Blake O'Neill Article (Great John Baxter Quote)

Submitted by Stay.Classy.An… on

I know, I know, I know, another FREEP story. To avoid giving them any unwanted clicks, I have provided the best parts of the short article here. IMO, Michigan hasn't had a punter like this since Zoltan, who was one of those once in a great while punters. O'Neil's ability to pin opponents deep should not be overlooked and his presence has definitely been felt early on this season. Only this coaching staff would find a diamond in the rough graduate transfer punter out of Weber State...

 

http://www.freep.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/wolverine…

 

Baxter Quote:

“Punter is the hardest position on your whole football team to find,” Baxter said Wednesday. “Punters are becoming kind of like an endangered species because there’s no skill set in anywhere in any sport you play in this country that has you drop a rhomboid spheroid flat and try to hit it with your foot. … What do you do when the current farm isn’t yielding the crops you need? You expand your farming area.”

Harbaugh Quote:

On his Monday radio show, U-M coach Jim Harbaugh said: “I can’t say enough about the way he’s able to make good decisions and has one of those legs where he can pinpoint where he’s puts it out at. It’s been a tremendous weapon.”

O'Neil Quote:

“When a father and son go out to play catch in the front yard (in Australia), they punt it to each other when they’re 5 years old,” Baxter said. “In this country they throw it to each other.”

Happy Thursday and Go BLUE, spayed the Wildcats!

EDIT: Added the extra "l" to O'Neill

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Blue4U

October 8th, 2015 at 9:14 AM ^

when the offense struggles is a good punter and good defense.  When the offense runs with consistency, I think we will very hard to beat.

Joined: 09/13/2011

MGoPoints: 4616

EastCoast Esq.

October 8th, 2015 at 9:15 AM ^

I wonder if we could also find some punters in New Zealand and South Africa. Those are two other countries with consistently impressive rugby teams.

Rugby obviously isn't a big sport in America, but it seems to require the type of punting that is really effective on a football field, as well as the physicality to take a hit.

Joined: 07/16/2012

MGoPoints: 22968

Yo_Blue

October 8th, 2015 at 9:24 AM ^

Dammit, another good looking Aussie import!  My wife is still wearing her South Sydney Rabbitohs shirt that she bought after Lloyd brough Russel Crowe in for a game.  I've tried talking with an Australian accent, ordering Fosters, and posting numerous koala pictures but she has this hangup for Aussies.

Joined: 08/24/2010

MGoPoints: 102594

SchembechlerDisciple

October 8th, 2015 at 9:20 AM ^

I love that we have this guy... I honestly find our punting plays to be some of the most exciting this season.  As good as our defense is... when Blake can pin the opponents's deep... it just positions us so well for so many things, e.g. safeties, panicky opposing QBs, opportunities for Peppers to field returnable punts, short fields for our offense, etc.  

Joined: 11/27/2011

MGoPoints: 332

gbdub

October 8th, 2015 at 10:13 AM ^

I know this is blasphemy, but I think O'Neil is better than Zoltan (punts be upon him). Either way, he is the clear heir to the Space Emperor throne. Gotta work on the name though, "Blake" just won't inspire fear among the Venusian sulphur miners.



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Joined: 02/16/2010

MGoPoints: 26761

Stay.Classy.An…

October 8th, 2015 at 10:54 AM ^

Michigan is only going to have O'Neill for one year. But, let's go with what we know so far...all of Mesko's stats are from his MGoBlue Bio and O'Neill's are from ESPN:

Mesko holds the school records for most punts (season and career) (80 and 243) and yardage (season and career) (3,436 and 10,325). Mesko's career punts downed inside the 20 was 32% (76/243). Mesko is currently 2nd in career punt avg. at 42.5.

O'Neill's career stats (currently) 83 punts for 3,592 yds, 43 yds. per punt average with a long of 74 yds. His one season at Weber St. he totaled 62 punts for 2,737 yds and a 44 yds. per punt average. This season he stands at 11/21 inside the 20 for a 52% avg. let's check back into that at the end of the season. I don't have a career percentage on this.

So the argument can definitely be made for O'Neill being comparable and possibly better than Mesko, it would have been nice to O'Neill kick for four years here. He probably would have come close to or even broke a few of those records.

Clearly I have nothing better to do today....

Joined: 11/27/2012

MGoPoints: 19972

TomJ

October 8th, 2015 at 10:33 AM ^

Because they have it on tape now, opponents will have to be prepared for the fake. Gone are the days when you could be 99.999% sure that a Michigan punter was going to punt the ball, often into the endzone if he could reach it.

Joined: 03/21/2012

MGoPoints: 1437

jmblue

October 8th, 2015 at 11:31 AM ^

How many other schools' football coaches would speak of a "rhomboid spheroid"  - or even understand what that means?  

The Michigan Difference.

 

Joined: 11/07/2008

MGoPoints: 102835

BlueCube

October 8th, 2015 at 12:43 PM ^

viewing the videos I thought he would be a huge part of turning things around. I viewed him as someone who could change the field position. I have to say he's even better than I thought. His ability to place the ball is truly amazing. I hope we take steps to comb Australia for his replacement. Add in Peppers' returns and special teams are making things much easier for the offense and defense.

Joined: 12/12/2013

MGoPoints: 45965

Mr. Yost

October 8th, 2015 at 1:04 PM ^

Baxter is the only coach I want on this staff who's a "lifer"...the guy is just pure awesome.

Everyone else I want to keep as long as we can keep...but realistically you want A+ coordinators that either grow at your school or get promoted to bigger and better things elsewhere.

But Baxter...that guy, he can be here for as long as he wants as far as I'm concerned. Not that anyone is concerned with my opinion.

Joined: 07/25/2011

MGoPoints: -9898220

Goose1724

October 8th, 2015 at 3:46 PM ^

There's a reason Special Teams is 1/3 of the game. If he keeps this up and our D maintains its dominance, we are in good shape for the remainder of the season.

Joined: 10/28/2014

MGoPoints: 1647