Sturgis kicks the ball and the ball goes thunk
Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 8:43 am
Caleb Sturgis finally got a chance to show what he could do at the end of practice Friday afternoon. After a few chip shots from inside the 40 yard line, he lined up four straight times from 57 yards. Each time the ball left his foot with a resounding thunk and got up in the air quickly. All four attempts sailed either a little right or a little left of the goal posts. Distance was not a problem, however. All four cleared by at least 10 yards.
The freshman from St. Augustine has plenty of time to work on the accuracy. The explosion off the foot, the height and the distance are things you just don’t teach. It was enough to impress Urban Meyer.
“Oh my gosh does he have a hose,” said Meyer after the Gators finished their second practice of the spring. “He’s got a bomb. He missed a couple of them but that’s what it’s supposed to sound like when it hits the foot. Those were 57-yard field goals. I don’t think he made any but they were clearing it by 10 yards.”
As a high school star in St. Augustine, Sturgis was automatic from inside the 40 on field goal attempts and he was accurate to 55 yards. The Yellow Jackets scored early and often on offense so that meant a lot of kickoffs and a chance for Sturgis to give the defense a huge psychological lift by kicking the ball out of the end zone.
Meyer is hoping for that same kind of lift for his defense in the fall. Meyer used to favor kickoffs that sailed into the left corner between the goal line and the five but the change in kickoff rules --- starting last season kickoffs are from the 30 and no longer from the 35 --- has brought about a change in philosophy. Now that he’s got Sturgis, Meyer would prefer to kick through the end zone and force teams to start at the 20.
“If he can knock the ball out of the end zone on kickoffs it’s worth two scholarships,” said Meyer, who jokingly added, “…every time if he can do it, we’ll give him two!”
* * *
Quarterbacks Tim Tebow, Cameron Newton and Johnny Brantley all had a chance to show off their arms Friday. All three showed off their arm strength and accuracy on deep throws, but it was the sharpness and accuracy on the intermediate routes that really stood out.
Tebow had a great deep throw to Louis Murphy on a play that Murphy made a move that froze Wondy Pierre-Louis. A little later in the drill, Tebow took something off a throw on 15-yard out and put the ball on the numbers to Murphy along the sideline. Tebow also looked sharp when he hit Percy Harvin on a crossing route. Harvin was the third option on the play.
Newton had a pair of deep bombs to David Nelson. On the first, the ball traveled a good 50 yards in the air on a very low trajectory, hitting Nelson in stride. On the second, Nelson came down with a one-handed catch about 40 yards downfield. Newton also looked really sharp when he rolled right and hit Tate Casey on a crossing pattern.
Brantley made an outstanding deep throw to Murphy along the left sideline and threw a nice 20-yard out pattern to Paul Wilson, who froze Moses Jenkins with a stutter step move.
Meyer said that it’s much too early to talk about what the quarterbacks are doing well.
“It’s been two practices and we’ve done nothing but install plays,” said Meyer, who added that he likes the energy that he sees from all three of his quarterbacks. Tebow, obviously, is the number one quarterback. Newton, largely because he has a year as a backup quarterback in the system to go with some actual playing time, is ahead of Brantley, who redshirted in 2007.
* * *
Wide receiver Riley Cooper is with the baseball team this weekend in Oxford, where the 15-3 Gators play a three-game Southeastern Conference series with eighth-ranked Ole Miss. Cooper, who is a designated hitter and center fielder, will be splitting time with the football team and the baseball team throughout the spring.
“We got him Monday and Wednesday and they have him Friday and Saturday,” said Meyer.
* * *
The Gators will have their first practices in pads Saturday (10:10 a.m. start) and Meyer is hoping some younger players who haven’t had much production will use this as an opportunity to show they are hungry and ready to play.
“It’s winner-loser day,” said Meyer. “It will be offense vs. defense.”
One player that Meyer is hoping to see something from is sophomore Lorenzo Edwards, who only saw action a handful of plays as a freshman back in the fall.
“I would love to se him run through a gap, take on a tailback and knock his helmet off,” said Meyer. “I would feel really good if guys who haven’t done much around here play [like that].”
* * *
The Gators will be working on getting comfortable with the no-huddle approach this spring. With the changes in the play clock rules this year, the no-huddle is a way to control what the defense can do as far as substitutions, etc.
“Doing a little bit more no huddle might give us a better chance to wear some people out,” said Meyer. “When you run in two sets of receivers in with fresh legs you wear them out and probably the number one thing you can do is uncover the defense.”
When used properly, the no-huddle is a way to force the hand of the defense and make them show the blitz. Many teams line up and start the snap count only to pause and look to the sideline. Teams that are committed to the blitz often give away where it’s coming from, allowing the offense to audible into a better play.
“You do what a lot of teams are doing now. You give it a fake snap count and you see what blitz is coming.”
* * *
New running backs coach Kenny Carter says that his first job is to install an urgency of ball security among his troops. Carter comes with a strong resume in the area of ball security, which is one of the reasons Meyer hired him away from Vanderbilt where his backs rarely gave the ball up.
“That’s our responsibility,” said Carter. “Any time you have the football you have to secure the football. You can’t advance the football without it. You can’t win games without the ball so ball security is always going to be paramount.”
He says that holding onto the ball is as much a mental thing as much as physical.
“It’s mental and it’s very physical,” he said. “The things that you have to automatically do when you have the ball … you can’t even think about it. When it comes to changing direction, you have to squeeze the ball; when it comes to catching the ball and turn up field the first thing that has to click in your mind is ball security. It has to feel like it’s part of your body. It’s not part of your hand but it’s part of your body. That has to be number one factor is that the ball has to be part of your body when you catch it and secure it.”
The freshman from St. Augustine has plenty of time to work on the accuracy. The explosion off the foot, the height and the distance are things you just don’t teach. It was enough to impress Urban Meyer.
“Oh my gosh does he have a hose,” said Meyer after the Gators finished their second practice of the spring. “He’s got a bomb. He missed a couple of them but that’s what it’s supposed to sound like when it hits the foot. Those were 57-yard field goals. I don’t think he made any but they were clearing it by 10 yards.”
As a high school star in St. Augustine, Sturgis was automatic from inside the 40 on field goal attempts and he was accurate to 55 yards. The Yellow Jackets scored early and often on offense so that meant a lot of kickoffs and a chance for Sturgis to give the defense a huge psychological lift by kicking the ball out of the end zone.
Meyer is hoping for that same kind of lift for his defense in the fall. Meyer used to favor kickoffs that sailed into the left corner between the goal line and the five but the change in kickoff rules --- starting last season kickoffs are from the 30 and no longer from the 35 --- has brought about a change in philosophy. Now that he’s got Sturgis, Meyer would prefer to kick through the end zone and force teams to start at the 20.
“If he can knock the ball out of the end zone on kickoffs it’s worth two scholarships,” said Meyer, who jokingly added, “…every time if he can do it, we’ll give him two!”
* * *
Quarterbacks Tim Tebow, Cameron Newton and Johnny Brantley all had a chance to show off their arms Friday. All three showed off their arm strength and accuracy on deep throws, but it was the sharpness and accuracy on the intermediate routes that really stood out.
Tebow had a great deep throw to Louis Murphy on a play that Murphy made a move that froze Wondy Pierre-Louis. A little later in the drill, Tebow took something off a throw on 15-yard out and put the ball on the numbers to Murphy along the sideline. Tebow also looked sharp when he hit Percy Harvin on a crossing route. Harvin was the third option on the play.
Newton had a pair of deep bombs to David Nelson. On the first, the ball traveled a good 50 yards in the air on a very low trajectory, hitting Nelson in stride. On the second, Nelson came down with a one-handed catch about 40 yards downfield. Newton also looked really sharp when he rolled right and hit Tate Casey on a crossing pattern.
Brantley made an outstanding deep throw to Murphy along the left sideline and threw a nice 20-yard out pattern to Paul Wilson, who froze Moses Jenkins with a stutter step move.
Meyer said that it’s much too early to talk about what the quarterbacks are doing well.
“It’s been two practices and we’ve done nothing but install plays,” said Meyer, who added that he likes the energy that he sees from all three of his quarterbacks. Tebow, obviously, is the number one quarterback. Newton, largely because he has a year as a backup quarterback in the system to go with some actual playing time, is ahead of Brantley, who redshirted in 2007.
* * *
Wide receiver Riley Cooper is with the baseball team this weekend in Oxford, where the 15-3 Gators play a three-game Southeastern Conference series with eighth-ranked Ole Miss. Cooper, who is a designated hitter and center fielder, will be splitting time with the football team and the baseball team throughout the spring.
“We got him Monday and Wednesday and they have him Friday and Saturday,” said Meyer.
* * *
The Gators will have their first practices in pads Saturday (10:10 a.m. start) and Meyer is hoping some younger players who haven’t had much production will use this as an opportunity to show they are hungry and ready to play.
“It’s winner-loser day,” said Meyer. “It will be offense vs. defense.”
One player that Meyer is hoping to see something from is sophomore Lorenzo Edwards, who only saw action a handful of plays as a freshman back in the fall.
“I would love to se him run through a gap, take on a tailback and knock his helmet off,” said Meyer. “I would feel really good if guys who haven’t done much around here play [like that].”
* * *
The Gators will be working on getting comfortable with the no-huddle approach this spring. With the changes in the play clock rules this year, the no-huddle is a way to control what the defense can do as far as substitutions, etc.
“Doing a little bit more no huddle might give us a better chance to wear some people out,” said Meyer. “When you run in two sets of receivers in with fresh legs you wear them out and probably the number one thing you can do is uncover the defense.”
When used properly, the no-huddle is a way to force the hand of the defense and make them show the blitz. Many teams line up and start the snap count only to pause and look to the sideline. Teams that are committed to the blitz often give away where it’s coming from, allowing the offense to audible into a better play.
“You do what a lot of teams are doing now. You give it a fake snap count and you see what blitz is coming.”
* * *
New running backs coach Kenny Carter says that his first job is to install an urgency of ball security among his troops. Carter comes with a strong resume in the area of ball security, which is one of the reasons Meyer hired him away from Vanderbilt where his backs rarely gave the ball up.
“That’s our responsibility,” said Carter. “Any time you have the football you have to secure the football. You can’t advance the football without it. You can’t win games without the ball so ball security is always going to be paramount.”
He says that holding onto the ball is as much a mental thing as much as physical.
“It’s mental and it’s very physical,” he said. “The things that you have to automatically do when you have the ball … you can’t even think about it. When it comes to changing direction, you have to squeeze the ball; when it comes to catching the ball and turn up field the first thing that has to click in your mind is ball security. It has to feel like it’s part of your body. It’s not part of your hand but it’s part of your body. That has to be number one factor is that the ball has to be part of your body when you catch it and secure it.”