Didn't even know we were looking for a punter but this dude seems like a good get. Welcome aboard.
We got a punter?
- Thread starter hmt5000
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Didn't even know we were looking for a punter but this dude seems like a good get. Welcome aboard.
47.5 yards average per punt, including a long of 71
Punting has really hurt us the last couple of years, this will be refreshing.
I like this pickup and haven’t even looked him up. I’m always recommending to get kicker and punter transfers instead of recruiting high schoolers.
So glad the coaches are listening to me.
So glad the coaches are listening to me.
Wilson Berry was dealing with a back injury last year. Plus, Coach Boulware converted him from a rugby style punter to a conventional punter. If healthy, Berry is potentially a nice punter as a developmental piece. But the performance is not there yet, and this is the SEC. From the standpoint of moving forward and playing to win, adding Laros is a terrific move. I assume Laros gets Jackson Smith's scholarship. I wonder how many seasons of eligibility he has left.
We was 123 in the nation last year punting with an average of 39 yards. This South African guy averaged almost ten more yards a punt. This is a huge need that we haven't really thought a lot about.
He has two years left. Definitely agree on Berry but Boulware apparently had a reason for not rolling him out, I’m guessing it’s more directional punting to one side of the field or vice versa due to his coverage scheme. Some people may think the punter kicks the ball and ten guys furiously sprint down the field to kill someone but there are lanes that can change based on where you kick the ball. Then again, if Berry could kick it 50-60 yards rugby style I think we would have had a much better shot at flipping the field last year which didn’t happen very often; guess we’ll never know.
Boulware tweeted some data showing teams averaged less return yardage against us last year (pro style directional) than vs rugby style.
I thought it was a bit misleading. Our punts were so short and awful, not much opportunity for return. I'm willing to bet the net results were way better before.
That said, I don't care. I just want to use whatever best suits our personnel.
Bet they weren’t better than when Duffy or Pantone were punting.
Regardless. Solid pickup.
Speak for yourself my friend. lol. I thought ALOT ABOUT IT. I recently posted a thread saying if we roll out Berry we were in big trouble and he would cost us two games. You can’t kick 35 yards against Georgia and Alabama. It’s a death sentence.
Take his average and he would be tied for 6th in the nation. If you take his NET, he would be 3rd in the nation.
Yeah he good
Edit: top two were a PK and a QB, each with only one punt on the season. So he would be 1st in the nation amongst punters
Yeah he good
Edit: top two were a PK and a QB, each with only one punt on the season. So he would be 1st in the nation amongst punters
Boulware is an idiot for trying to convert Berry. Either get a different punter or let the guy kick like he knows how. Punting was so bad last year IMO.
It is more difficult to protect a punter running toward the right edge of the punt formation. Conventional style allows a protected "pocket". UK has had some punts blocked the last couple of years.
There is something to that.
Also, with his back injury, Berry may have been better standing in the pocket than running like a rygby style punter. If Boulware saw a viable alternative in practice last season, certainly it would have been tried.
Berry has battled a back injury. Just like a pitcher with a sore arm, that can break down the technique and consistency just a little until it becomes mental.
I was a punter. Getting off great punts is related to talent, but punting consistency is a product of meticulous repetition of perfect timing and technique. Consistency and meticulous preparation are the difference between great punters and average punters. That's why you don't see very many punters also handling placekicking at this level. In terms of prep, punting is a full time job, and consistency is everything once you win the job.
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Coach Boulware coached special teams in the NFL. He took over our special teams when they were bad and has already made them much better. To say the least, he is not an "idiot". Get real.
Making an Australian style punter punt straight was totally intelligent and worked out great.
If you don't get the larger picture, there is no point in repeating myself. Have you ever been a college football player or coach? Just curious.
No but I'm intelligent enough to not make a left handed QB throw with his right hand...
Stoops said numerous times during interviews that due to the back injury Berry could NO longer kick rugby style. Still, Berry is terrible and I am glad we found a quality replacement.
On the leash show this morning, a guest shared we were 103 in net punting. That's exactly why we didn't have many returns because they were so short.
Hang time is more important than distance is in preventing punt returns. Speed and quality of play of the coverage guys are also important. I am not suggesting our punting game was better in 2023 than the general impression. UK was #123 in the country in punting. So there you go. Berry was battling a back injury and a scheme change. At the time, UK did not have another punter more capable than Berry. Now we do. We can debate the scheme change but Boulware previously coached special teams in the NFL. Not everyone gets invited to do that. I could see with my eyes that punting was the weakest element of our special teams last fall. But other elements of our special teams were solid. Bringing in Raynor was a stroke of genius, and our kickoff return game was outstanding. So when a poster calls Coach Boulware an "idiot" and stubbornly defends that slur despite evidence to the contrary, I am more inclined to defend Boulware than the ill-informed poster. LOL.
The benefit of rugby style is you don't have to kick it as far because you give your coverage and extra 2 seconds to get down field, plus they tend to have better ability to kick across their body from their time playing Aussie Rules and not to mention they are all used to running and taking hits (and tackling) without wearing pads. IMO, Boulware made a mistake by not letting Berry kick his natural way. He said it in one of his first interviews here that he doesn't like Rugby style punting and would not be continuing it, thus forcing Berry to change.
You're not factoring in that he was being forced to kick a different way than he had been kicking from childhood, plus the extra couple of seconds the coverage team gets down field because he would hold it longer.
Berry's injury was his freshman year in 2021.
2021 – Freshman
• Had four punts for 148 yards (37.0) with one punt instead the 20-yard line in two games played
• Missed a majority of the season with a back injury
• Had two punts for 71 yards (35.5) in the season opener vs. ULM, his first collegiate action
• Mid-year enrollee in January 2021
Berry was bad the year he kicked rugby style too. Zero height on his ball and he was good for one shank a game as well. He never downed the ball deep, always into the end zone and came out to the twenty. He was a bad punter. We missed on him. Let’s hope this transfer solves that.
He was injured when he arrived and punted rugby trying to battle through the injury before they sat him to heal. He never punted rugby again.
Incorrect. It really only takes a moment to fact check yourself. https://kentucky.rivals.com/news/q-a-with-new-uk-punter-commit-wilson-berry
Ya… who would come all the way from Australia to walk on. Lol. He was hand picked by Max. I loved me some Max but he wasted us a scholly with that pick.
I wouldn't call it a wasted scholarship. I would call it an unfortunate injury and a bad move by the new ST coach to force him to kick differently than he had his whole life. Kind of like Elliot Uzelac using Couch to run the option. Berry was the top punter coming out of Australia. What might have been.
Maybe so. I do admire that Stoops honors his scholarship commitments. Even Saban would force guys who waned to stay that were not performing off the team. Scholarships are a one year commitment still if I am not mistaken.
That's correct, but I think Stoops is doing the right thing. He may be wasting a scholarship in the short term, but he's keeping the door open with the Aussie punter academy whenever Boulware moves on.
I do think the Aussie punter route is the way to go to get an advantage on the punt game. We haven't had the balls to take that advantage but it is there.
I do prefer the rugby style because of all the options and potential for fake punts/runs, especially given that the Asussies running, hitting etc. They weren't specialists like in our game. Having said that, I think Boulware is proving to be a plus recruiter, so if he doesn't want to punt Aussie style, then you let him coach the way he wants to coach because he adds value to the program.
Yes. Exactly.
Coach Boulware is our special teams coordinator. He used to work for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Univ. of OK, and Univ. of TX. You don't get those jobs unless you know what you are doing. His is one of the strongest resumes on our staff. Coach Boulware recruited Tovani Mizell and Jason Patterson. Our kick coverage and kick returns, as a general matter, are better than they have been for at least several years and probably longer. So I think we can just reject the false narrative that Boulware doesn't know how to do his job or that Stoops doesn't know how to run his staff.
