Kudos to true freshmen X. Jones, X. Castille and B. West

[blackoutpony]

Our middle linebackers need to be upgraded a lot.

As bad as they've been, we might have 3 true freshmen starters in the secondary next year....

Adam said something the other day to the effect of, "If NCAA rules allowed it, Eric Sutton could walk onto the field and start for SMU next week without even practicing".

I don't doubt fiori a second that Sutton is really talented, but that's a ridiculous statement. Looking forward to having a stud named Sutton on each side of the ball, though!

Just passing along what Adam said. Haha. For the record, he's watched Cedar Hill, so Sutton and Michael Clark, play multiple times this year and he obviously watches all the smu games. I think it was a tongue in cheek kind of thing saying, "hey, he couldn't possibly do any worse than what's going on, so I'd throw him out there if I could since, he's more naturally talented". REINFORCEMENTS ARE COMING!

[smitty329]

I was bored

1st kick - 37 yards, downed at 5
2nd kick - 37 yards, No Return
3rd kick - 30 yards (this is MRydel's metric kick), No Return
4th kick - 56 yards, downed at 8
5th kick - 49 yards, downed at 1

Average 41.8, NO Return Yards

Metrics for punter evaluation include distance, hang time, and inside the 20. The rest are special teams related - especially return yards. If we have non-D1 athletes on defense, what do we have on special teams and how much focus was put into it this season?

THe first kick could have been a 20 yard dud that had a nice bounce/roll - returners are instructed not to field anything on the ground for obvious reasons. If the 2 that had no return went out of bounds inside the 20, then that's a good thing. Downing the ball inside the 10 probably reflects more on the coverage than the punter.

My observation has been koonce has performed/looked better - fewer duds. A lot of his duty came when the offense was struggling and he was punting from inside our 30 or 40 it seems. He has good distance but may need a little better trajectory. Or it could be our gunners can't get down the field to force the fair catch - leading to big returns. I don't like the phrase "outkicking the coverage." If the returner is fielding the punt where they expect to, roughly 40 yards from scrimmage, the coverage should be able to get there at the same time as the punt. If he was "outkicking the coverage", he would also be outkicking the returner who is backpeddling or out of position to field the punt. I haven't seen that.

[Stallion]

so many punting experts and yet the Special teams coach seems to disagree. Why? BECAUSE its NOT EVEN CLOSE on net punting between Williams and Koonce. Go game by game. Williams has outperformed Koonce in just about every game comparison. You play with the roster you are given and at least with the special teams players available the Coach has determined that Williams has outperformed Koonce. He has. Koonce had the same problems last year too. Too many returns-few inside the 20 and failure to directional kick. Ball looks pretty as he sails it into the endzone-but not good punting

[mrydel]

Then why did the special teams coach replace Williams with Koonce earlier if Williams was performing so well? I say again if you kick one 80 yards and then one 20 yards you have a 50 yard average but that 20 yard kick may cost you 7 points.

Since when did you start touting the decisions of coaches as gospel? You have known more than them for the past 20 years and now you are going to base your statement on a special teams coach who has already waffled?

Williams may well be the best but I am not real pleased with either right now.

[vielsiehorsepower]

so many punting experts and yet the Special teams coach seems to disagree. Why? BECAUSE its NOT EVEN CLOSE on net punting between Williams and Koonce. Go game by game. Williams has outperformed Koonce in just about every game comparison. You play with the roster you are given and at least with the special teams players available the Coach has determined that Williams has outperformed Koonce. He has. Koonce had the same problems last year too. Too many returns-few inside the 20 and failure to directional kick. Ball looks pretty as he sails it into the endzone-but not good punting

Is williams the guy at pk next year? If I'm not mistaken I believehe was fairly high regarded at that position

[Charleston Pony]

I don't think there is any question about Koonce having the stronger leg. I thought he was one of our strengths last year but he seems to have regressed this year and may be kicking longer, but in the process is sacrificing hang time which has lead to longer returns and a net punting average worse than Williams. My initial comment was just that I thought Williams was much improved this week from those early games where not only did I think his leg was weak, but he was not very effective. I may have been one of the 1st guys calling for Koonce to get back on the field, but once he got the opportunity, he failed to perform as well as he did last year and he consistently out kicked our coverage.

[smitty329]

so many punting experts and yet the Special teams coach seems to disagree. Why? BECAUSE its NOT EVEN CLOSE on net punting between Williams and Koonce. Go game by game. Williams has outperformed Koonce in just about every game comparison. You play with the roster you are given and at least with the special teams players available the Coach has determined that Williams has outperformed Koonce. He has. Koonce had the same problems last year too. Too many returns-few inside the 20 and failure to directional kick. Ball looks pretty as he sails it into the endzone-but not good punting

Is williams the guy at pk next year? If I'm not mistaken I believehe was fairly high regarded at that position

Looks like he may be a better PK than punter - at least thats what the experts felt:

http://kohlskicking.com/recruiting/Will ... mmits/5554