Cover-One Kickoff
Kickoffs. If you're doing things right on offense, then you'll be doing this a lot. How you do it can be the difference between keeping that six point lead you just gained, and watching it evaporate when the other team runs one back.
Don't be fooled by the diagram above! Although it appears to show a deep, NFL-style kick, I think that's one of the most idiotic things you can do in football. Look at it logically, who did the other coach put back there to return your kick? Well, if he's using a normal kickoff return, then he's got two returners. How much would you like to bet those are his number one and number two running backs?
Isn't the entire idea of offensive football to get your best athletes in the open field with the ball so they can cross the goal line with it?
So why, oh tell me why would you intentionally kick the ball to those guys? Isn't that precisely what the other coach is praying you'll do?
I recommend one of two types of kickoff. If you are the type of coach that doesn't mind giving up a little field position in favor of an increased chance to recover the ball, I'd say you should onside kick the sucker every chance you get.
On the other hand, there are times when I want to gain every possible yard I can. For those occasions, I recommend a cover one kickoff. Squib the ball down one hash mark or the other, depending on your kicker's preference, and try to get the ball into the hands of one of the opposing players that's thinking "Oh dear god, please don't let them kick that thing to me!" If you can do that, then you've already won the battle.
Cover one takes its name from the fact that the first man on each side of the field is not, as is traditional, responsible for outside contain. Rather, his sole purpose in life is to find the ball carrier and make him wish that he'd taken up Flamenco Dancing instead of football. They do not stay in a lane, but rather head directly to the football.
Outside contain then becomes the responsibility of the next man inward, who must make absolutely certain that the ball never gets wider than him. As is normal, every member of the coverage team must stay in their lane until even with the ball before turning inward, and the kicker hangs back to be a safety, keeping always directly upfield from the ball.
Since we are not worried about a deep, NFL-style kick, I recommend that you take your eleven best open-field tacklers and put them on the kickoff team. Then audition them for the role of kicker. You want a low, wobbly line drive that will bounce around and frustrate the returning team's attempts to pick it up. Any knucklehead can kick one of those, so don't go looking for someone named "Grammatica" for this position
omel2910