Adi as punter

[Miandrital]

I was reading his bio on huskers.com and he was pretty good in high school, averaging 40 yards per punt with a 72 yard punt as his longest. Any ideas why Bo and Co. decided to go with Henery instead? It just seems like it would have been better to have henery focus on field goals in practice, and kunalic could handle kick offs and punts.

 

Anyone want to throw some change my way?

[groundskeeperwillie]

I also remember when he was being recruited, reading about how he punted also, had a big leg, but was a little raw, so to speak. My guess is he would have trouble with the finesse type punts, when he has to place it somewhere, maybe hang-time, trying to land it on the 5 yard line, whatever, maybe those punts where you don't have to boom it, give him trouble. I have not seen him punt, nor have i read anything about him even trying out for punter, but that's just my guess anyway, as an outsider

[DJR313]

One problem with Adi's kickoffs is that he sometimes doesn't give much hangtime. That's fine when they blow through the end zone, but the goal of punting isn't to kick the ball through the end zone. Hang time and placement is key, and perhaps Henery is better at it. He has ample leg as well.

[caveman99]

Frankly there hasn't been a single mention of Adi even trying out to be the punter. I am guessing he isn't interested in doing that?

[jjamuss]

Adi should stick with the kickoffs... that is what he does best. gets it out of the endzone everytime, even against the wind... and that stops kickoff returns for anyone that can run it back.

[huskerfan511]

Adi should stick with the kickoffs... that is what he does best. gets it out of the endzone everytime, even against the wind... and that stops kickoff returns for anyone that can run it back.

 

Pretty sure that is not the case. Adi is just ok at kickoffs at best. When he does not kick the ball out of the end zone Nebraska is screwed because his kicks are low liners so NU doesnt have any coverage down the field which gives the opposition great field position. Adi also shanks some of his kickoffs which as a punter you have to be very consistent and Adi is not.

 

In regards to the person that said he averaged 40 yds per punt with a long of like 72 yds, that 72 yds is very deceving because that ball could have rolled 30 or 40 yds.

[caveman99]

Adi should stick with the kickoffs... that is what he does best. gets it out of the endzone everytime, even against the wind... and that stops kickoff returns for anyone that can run it back.

 

Pretty sure that is not the case. Adi is just ok at kickoffs at best. When he does not kick the ball out of the end zone Nebraska is screwed because his kicks are low liners so NU doesnt have any coverage down the field which gives the opposition great field position. Adi also shanks some of his kickoffs which as a punter you have to be very consistent and Adi is not.

 

In regards to the person that said he averaged 40 yds per punt with a long of like 72 yds, that 72 yds is very deceving because that ball could have rolled 30 or 40 yds.

Yeah the statistics show this as well. Last season NU ranked 103rd in average yards allowed per Kick Off Return at 23.93 per. However NU had the 5th most Touch Backs in the nation with 29 out of 88 total kick offs for a 33% clip. NU also gave up a Kick Off Return for a TD. The interesting thing about the top 5 teams in terms of touchbacks, none were higher than 39th in average per return allowed and most were in the lower half of the rankings. Here is the list:

 

Team / Rank / ARA / TD / # KO / # TB (%)

USC / 39th / 19.87 / 0 / 88 / 48 (54.5%)

Utah / 76th / 21.80 / 0 / 91 / 44 (48.4%)

BYU / 79th / 21.94 / 0 / 82 / 32 (39%)

NU / 103rd / 23.93 / 1 / 88 / 29 (33%)

UTEP / 115th / 26.88 / 2 / 73 / 32 (43.8%)

 

Touch backs don't appear to be a good indicator of a good kick off coverage team.

[HuskerJosh]

I don't understand why people are so worried about Henery punting. I mean....6 total kicks a game are going to ruin his leg? The dude played soccer all his youth, he's not going burn out.