Changing the Tempo of the
Game: Ferrum College
W e feel honored to represent Ferrum
College and Head Coach Dave
Davis, David Harper (offensive coordina-
Punt Return tor), Bob Brown (quarterbacks), Horace
Green (runningbacks), Cleve Adams
(defensive backfield), and Brian Zyglocke
(wide receivers).
Special teams are as important as any
other unit on the field. Many teams say this
but we really believe it. We feel we can
Timothy Norling make a difference and change the tempo of
the game. The blocked punt or long return
Defensive Line can change the tempo and the momentum
Coach of the game in a huge way. Often teams
are even defensively and offensively so the
Ferrum College special teams will be the key to victory. We
look at special teams this way. We have
Ferrum, Va. specific special team goals for each aspect
of the special teams. Many teams practice
special teams at the beginning of the prac-
tice or at the end of practice. We practice
special teams in the middle of the practice
with everyone on the team involved. This
lets everybody know how important the
practice time is. We do not always follow
the same schedule for special team prac-
Chadd Braine tice either. As with offense and defense we
will work with weak spots or spots where we
Linebackers believe we can exploit another team’s
Coach weakness. This takes time, and since we
do not have a specific special teams coor-
dinator, we all must work together as a staff.
The offensive staff is in charge of kick-off
return, PAT/FG and punt teams. The defen-
sive staff is in charge of punt return, kick-off
return and field-goal block. Since the spe-
cial teams are split in this way the whole
coaching staff plays an important part in the
special teams aspect of the game. Every
day in the staff meeting we talk about where
we need work. We will divide time up for the
special teams accordingly.
We will use some starters on our special
teams so we do not view this as a time to
rest players. The starters on our offense
and defense involved on the various units
will rest on offense or defense but not on
their assigned special teams units. We will
play our best athletes on the special teams.
For instance our All-American defensive
end Tone’ Dancy was on the punt and punt
return. He was a very good example of how
important the special teams units are to the
success of our team. The punt return team
is made of mostly defensive players in case
the offensive team decides to go for the
first down unexpectedly.
The punt return team has been our
strong point in the past few years. This year
• AFCA Summer Manual — 2001 •
was not an exception. We had the fifth
leading punt returner in the nation, Tim
Carter. This was after an injury to our start-
ing punt returner. The punt returners have
always been skilled athletes at Ferrum but
the whole unit deserves credit for all of the
effort given on the field. As mentioned ear-
lier in the article we have five goals as a
special teams unit. The five goals are:
1. Gain 10 yards on a punt return.
2. Field all catchable balls.
3. No penalties.
4. Stop all fakes.
5. Pressure the punter both physically
and mentally.
These goals give us a way to evaluate
the punt return unit. The goals are evaluat-
ed for each individual punt. We will post the
results each week just as the offense and
the defense does with their goals. With the
evaluation of the special teams the players
and coaches can see how the team is
doing and we are able to evaluate ways to
improve the team. Each of the goals serves
the return unit in a different way. If you
complete all of the goals on a particular
punt the result will be a positive result.
We will break down film as to be able to
understand tendencies of the opponent. We
will look at the punter’s average, steps, the
snap, and the characteristics of the cover-
age unit. We want to be able to attack the
defense just as an offense attacks a
defense. We will run various returns or
blocks depending on the strength and
weakness of the team’s punting unit. When
these aspects of the punt team are studied,
the return unit can gain a major advantage.
Every week will be different. We will try
to determine blocking schemes of a punt
team in order to pressure the punter the
best way possible. This helps us because
many teams will look at our previous game
film and prepare for that specific block. We
will execute a different type of block or
return against their team because of the
characteristics of their unit.
We will run an alley return, middle return
with various blocks, and a safe punt. We
will try to make every return including the
block look like a block. This is a way where
we will pressure the punter both mentally
and physically. The punter will never know
when we are going to return the punt or try
to block it.
Middle Return
We had a lot of success last year with
the middle return. With the middle return
Tim Carter returned two punts for touch-
downs in one game. As mentioned before
we will line up with a 10-man front with
everyone in a head up alignment. The only
players who will not be in a heads align-
ment are the ones who will pinch the cen-
ter. We will do this with all of our returns or
blocks. The only difference is the location
of our safeties. The location of the safeties
could change on every return.
Diagram 1
The middle return will be man blocking
for everyone except the number ones and
the safeties (fours). The ones will block
who number four was lined up over and the
safeties will watch for fakes and block the
center and any players who were not
blocked. The big key to this return is not let-
ting the players on the punt team release
inside on the punt. Everyone except the
safeties will make a push as if they are try-
ing to block the punt. Once the push up
field is over, we will give them an outside
release and follow them down field. The
key is not blocking the player too early.
They need to wait until they are in good
position and down the field to set the
blocks. We hope to have an advantage in
this situation because we will have players
with as much speed and hopefully more
desire to make the blocks. The returner will
hopefully have a nice lane to run through
the center of the field.
Diagram 2
Wall Right/Wall Left
This is one of the more common returns
in the country, but if executed the return is
one of the most successful returns as well.
The return requires a lot of effort from your
players in order to be executed. The return
can also be considered a block since one
of the sides is always coming for the block.
Since there will be pressure on the punter
he will have to get the ball off on time and
this could cause a problem in itself. We did
have one block this year off of this return.
Diagram 3
As drawn in the diagram, one side of the
return will be a man-blocking scheme while
the other side will attempt to block the kick
and form a wall. The difference between
the man blocking side compared to the
middle return is the blockers will try to give
an inside release to the man they are
blocking. This will enable them to be in the
best position to keep the defender out of
the wall.
Number one will set up the wall and
everyone will follow his lead. The rest of
the blockers will set up the wall three to four
yards apart. The important player is num-
ber five who is responsible to make sure
the ball is punted and there are not any
fakes.
This return is the hardest return to exe-
cute, not only because of the blocks, but
the ball must be punted at the right spot
and depth. If the punt is short or far away
from the wall the returner must adjust the
return and make a “may-day” call to go on
his own. If the returner makes the “may-
day” call the blockers may be able to
adjust and help him a little bit. Without the
communication the returner may not have
any support.
We have been lucky to have success
with our special teams and great effort from
our players. With this in mind, we hope to
continue the tradition of strong special
teams at Ferrum College. We hope this
article can help somebody and we appreci-
ate the opportunity to share our thoughts
with members of the American Football
Coaches Association.

Make a Difference: Insist on Secure Assistant Coaches’

Contracts When Moving to a New Position
AFCA members moving into a new position as a head coach can make a difference when it comes
to improving the football coaching profession.

Coaches who are in the process of interviewing for a head coaching position should make it a point
to ask that assistant coaches’ contracts run from July to July or the equivalent (such as January to
January plus six months) when negotiating with an institution’s representatives.

Only those within the profession can put an end to poor contracts.

It’s up to you.

• AFCA Summer Manual — 2001 •