Bryan Cummings Knows How to Perfect Your Punt Return

USA Today did a study that showed 85% of teams that block a punt won the game.

And yet in high school, one of the most overlooked part of football is special teams.

I know that every year I ignore it.  Wait till last minute. 

Don’t spend any time in August working on it…

And during the season I am guilty of waiting until Thursday to cover it.

It’s easy to think that you don’t need to study Special Teams because you’ve done it one way for years.

But a good special teams can save a lot of headaches and heartaches in a season.

And it deserves your attention because if you’ve got a good special teams, that means better field position for your offense and defense.

And that helps you win games.

So, for today, I’m going to share with you how Coach Bryan Cummings breaks down his Punt Return for his players.

Here’s how he sets everything up:

Coach Cummings doesn’t complicate the matter.

He uses two groups to drill his two rules:

1. Win at the line of scrimmage.
2. Win when the ball is caught.

For today, I’m going to focus on the second rule.

Coach Cummings has identified the scenarios that your players are going to face when running down the field blocking potential tacklers.

And there are only 3.

Each situation talks about where your punt return blocker is in relation to his man.

So, is he…

1. By his hip?

Grab and wrap.

This means the blocker should grab the near side number and “wrap” himself around so that he is in a normal blocking position.

2. A step behind?

Back block.

Since your blocker is not close enough to grab and wrap, he has to put his back to the defender and get his body between the defender and the return man.

3. Directly behind?

Aim for ball carrier.

When the blocker is behind the blocker without chance of getting hands on the defender, he must aim for where the return man is going. If he does this, and he’ll know where the return man is going based on the call, he’ll be able to cut off the defender using the grab and wrap technique.

Get the full course here.