Saban on Cade Foster kickoffs: "Not high and short by design. I wish he'd kick it in the stands."
Well that question is answered..
8 months ago
bammer
58 comments
1 recs |
Email
PrintComments
My brother and I had this argument this weekend
Not really an ‘argument’ as much as a disagreement.
He was in the “we do it on purpose” group. I was in the “IF we could kick it through the end zone, we would” group.
My logic went something like “Giving them field position between the 25-40 yard lines everytime is NOT better than the 20. Just because we have a great defense is no excuse to gift wrap yardage for them.”
His logic went something like “But we have a great defense…blah, blah, something, something, blah”
He texted me the statement you posted just about an hour ago. Ha.
Attempting to remove humor from posts since August 30, 2011
You are both missing the point of the conversation
Since we cannot kick it out of the end zone, the best tactic is to kick it high to give the coverage time to get down the field.
by ApothecaryMark on Oct 3, 2011 8:06 PM CDT up reply actions
Wait... what?
Are you saying he IS kicking it high and short by design? That’s kinda the opposite of what Saban said.
My interpretation
Since he cannot consistently kick it out of the end zone, we asked him to kick it high. If he could kick it out every time, we would go that route.
by ApothecaryMark on Oct 3, 2011 9:01 PM CDT up reply actions
With all due respect, I think you're mistaken
I believe if they were purposefully kicking it high and short, Saban would have said so. He said it’s not by design, which I interpret as “we’re not kicking it high and short on purpose”. When a team wants to pooch kick it high and short, you don’t do that to the 10 yard line where the speedsters get it, you do it to the 25 yard line to the 2nd level of the receiving team so a blocking back gets it. That way the kickoff team meets the receiver at the same time the ball does, nullifying a long return. Watch Foster’s kicking motion. He’s kicking it absolutely as hard as he can, which is why his balance is so bad, causing him to fall over, which also takes velocity off the ball. His form is terrible. If they wanted height on the ball only, Shelley would kickoff.
To be honest I'm ready for Shelley to kickoff.
I think we could hold the team around the 30 with his kicks. He can kick it about 45 yards which would mean the ball would land around the 25 and then we could bring them down by the 30. And we would not have these long returns.
If Auburn was in New Mexico and we never played them I would still hate them and their dumb coach and their cheating players.
I do believe in a KO situation Shelley would be able to kick the ball further than 45 yards.
As long as it has the right height, then it would be fine. Unfortunately the scholarship offer of Cade makes it hard to not play him.
It's not what you've done but what you are doing that matters.
Make its ass quit -TWEsq to me concerning my fight against Multiple Sclerosis
by AlabamaJammer on Oct 4, 2011 7:09 AM CDT up reply actions
Yeah, if he's not the best choice, then he's not the best choice.
Doesn’t matter who has a scholarship and who doesn’t.
God bless our Dark Lord.
I think he could probably kick it more than 45 too, but we don't know.
I’m basing it on his max field goal being about 40.
If Auburn was in New Mexico and we never played them I would still hate them and their dumb coach and their cheating players.
Not to mention....
You always risk the returner will take it all the way back for the score if you kick it to him. I have no idea why a kicker at the college level can’t at least get it INTO the endzone.
Agreed...
I just want him to start kicking it like he did in high school, which is why we gave him a scholly to begin with. I know he kicked form a little closer in HS, but most of his kicks were going out of the end zone which would make me think that they should be at least going 5 or 6 yards deep now.
ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!!!
I hear Saban has McCarron overthrowing Maze on purpose.
"Those are just facts and facts are just opinions and opinions can be wrong"
-Veronica, Better Off Ted
by Zoltar on Oct 3, 2011 8:09 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs
Freddie Kitchens nostalgia.
"We run this state, we run this stadium. Now let's go out there and run their ass in the ground"
That's funny
I started calling him Kitchens on the overthrows too…ha. It reminds me a lot of him.
Attempting to remove humor from posts since August 30, 2011
We told the ref to blow that call...
so we could have another shot at brantley before the half…
Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it. -HDT
Uhmm, I can't make sense of this??
"There's a lot of blood, sweat, and guts between dreams and success." -Coach Bear Bryant
"I thInk everybody should take the attItude that we’re workIng to be a champIon, that we want to be a champIon In everythIng that we do. every choIce, every decIsIon, everythIng that we do every day, we want to be a champIon."
-- Nick SabaN
by Tokeisch on Oct 3, 2011 8:58 PM CDT via mobile reply actions
First of all Cade's kicks
are not even that high. If he were kicking it high the player would catch it about the 15-20 and there would be defenders within 5 yards. The result would be a return to the 25.
No Cade’s kicks are short and low, not shirt and high.
I"m no kicking coach but to me sometimes it looks like he almost stops about 3 or 4 yards from the ball and then just does a 3 step kick. At other times he does run at the ball a bit and on those it seems to go about 5 yards further.
Cade to me is one of the the biggest disappointments to date on this team. When we signed him out of HS I was very excited about the prospects. But now he is a total bust except for tackling on the kick-off.
You know when a walk-on beats you out for FG’s inside of 40 and you are on scholarship, you are a major bust.
If Auburn was in New Mexico and we never played them I would still hate them and their dumb coach and their cheating players.
You're right about his form
His steps are different every time he approaches a ball (I am a kicking coach, by the way). I’m amazed that guys will continue to argue this point even after Saban has clarified it.
You watch Auburn’s skinny little kicker boot it through the uprights on a kickoff because he has good form. Foster would win in a fight, but not a field goal kicking contest.
I hope you can shed some light on his goofy follow-through.
If he keeps that up, he’ll never get that ball past the 10 yardline.
I agree
I was pumped for Alabama to FINALLY have a good kicker. I don’t understand why he could kick it out of the back of the endzone in high school and can’t even kick it to the goal line in college. It’s only a 5-yard difference. I don’t get it at all. His kicks aren’t short, they’re extremely short.
Go to the soccer team
Tell them try-outs are open. There has to be someone who can learn the technique over the summer.
"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt." -Bertrand Russell
THIS!
My little brother’s high school best friend is the freshman kicker at NC State. German kid who played soccer, and in 8th grade their middle school team needed a kicker and my brother convinced him to try it out. The rest, as they say, is history.
Dave Robertson is growing up to be the new Mariano Rivera. My two universes of fandom can finally unite!
by SoGladILeftTheACC on Oct 3, 2011 10:28 PM CDT up reply actions
Originally he was going to go to Nebraska.
Changed his commit last summer. Didn’t want to leave Mommy, wanted a scholarship right off the bat, and wanted to start all four years. That reeeeeally limits your options.
Dave Robertson is growing up to be the new Mariano Rivera. My two universes of fandom can finally unite!
by SoGladILeftTheACC on Oct 4, 2011 7:03 AM CDT up reply actions
Oh, so you wanted to instead aid the B1G. Nice. Reeeeeeal nice. We have a mole in the operations!!!
(my posts have been BEYOND goofy today… and yesterday… give or take a week)
by TiderUpNorth on Oct 4, 2011 12:16 PM CDT up reply actions
The only advice I personally gave him on his recruiting process was that I didn't want to see him in orange.
I was hundreds of miles away most of the time. Bama’s far from Mommy and has a starting kicker who’s a junior (possibly redshirt sophomore?!), so we were automatically out.
Dave Robertson is growing up to be the new Mariano Rivera. My two universes of fandom can finally unite!
by SoGladILeftTheACC on Oct 4, 2011 1:46 PM CDT up reply actions
If we had men's soccer...
…it might be a realistic solution, but we don’t. SC and Kentucky are the only two in the conference that do if I remember correctly.
And I learned something tonight.
"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt." -Bertrand Russell
No, but we've got a bunch of ex-high school soccer players roaming around.
Dave Robertson is growing up to be the new Mariano Rivera. My two universes of fandom can finally unite!
by SoGladILeftTheACC on Oct 3, 2011 11:05 PM CDT up reply actions
I'd be sittin in a hot tub
Soakin it up with my soul mate
"We should not need a tragedy to inspire us to try to help others. We should serve others all the time"
I actually said
in a drunken stuper this weekend that he kicks it like he does so he can have more of a chance to make a tackle. I even argued the point. Keep in mind I had only had 2hrs sleep out of 36 and had many beers after competing in a BBQ comp. all day. At the time is sounded logical to me just not the sober and rested people in the bar in Laurel, MD.
"its that puke, inside of a pumpkin orange....and i dont like pumpkins"!
But, if he keeps it up he will be on the bench
and you can’t make any tackles from there.
If Auburn was in New Mexico and we never played them I would still hate them and their dumb coach and their cheating players.
I don't know
he hurt one of florida’s best players with his tackling
by BamaThrasher on Oct 3, 2011 10:30 PM CDT up reply actions
He better with those KOs
It's not what you've done but what you are doing that matters.
Make its ass quit -TWEsq to me concerning my fight against Multiple Sclerosis
by AlabamaJammer on Oct 4, 2011 7:11 AM CDT up reply actions
To me
It seems like most of his kicks are between the ten and the five and weren’t making it much past the twenty. But the Florida game they all seemed to be five to ten yards shorter. And I seem to recall two of his kicks that made it into the endzone this season were returned for okay yardage because they were low line drives.
by Derk Mc on Oct 3, 2011 11:07 PM CDT via mobile reply actions
You Guys Are Way Off
About the supposed “struggles” of the kickoff coverage unit. While we may not get many touchbacks, we were 10th nationally going into the Florida game in kickoff coverage, and we’re 25th now. A MASSIVE improvement over the last three years.
it's not the coverage.
It’s the kicks. The coverage has been very good.
"Those are just facts and facts are just opinions and opinions can be wrong"
-Veronica, Better Off Ted
But maybe the coverage...
…is only good because if the kicks?!
I still say when you catch the ball on the ten and there are opposing team members already on the twenty you don’t have a lot of time to look and figure out running lanes. Where as you catch it on the one or just in the endzone, you have a second it two to look and decided the best route, plus you have more room.
Not saying we are doing it on purpose, just saying that kicks on the ten or fifteen could be better than kicks on the one or just into endzone, but not as good as a sure fire touchback.
by Derk Mc on Oct 4, 2011 7:36 AM CDT via mobile up reply actions
No the covergage would be good if the kick made it to the goal line.
If Auburn was in New Mexico and we never played them I would still hate them and their dumb coach and their cheating players.
I was hoping this was all done by design...
I guess I didn’t want to believe that Cade couldn’t get them deep. Unfortunately that isn’t so.
There is another point to be made here. Its not like his short kicks have really hurt us to date. Only UF had success in the return game and that was only when Demps was in the game. The KO coverage has been beyond excellent so far this year and I don’t see that letting up.
Not making excuses but this year I don’t hold my breath every time we kick it off.
Follow on twitter @thelyell
As much as I like watching Vinnie, DePriest, and Cade tackle the hell out of people
it wouldn’t hurt my feelings to see Cade kick the ball into the next area code on kick-offs.
"If wanting to win is a fault, as some of my critics seem to insist, then I plead guilty. I like to win. I know no other way. It's in my blood." -- Paul "Bear" Bryant
Vinnie DePriest would be the best mafia name ever.
'There are two pains in life. There is the pain of discipline and the pain of disappointment. If you can handle the pain of discipline, then you'll never have to deal with the pain of disappointment,'- Nick Saban
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
