How do I coach SKY kicks?

[Rick Walsworth]

As much time as we have spent the past few years on directional Kickoff coverage, we are still giving up BIG returns too often.  I think I am ready to move into the NO Deep kickoffs camp.  We have also struggled when we have attempted to SKY kick short.  I've had soccer player kickers, and they still have a difficult getting the ball UP and shorter.

ANY and all tips would be appreciated!

Thank you.

[Sean Berry]

We do this a lot, and honestly we are poor to average at it.

We tell the kid to "kick the tee" and follow thru. We also place the ball like a watermelon and tell the kicker to "lift it off the ground" as the kick it. Like I said, we are only average at this deal. BUT waaaaay below average at covering down field on deep kicks.

Very interested in anyone's take on this deal.

sb

[Rick Walsworth]

Yeah. We work harder on Kickoff Coverage than any other special team and we've given up three 90+ yard return TD's in our last 5 games (three in 2020 and the last two of 2019), and it hasn't been a kick-placement problem the last two times...ball was PREFECT on the numbers inside the 10 yard line both times...one even bounced around on the ground and thought kid might step out of bounds.

So we're going to Onside more and want to see if we can Sky Kick across the field to the 30-35 and force fair catches...or loose balls.