ seconds. Handling times are from when the ball touches your hands to the ball hitting your foot. I like my punters to work around a 1.25 to 1.35 second handling time or a total get off of 2.0 seconds which would be from snap to punt.
In the beginning of the lesson we emphasized get offs and the results were a lot of erratic punts, at least for a while. As Shane became more comfortable with the drill we were doing he started to hit his punts more consistently.
At the end of the workout he hit his last set of six punts perfect! He hit all his balls to the power zone with a (SNO) spiral nose over punt and with some great hang times. Two of the punts were 50 plus yards with hang times over 5.0 seconds.
Shane is working hard to get better and sometimes gets frustrated with himself. He's never been coached and to get into the NFL he needs to work on all facets of the game.
Shane wants it so bad and is working endlessly, however, his time here in the United States is limited.
During my consulting and coaching career, I've coached 17 Pro Bowl kickers and punters. I'm hoping Shane just trusts me. I'll refine his skills and hopefully Shane get his opportunity with an NFL team.
Wednesday morning, major winds were in the forecast for Arizona.
So, Mitch and I met early in the morning trying to beat the 40 mph winds. We started with the One Step Drill and variations of the drill. Mitch has been a little inconsistent the last two times we worked together. The emphasises of this lesson was getting the ball on the table quicker and eliminating unnecessary arm movements which was resulting at times with a nose up drop.
We worked the first 20 minutes on drills.
Mitch hit almost every punt into the wind with a (SNO) spiral nose over punt. Mitch was catching the ball out away from his body and locking the ball on the table perfectly. This was one of Mitch's best days and it was on a very windy day.
I love giving lessons on windy days, because the only way a punter can have success is by executing his technique perfectly. If you don't have a perfect drop and contact with the ball and hit a (SNO) spiral nose over punt, you have no chance to be successful.
I tell punters it just like golf. The best PGA golfers strike the ball so purely and with perfect form and technique. So, on a windy day, the wind hardly ever effects their shots except for distance.
The emphasises for kickers and punters is the same, perfect technique. The wind will magnify whatever your doing right or whatever your doing wrong.
Today, Mitch was punting with perfect technique.
We moved to some directional punts, taking advantage of the wind. Once again Mitch was on the money. He hit a bunch of 50 to 55 yard punts with 4.6 to 4.8+ hang times.
It was one of the best days I've ever seen Mitch punt. That's because he was punting with perfect technique. If he was a golfer he would shoot even par on this windy day.
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