John Baxter - Telling it like it is, UM Special Teams
This dude is a breath of fresh air man:
http://www.scout.com/college/michigan/story/1571227-notebook-baxter-rips-past-performances
“Obviously if I feel like I couldn’t make an impact then I shouldn’t have this job,” Baxter said. “I do feel like we can make an impact.”
“It’s upsetting to me the last time we’ve returned a kick or a punt (for a touchdown) was 2007 or 2008,” Baxter said. “Last time we returned a field goal for a score was 2003. That’s way too long. I can just tell you this, we are going to approach this football team and this camp with some tremendous urgency.”
“When those things happen, it’s when they happen,” Baxter said. “But I’ll tell you what, my expectations is that it happens tomorrow.”
Plain-spoken. Forthright.
but true. And it seemingly happened every game.
August 7th, 2015 at 11:17 AM ^
but if our coaching staff is merely competent, we are a better team this year. My sense is that they will clear that bar with room to spare
uuunnnnhhhh....... aargggghjhh....
was going through concussion protocol on the sideline?
Too soon?
Think Stonum had the last KR TD
the only one? Pathetic still.
He mostly ran at full speed, gave a little hesitation move at about midfield, then was gone. Must have had good blocking.
There's no shame in going 11 years without returning a blocked field goal for a score. I mean, how often does that actually happen with ANY team other than Beamer Ball at Virginia Tech?
Better kickoff and punt returns would be great for obvious reasons. But it would be nice just to have a solid FG kicker. Year after year, it seems every team in the country has kickers that can boot 50 yarders in their sleep. And for us, we're fortunate if we can get FG's between 20 and 25 yards.
It was an odd thing to specifically identify, but his larger point stands: we have not been getting big plays out of special teams like we should. Certainly, we should be able to kick FGs, but we should also have return teams that can occasionally flip the field position in our favor, at the least. It seems like OSU gets a couple of special-teams TDs every year, whereas for us they're a very rare event.
August 6th, 2015 at 10:32 PM ^
Baxter's MgoBlue bio is porn. It makes you realize that such things can happen regularly. Check this out:
During Baxter's four-year run at USC, the Trojans excelled in a number of special teams categories and a slew of his players collected national accolades. In 2013, USC ranked second in the country in blocked punts (three) and fourth in blocked kicks (six). The Trojans also scored three punt return touchdowns and allowed zero punt return yards in eight of 14 games, while holding two other opponents to five yards or less. Under Baxter's guidance, punt returner Nelson Agholor tied a Pac-12 record with two scoring punt returns at California, and finished the game with a USC-record 168 punt return yards. Baxter also coached USC's tight ends in 2013.
In 2012, the Trojans notched four blocked kicks, including one returned for a touchdown, and posted a scoring kickoff return. USC also ranked fourth in the nation in kickoff returns (26.4 avg.) and punter Kyle Negrete, a finalist for the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, helped the Trojans rank 29th in the country in net punting (38.6 avg.).
That's just a small portion of the profile: http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/john_baxter_945652.html
August 6th, 2015 at 11:11 PM ^
Drool.
August 7th, 2015 at 11:28 AM ^
It's been more than 4 hours.
Should I call my doctor?
Absolutely agree. Tremendous hire.
But seriously, I'm glad we have this guy on our sideline. Special teams have been absolutely putrid here for years.
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Brady was aware, but not fully aware of that rule.
August 6th, 2015 at 10:58 PM ^
Seemed so adorable at the time...
August 6th, 2015 at 10:04 PM ^
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August 6th, 2015 at 11:22 PM ^
And that was after they actually started catching the fucking ball. I still have nightmares about all the muffed punts from RR's first season.
August 6th, 2015 at 10:14 PM ^
Another one of these?
New coach: "Our plan is to take all of things we are bad at try to become good at them. I figure that if we can do more good things, and less bad things, then we will be a better team. So, basically the plan is to do more good things and less bad things. "
Mgobloggers: "Yes! [New coach] is brillant! How come [prior coach] never thought of that?" **shakes fist**
Yep, I hear you, but I think this case is different because Baxter has the resume to back it up, and because the ST have been so bad that any competent coach almost has to bring improvement.
It seems like our special teams have actually gotten worse after being coached. Remember Dymonte blocking a punt in his very first game, maybe even his first play from scrimmage? Has he done anything even close to that since?
Woo!