How do they practice punts in the spring
Since Will Hanger-UP is not going to be practicing until summer how is michigan practicing during the spring for punts since they do not have a punter. I know that they haven't to my knowledge done any yet though the films they have done, but i am sure this is a concern for later part of spring practice.
March 23rd, 2010 at 12:17 PM ^
Well I'm sure some of the other kickers are doing so and RR said they have a few walk-on kickers that are doing OK. I'm not sure how special teams works - but I'm sure they have Gibbons working on punting.
March 23rd, 2010 at 12:18 PM ^
I remember from back when I played high school football that at least 3 or 4 players could punt the ball at least 40 yards consistently (about a 30 yard punt after the line of scrimmage)... Probably not much of a concern.
Stolen avatar. Please change
March 23rd, 2010 at 12:18 PM ^
They throw footballs off of the bell tower and see if anyone from the student body can catch a punt. If they find one I say they give him a schollie and teach him to signal for a fair catch.
March 23rd, 2010 at 12:36 PM ^
They haven't found one in three years.
March 23rd, 2010 at 12:20 PM ^
Even if no one can punt, they can use a ball launcher to simulate it. Plus, the kickers can typically punt relatively well.
Relatively speaking, it isn't that big of a deal. For Michigan--maybe it is. After all, holding onto the damn ball is a big deal in Ann Arbor nowadays.
March 23rd, 2010 at 12:22 PM ^
Tate might be punting in practice .. He showed last year he can boom it 50 yards
March 23rd, 2010 at 12:36 PM ^
I believe Tate did punt for his HS. That was a GREAT punt.
March 23rd, 2010 at 12:45 PM ^
Mallett used to practice with the punters every once in a while. Dude actually had a pretty huge leg.
Given that Mallet was 6'7 I'm guessing he had a "pretty huge" everything ...
no homo
henson put on an all american team as a punter out of high school, because whoever picked the team put ronald curry as the starting qb???
March 23rd, 2010 at 12:37 PM ^
I'm sure some extra practice will be good for Gibbons or one of the walk-ons. I would hate to see an injury leave us without any (somewhat) experienced punters.
March 23rd, 2010 at 12:38 PM ^
Walk-ons. Considering we only have 1 schollarship kicker, and 1 schollarship punter (who is not yet on campus) I imagine there are a gaggle of ex-soccer-player-types in winged helmets kicking the hell out of the ball to get their place on the team.
Last year UM redshirted Gibbons and had a 3-way-walk-on-battle for starting kicker. Essentially, I assume this same type of thing is happening this spring for punter (but hopefully Hanger-UP, as you appropriately call him, takes the starting spot by August 30).
March 23rd, 2010 at 12:41 PM ^
in the water, and keep your feet near the shallow end before kicking, they shouldn't have any problems. Huh? What? Not that kind of spring.... OK, Never mind...
March 23rd, 2010 at 12:57 PM ^
But this comment made me laugh out loud at my desk. Thanks.
March 23rd, 2010 at 12:48 PM ^
...what's that?
March 23rd, 2010 at 12:53 PM ^
Which is a little frightening. Frightening like, where might we be without Brendan Gibbons right now?
In order to maintain the same quality of punting practice that the team has had in previous years with Zoltan; Michigan is now collaborating with NASA to assist in punting practice by dropping footballs from Low Earth Orbit.
in points per light broken.
Hard to believe that Zoltan The Inconceivable red-shirted, isn't it?
Especially since he was on the bench behind Ross Ryan his Freshman Year. Of course, the coaches at the time probably didn't realize that Zoltan was the Divine Space Emperor of Space. The fact that they weren't immediately smitted by lightening bolts from the sky is further testament to the infinite patience and boundless benevolence of Zoltan
Michigan doesn't have to worry about punting. Our offense will be so good this year, we are going to forget what a punter even does.
I would imagine they kick the ball? That's how you usually practice punting in any season.
Really, though, it shouldn't be that hard to find a walk-on punter. Troll the IM soccer league if you have to... There's gotta be some former high school all-everything soccer player languishing away in a computer lab somewhere on North Campus.
There have to be a million potential walk-ons who could punt well enough for practice....
A Jugs machine can simulate punts/kicks.
in years because Zoltan puts enough balls into orbit during the season. Even the University of Michigan has a limited supply.
With their hind legs; as the rule-book states. Section 15: Article 1a-1b, Article 2.