Punter Power: Can Washington Football team benefit from coffin corner kicks?

Football aficionados can talk for hours about the coffin corner kick. Has the Washington Football team found a secret weapon in punter Joel Whitford?

Has the Washington Football team lost its mind? What is all this fuss about a punter? Well sports fans, when the offense stalls, the punter has one of the most thankless jobs in the game.  The job of the punter is to kick the ball high enough to allow for his teammates to defend the punt receiver.  But he must kick it far enough to push the opponent on their heels.  So far, not much to get excited about, right?

Ah, but there is plenty of excitement to be had with the right guy.

Punting matters

On one hand, a punter can turn a game around. On the other hand, a punter can be the best friend to a fatigued defense and a struggling offense. Ultimately, a punter can shave points off the game for the opponent, and add points to the game for your team. So getting the right guy is more than just open tryouts for guys aiming their feet and letting ‘er fly.

And the Washington Football coaching staff thinks so too.

The Washington Huskies went a long ways to bring Joel Whitford to this team. Is he worth the effort? Well, if early reports are true, he certainly should be.

The value of coffin corner kicking

So how good is this guy?  Well, first let’s discuss the hugely undervalued importance of a good punter.  It comes not only in the form of long booming 60 yard kicks, but in the form of a coffin corner.

So what is a coffin corner?  Well, punters try to kick the ball out of bounds as close to the goal line as possible. In fact, this ability is so noteworthy that football statisticians now added “inside 20 yard line” to the statistics of punters.  But a truly valuable punter is that of the coffin corner kicker.

Seeing is believing

That is the guy who can punt the ball out of bounds within the five yard line of the opponent. Like this:

No offense wants to start at the two-yard line.  Every defense wants to start at the two-yard line. So there’s that. But more than the single play. There is a confidence that builds in a team when the chips are down.  The knowledge that, even in the worst of situations, the punter can bail the team out from deep in their side of the field and get their opponent deep into their side?

That’s a huge weapon in a head coach’s arsenal as well. If Joel Whitford can deliver that? Well folks, we’re talking NCAA playoffs.

Changes the game momentum

The beauty of that kick is that it forces the opponents offense to be conservative.  And the proximity to the end zone gives a strong defense the opportunity to score a safety. That happens when the ball carrier is tackled in the end zone.  The defense scores two point and the opponent must kick the ball back to the them.

If the game is close, or if the opponent has the game momentum, a punter deep into the opponent’s territory can be a deadly weapon.

Punters can be incredibly valuable

Pinpoint accuracy is very rare from a punter. Rare and… valuable. You know that head coach Chris Petersen is looking for more than the basement out of the punting game.  The Washington Football team leads in turnovers. The defense also does an excellent job of tackling their opponents for a loss.

Get the offense pinned within their five yard line and let Coach Kwiatkowski turn his defense loose.  After that, we all know how that story will turn out.

Good things will happen.

Good punting has many forms

But that is not to say that pinning the opponents within their 20 yard line is the only value.  Punting for longer distances is a true boon to the team as well.  Last season, the Washington Football team averaged 40.7 yards per punt. But the Pac-12 conference games tell a different story.  The Washington Huskies were dead last in punting in the conference in net punting yards at 33.0.   And in games with the offense inability to get on track, that plays a huge part in the outcome of a game.

Coffin corners are the ability of the punter to kick that ball out of bounds as close to the end zone as possible.  Booming punters kick the ball a long way, but are measured a different way. Their statistic is “hang time”.  For that time with a ball in the air is the amount of time teammates had to surround the receiver.

Hang Time or Coffin Corner?

The hang time of some punters is incredible.

So the strategy for a punter can be very complex.   If the team approaches mid field, the coffin corner guy is more valuable. If the team is stuck deep in their own territory, the hang-time guy is more valuable.  But why choose?  Why not get both?

A new true weapon for this team

Now imagine if that average increased somewhat? What if the team could average in the ballpark of the Utah Ute’s net 43.9 yards? Would that help the Washington Huskies to have an average of ten yards added to their net punting? Yes. Yes it would.

And so, with no further ado, let’s warm up the Husky welcome wagon for our secret weapon.

Punter Joel Whitford is part offense, part defense, and 100 percent Husky

Joel Whitford promises to be quite an addition. If he delivers anything close to his potential this season, it could be huge for the Washington Huskies.

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Coach Chris Petersen is on top of it on this one.  Not many coaches address the kicking game so deliberately. But more should do so. Punting is a significant portion of a football game. And with a  team chasing championships, the punting game can be the difference. It will be fun to see how this story plays out this year.  But one thing is crystal clear. Coach Chris Petersen will not ignore any part of this team in the pursuit of excellence.