Punting, Very Important

Mentioned earlier in another thread my feelings toward old style football, concerning field position and punting.

Will do the best I can when posting this, won't pull punches.

I am not impressed with Collin Barber. Couple of reasons.

Mark Richt put it perfectly in my way of thinking. Richt said that Collin Barber in practice booms the ball, lots of hang time. Ok, got it. More to game day than punting high and long in practice. That is good, but there is more, as exhibited by Ray Guy.

Over many years have noticed the oohs and aahs coming from the fans in the stadium after one of those 50/60 yard punts with hang time. Great to see that, puts our Special Teams in great position for no return by the opposition.

One of the problems I have with that is this . . . . Collin Barber has basically nothing to do during the week(s) of practice other than to refine his game for the betterment of the entire team.

Do not like his "slow" movements getting the ball into the air. Set up often "stinks".

During his practice times, one would think that Collin Barber would spend more time working on getting the ball to light inside the 5/10/15/20 yard line. Oohs and aahs also can be heard in the stadium when that happens.

Don't go with the idea of having a distance punter and a "pooch" punter. Not saying not having two punters, but good punting teams over the years have a "special" punter than can do both, distance and pooch. SEC over many years has been one of the best in that area of football. However the best ever was Ray Guy, Southern Mississippi. An amazing athlete that took punting seriously.

The first link below is about stats. The next link covers a lot more. Third link speaks for itself.

Punting could very well be the difference in Little Rock this Saturday.

Just expressing my opinion, again. More to football than running backs, quarterbacks and wide receivers. When Collin Barber is on the field, "he is one of the eleven".

rayguy.net/portfolio/ray-guy-stats/

rayguy.net/

Thank you ogredawg, you understand.

Totally agree Buc, field position can definitely win or lose this game.

Old school football and expect the game to be close all day so field position could be the difference.....especially at the end of the game.

Punting is part of ST and yhey call ST one of the three phases of the game for a legitimate reason.

Barber is slow, Buc. So slow in fact it seems that many of his kicks come within an eyelash
of getting blocked. It honestly wouldn't surprise me at all to see him get one blocked in a big game this year.

Guy was actually responsible for people thinking about things like "hang time". No one really used that talking about punters before him.

Many people were aghast that anyone would draft a punter in the first round.... many years later though, Guy was featured as one of the top ten steals of the draft in NFL history.

Buc wrote: Thank you ogredawg, you understand.

yeah Buc...I cringe when I see punt block set by the opposing team...Barber is sloooooow

Realize that a lot of folks that are members here can't take the time to watch the 45 minutes or so on Ray Guy during the day.

If I were coaching somewhere, the Ray Guy story would be a must, if you want to dress out and hit the field on Saturdays.

Also realize how much has changed over the years, now looking at FSU, Georgia and others that have so many problems with many of the young men today. Not saying "all" but when I look at the rising "rapes" on campus along with other stuff, really upsets me.

I do believe this . . . . Georgia has more depth on both sides of the ball than Arkansas, has to amount to something. My kind of game, just like boxing used to be . . . . this is going to be a 15 rounder, not 10 or 12 rounds. The last three rounds are probably where this game will be won or lost.

Have tried hard since I have been a member here, trying not to call players out, especially by name. Comes a time when there are some that need to be reminded of what they were recruited to do. In my book, the time has come for Collin Barber.

Pruitt made it clear to several that no longer wear the Red and Black, effort is where he separates winners from losers. I like his policy, looking forward to not only the remainder of this season, next two seasons as well.

Watched some film of #74 Tracy Rocker while playing for Auburn. If his group plays as he did once upon a time, this game with Arkansas is "truly" not a place for boys.

The one thing that Bielema's players know and practice, toughness. Tracy Rocker understands that also, meaning he teaches toughness, don't believe it, check out some of the players he coached while at Auburn, or ask AM about those guys. Know that there were dirty plays involved, anyone that thinks that won't be going on in Little Rock, watch closely . . . . both sides. Pyke will take zero from anyone. I said that.