Special Once Again

By: Chris Evans

 

            Attention! Will all field superintendents please add an extra coat of paint on the 35 yard lines before Guthrie plays on your turf? If teams will do their homework when preparing for the Guthrie Bluejays they will know it would be wiser to kick the ball out of bounds on kick-offs with the weapons Guthrie will put out on the field. Thank You.

            Special teams may be one of the last things that many don’t think about until something erroneous happens. However, that is not the case for the Guthrie Bluejay football team.

            “We feel like we work on our special teams as much as anybody,” seventh year head coach Rafe Watkins said.

            Rules and guidelines do not allow teams to work on special teams during live scrimmages for safety reasons. So teams have to work on it during practice time and do not go live until the first game. As you can imagine it puts a little scare in the coaches of not knowing what you have until they are in a game situation.

            “That first game you are always concerned about your kicking game. That is something that we all are nervous about,” Watkins explained.

Field position, extra points, starting field position for the opposition, and punts are all key factors in a game that could give you a loss or could give you a victory. Perhaps, the 31-15, quarterfinal game at Bixby last year on November 18^th would be a good example.

            Kicker J Hensley puts the Jays up 3-0. Josh King has a 90 yard kickoff return to regain the lead. A blocked punt in the third quarter by Jack Dumas is picked up by Josh King for a touchdown.

            “We obviously won the Bixby game because of special teams plain and simple," Watkins said.

            “Where we will excel (this season) will be our cover teams with our speed and being able to get down field with Josh King, Clayton Smith, Ashton Morgan, Michael Harmon, and Jack Dumas that can run and bring something to party when they get there,” Watkins stated.

            On kick off return Guthrie will have many threats that can return the ball to the house on any given play with Kye Staley, King, Smith, Escoe, and Morgan to name a few.

            “I think you will see us get a bunch of high pooch kicks this year, squib kicks, or kicking it out of bounds,” Watkins said. “We are going to give some people some tough time if they kick it deep.”

            Punting duties, kick offs, field goals, and extra points will rely on the foot of Hensley once again this season. “That is probably his weakest point (punting), but does a pretty good job and he is going to do a great job of kicking off,” Watkins said. “Ashton Morgan looks good kicking extra points and field goals as well.”

Josh Taft will be the deep snapper while Staley will be the holder once again.

Special teams should be special once again this season, and if you would like to take a look at the special teams play book you might want to find a few hours to yourself to read the Ric Meshew special teams play book. In fact, save yourself some time and just watch them work because the play book will take awhile to go through.