Punting

  1. Choose Your Approach
  2. Warm Up
  3. Stretching
  4. Pre-punt mental routine
  5. Distance from the center
  6. Alignment to the line of scrimmage
  7. Foot alignment prior to the snap
  8. Upper body, arms and hand positions
  9. Leg Position
  10. While you wait for the ball to be snapped
  11. Concentrate as the ball is snapped
  12. When to start the take-off
  13. Proper stride length
  14. Take off towards the ball
  15. Weak snap
  16. Bad snap
  17. How high to hold the ball
  18. How to catch the ball
  19. Ball rotation in hands
  20. Grasping the ball
  21. Angle of ball
  22. Elbow extension
  23. Hold the ball through the strides
  24. Extend the ball outwards at the approach
  25. Ball angle and tilt of drop
  26. Arm and hand position at drop
  27. Shoulder position at drop
  28. Lower the ball to the foot
  29. Control drop speed
  30. Release the ball
  31. Bend the knee and cock the foot
  32. The Toe Point
  33. The plant foot
  34. Foot contact on sweet spot
  35. Contact point on foot during contact with the ball
  36. Optimum contact of the ball with the foot
  37. Position of arms during contact with the ball
  38. Position of head during contact with the ball
  39. Position of hips during contact with the ball
  40. Position of shoulders during contact with the ball
  41. Position of hips at point of contact with the ball
  42. Follow through with the punt foot
  43. Punting foot after follow-through
  44. Position of head after the follow through
  45. Position of planting foot after the follow-through
  46. Body position after follow-through
  47. Game situations
  48. How high should the follow-through be?
  49. Distance from the line of scrimmage after the punt
  50. Other factors affecting the flight and distance of the ball after the punt
  51. Wind direction
  52. Temperature
  53. Seam vs. panels vs. laces.
  54. Height
  55. Out of end-zone punts
  56. Distance
  57. Common Injuries
  58. Weight Training
  59. Practice techniques
  60. Ask the Coach
  61. George's Notes
  62. Glossary

Glossary

Ball Address: the act of standing in the ready position prior to the snap of the ball from the center.

Center: the most important man on the punting unit. He snaps the ball back to the punter.

Coffin Corner: punting the ball to the sidelines. Generally done when the punt can be made to land inside the opponents 20 yard-line.

Contact point-ball: the area on the ball that the foot must hit.

Contact point-foot: the area on the punting foot that must hit the ball.

Hang time: the time from the moment the ball is struck by the foot to when it is caught or hits the ground. Anything above 3.5 seconds for high school is good.

Punt time: time it takes from the moment the center snaps the ball to when it is punted. Usually expected to be around 2.3 seconds.

Mental Routine: Things to think about during a game or prior to punting the ball.

Panel: one of 4 smooth surfaces on each football. Try not to punt a panel, as it reduces the distance of the punt.

Planting Foot: the non-punting foot.

Seam: one of 3 on a football. This is the best part of the ball to punt.

Spiral: the rotation of the ball where neither the front of back points of the ball wobble in flight.

Stride: the distance between each step. Must be normal length.

Stride Length: the distance between the toe of foot and the heel of the other.

Sweet spot: the best part of the ball to punt. It produces the most distance when hit. Found about 1-½ inches from the center of the ball.

Thunk: the sound heard when the correct part of the foot makes contact with the sweet spot.

Turnover: The action of the ball during a punt. The ball travels in an upward spiral in to the air, then at the peak of the punt, the leading point of the ball starts to head back to the ground. Picture an arrow or a javelin in flight. The front part of the arrow (lead point of the ball) starts with the point up, and then as the arrow (ball) it reaches its peak, the arrow tip (lead point of the ball) heads back towards the ground.

Visualization: Picture yourself performing the punt. Picture the perfect form you have used. The goal is to “see” what you are supposed to do and then the mind will tell the muscles to perform the same moves.

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