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| Who couldn't punt the ball at least 20 yards...? |
Imagine this... BYU is facing a 4th down and 2 on their opponent's 40. Too far for a field goal... and a punt will likely bounce into the end zone putting the ball on the 20. This happens all the time throughout the year. What if in this 4th and short situation the Cougars sent Riley Nelson on the field. Nelson could go out, try to bark and get the opposing team to jump offside, if that doesn't work he hikes the ball, looks for something open, worse case scenario he simply rolls to his left and boots the ball 20... maybe 30 yards.
More often than not I am guessing that he will find something open, and with his rushing ability he might just be able to scramble for two yards. This will help the Cougars in so many ways. Anytime you can put a wrinkle in an offense it causes other teams to have to prepare to cover more options. This is why you want a team that is balanced, so an opponent can't just prepare to shut down one facet of your game. If Riley is able to punt, every time the Cougars send him out on 4th down the other team has to have it in the back of their mind that he might not actually punt. Thus weakening their punt return if he does punt... thus strengthening the Cougars overall game, and giving them more options.
For those of you nay-sayers out there living in Horseville (get it, becasue a horse goes "nay"... rough joke) you might wonder if Riley can punt. Well when I look at it, even I can punt the ball 20 yards and I am not a college athlete like Nelson... and I don't spend all day practicing. Give Nelson a little practice and I am sure someone with his skills will at least be able to punt the ball 30 yards come game time. Just one more reason why I am excited for this years' team.
This is so crazy it just might work. Don't forget, you have a receiver split out wide so he is in position to down the punt inside the five if it rolls that far. Nelson would not be kicking the ball 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage, but only 3-5 yards, so he does not need to punt a "true" 30-35 yard punt. He just needs to get it out of there and let it roll.
ReplyDeleteAs for next year, Justin Sorenson should be back and kicking a 57 yard field goal is well within his range. So Riley punting is only a one year thing.
Have you actually heard that this may be an option? Or is this just speculation?
ReplyDeleteHave you actually heard that his may be an option or is this just speculation? I love the idea.
ReplyDeletePurely speculation. I think it would be a great option though
ReplyDeleteColt McCoy frequently punted for the horns during his tenure at Texas.
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