I don’t think he’s trying to be a genius. I actually think he’s trying to give a kid a meaningful role that maybe he isn’t capable of living up to. It’s similar to when he had a player holding for extra points and field goals that probably should not have been doing it.

Yoon kicked off and tweaked his leg. That’s enough to give any coach pause.

You practice assignments based on the premise the ball will be kicked to a certain corner or side of the field. Your lane or area assignment can also be based on this. You will also begin your sprint down field with the idea the ball will be kicked deep right for example. When the kicker kicks it to the middle or even left it screws all of this up and can lead to big returns. This is what Kelly is referring to. It absolutely pissed my college coaches off royally when the kicker would not execute the directional kick as planned.

In my opinion, your best players should play until the game is out of hand.

he already is and sits out the rest of the season. There's a very valid reason that he's not kicking off.

If he can kick a touchback 70% of the time how many times will he have to make a tackle the other 30%? You cannot assume injury for your kicker. They happen of course but sacrificing kickoffs all season because your kicker might have to make a tackle 5 times in a season is ridiculous. It’s an absolute fluke he hurt something non contact last week. He could have done that just as easily kicking a field goal. You’re off base here.

Kickoffs exacerbate the issue according to what I’ve read here and elsewhere. The risk of injury is, apparently, not remote.

long field goals. If he’s injured then he should be treated accordingly and not play. He’s the kicker and seems fine on field goal tries. If he can kickoff better than the alternative he should. I am not sure. Has he been listed on injury reports this season?

One the posters on here has a son who kicks for a college team. He broke it down in the romper room a few weeks back. Cannot recall his handle.

I don’t want an injured place kicker kicking field goals though with what is on the line down the stretch now.

He’s far more valuable kicking field goals and extra points. All you have to do is watch the video of him kicking off on Saturday to see why he isn’t doing it more often.

Or does he not kick off because he already is hurt? Those are two entirely different things. If you or Kelly or anyone else says it’s the former I call complete BS.

That’s why he’s not doing both now.

And the problem is not the kicker other than kicks going out of bounds. Kick coverage is the issue.

Both deficiencies can be true. As a former player who played collegiately and covered kickoffs for 3 seasons I can tell you that the kicker placing the ball where it is planned in the sideline or field huddle is just as important as staying in lanes and defeating blocks. In fact lane assignment is based on it. Kelly saying the kickers aren’t kicking the ball where they are supposed to is entirely different than bitching that they aren’t consistently kicking touchbacks. Get it?