72 yard punt?

Submitted by MinorRage on
Hagerup had some big shoes to fill and after a rocky start I think he's done a tremendous job. This may be blasphemy to bring up, but after 4 years could he be better than the Space Emperor?
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Maize.Blue Wagner

November 13th, 2010 at 6:20 PM ^

I was surprised to see that was the second longest in school history (at least I think I read the game notes correctly).  Second only to Monte Robbins bomb against Hawaii. I would have thought there were some other long ones in the past couple years.

 

Edit: The record is Robbins' 82 yarder in 1987 to be exact.

Joined: 10/23/2009

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vigo the carpathian

November 13th, 2010 at 6:55 PM ^

i didn't like either of those QB punt calls today. i think there's a place for those - maybe if you're in your own territory and the opponent really thinks that you could go for it. but when you have a good punter and are clearly within the range for either punting it out of bounds or bombing one skyward and hoping that your guys can run under it, why not have the punter do the punting?

Joined: 11/02/2010

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aroberts36

November 13th, 2010 at 8:02 PM ^

I agree, they should lose that play. The punts are mostly terrible and I'd be more confident in our punter just angling it out of bounds then putting our QB out there to kick and then watch our offense try to stop a return. 

It would be different if we ever ran the fake or even if it was a situation where the other team thought we might be going for it.

Joined: 04/30/2010

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Raoul

November 14th, 2010 at 5:01 PM ^

Your memory is a bit off, but I agree with your "this ia a reactionary response to one shank" statement.

As I mentioned in another thread, Denard's only previous punt this year came in the Notre Dame game, and it was a 30-yarder that pinned ND back on their own 4 yard line.

Forcier has punted three times with an average of 35 yards per punt, which isn't bad, but none of them landed inside the 20 yard line. (source: U-M Football Stats)

Joined: 09/29/2009

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aroberts36

November 15th, 2010 at 8:49 AM ^

Since we usually use the ol' QB punt from about the 40 I think that getting inside the 20 should be fairly easy. I would harbor a guess and say that our actual punter should be able to put every one inside the 20.

My other main worry is our "punt" coverage by the offense. I remember one of the qb punts being returned and was close to breaking it for a big return.

I say let our punter do the punting and our punt coverage team do the punt covering (which shouldn't be needed as the punter should just blast it out of bounds around the 10)

Joined: 04/30/2010

MGoPoints: 205

TheAVA

November 13th, 2010 at 6:17 PM ^

It was a great play, to be sure, despite our defense giving up the big gainer immediately afterwards. I'd like to see him do something close to it a little more consistently (doesn't have to be epic every time) before we start bestowing titles. 

Joined: 10/13/2010

MGoPoints: 371

LSCrepair

November 13th, 2010 at 6:18 PM ^

Hard to say if he will be better. He obviously has the leg. But will he develop consistancy and touch when he needs to drop one inside the ten? We will have to wait and see.

Joined: 08/28/2009

MGoPoints: 1085

wolvericon

November 13th, 2010 at 6:20 PM ^

? Kicker Seth Broekhuizen struggled yet again, missing an extra point and a field goal. Rodriguez said he'd probably give redshirt freshman Brendan Gibbons another shot.

"Seth, it was a disappointing day from that standpoint because he's been kicking great in practice," said Rodriguez. "We've struggled all year, but he's clearly the best one in practice, so you've got to go with that. But we'll see what happens this week in practice."

Tom VanHaaren

Brendan Gibbons should feel terrible about himself. Army All American last year, scholarship kicker, and he doesn't play.

How bad is Gibbons? Maybe he's just a terrible practice player and we need to give him a couple of kicks in a real game.

Joined: 11/13/2010

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MH20

November 13th, 2010 at 6:34 PM ^

Gibbons was 1/4 on FGs before he was permanently relieved of his kicking duties in the ND game.  He also missed a PAT in the UCONN game.  So, he definitely has not shown anything in the game action he's had.  But, it might be time to give him another shot, because Broekhuizen has been abysmal of late.

Joined: 10/30/2008

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bronxblue

November 13th, 2010 at 7:59 PM ^

I'm not making excuses, but that field looked horrible out there so maybe that had something with the missed kicks.  Of course, Purdue didn't seem to have any problems...

The kicking game will need to be addressed next year, but for now it hasn't really hurt the team.  With this offense and (until today, at least) this defense, I rather they just go for it unless the kick is a sure chip-shot.

Joined: 11/22/2008

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Papochronopolis

November 13th, 2010 at 6:33 PM ^

was that the punt traveled most of that distance in the air.  He got a good bounce, but other punts I've seen that are in that range usually get a good bounce and then get an extra 25 yards (see Purdue's long punt of 67 yards today)

Joined: 09/17/2009

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tk47

November 14th, 2010 at 1:01 PM ^

Yeah that's true, he definitely had the wind at his back (which is why all the kickoffs going to the North were going so far, and we were actually able to get a couple touchbacks early on).

I was sitting behind that endzone too though, and you could tell from the sound when he kicked that thing that he got a hold of it.

Joined: 06/13/2009

MGoPoints: 1047

switch26

November 13th, 2010 at 7:07 PM ^

At the end of hagerup's career he will surpass Mesko as a better punter, no doubt in my mind.  I know mesko had a great career, but i don't really care.  What this kid is doing as a true freshman is pretty impressive

Joined: 02/04/2010

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Kevbot

November 13th, 2010 at 7:09 PM ^

My friend and I were watching him warming up before the game and he was consistently booting them from the goal line to about the opposite 35-30 yard line.

Joined: 03/10/2010

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Raoul

November 13th, 2010 at 7:52 PM ^

Through the Purdue game, Hagerup is averaging 44.0 yards per punt. If the season had ended today, that would have been good for second best in U-M history, behind Mesko's 44.46-yard average last year.

For comparison's sake, Mesko averaged 41.58 yards his freshman year.

I'd say Hagerup's career is off to a good start.

Joined: 09/29/2009

MGoPoints: 13957

WFBlue

November 13th, 2010 at 8:14 PM ^

It may have just been me, but Broekhuizen at least seemed to be able to hit the end zone (or close to it) with the kick-offs for the first time today.

Joined: 10/03/2010

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