Up-the-Field Punting Drill

Many punters practice by standing on one spot on the field and kicking the ball as hard as they can. However, game situations are different, and the distance, direction and height of each punt depends on field position. There's no sense in booming a 60 yard punt if you're on the 50-yard line and your punter can put it in the coffin-corner.

The following drill, which can be conducted either before or after regular team practice, teaches your punters to kick from any field position.

Setup & Execution
The drill uses a center to snap the ball and a punter. Place two footballs on each of the 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 yard lines.

The center moves to each ball, and snaps it 10 yards back to the punter. The punter kicks the ball, using the appropriate punt for each field position.

Bill Renner, author of Kicking the Football suggests performing two repetitions of this drill, twice a week.

Appropriate Punts
The type of punt used will depend on field position. Balls on the 10- and 20-yard lines require a drive punt, in which the focus is more on distance than height. Punts from the 30-yard line require a  field punt, a combination of distance and hang-time, while punts from the 40- and 50-yard lines should focus on hang-time, as long as they have enough distance to land inside the opposing 20-yard line. The latter could also be coffin-corner punts, which are directed inside the 20-yard line near the sideline/goal line.

References:
1. Bill Renner, Kicking the Football, Human Kinetics Publishers, 1997.
2. Joe Galat, Coaching Youth Football, 5th Edition, 2010. www.humankinetics.com

To download the pdf version of this
article, click here: Download Now

© 2010, Physical Education Update.com, www.peUpdate.com