Football Kicking and Punting - Ray Guy and Rick Sang

Football Kicking and Punting

by Ray Guy and Rick Sang

NEW, 288 pages

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About Football Kicking and Punting

Huddle up with one of the greatest players in football history as he shares the techniques, strategies, and secrets of kicking and punting.

In Football Kicking and Punting, Hall of Famer and NFL 75th Anniversary Team member Ray Guy joins veteran kicking coach Rick Sang to provide aspiring kickers and punters with expert instruction found nowhere else. From the fundamentals to advanced strategies, it’s all here:

• Field goals, extra points, and special plays such as onside kicks, corner punts, and squib kicks
  
• 46 proven drills to maximize practice time and ensure improvement in distance, hang time, consistency, and accuracy
  
• Specialized warm-ups and conditioning programs to improve flexibility, increase leg strength, and prevent injury
  
• Game strategy preparation, including opponent assessment and defense recognition

About Ray Guy

Coming out of the University of Southern Mississippi, Ray Guy was the first pure punter ever to be drafted in the first round of the NFL draft when the Oakland Raiders selected him in 1973. Guy was a key member of three Super Bowl-winning Raiders teams: Super Bowls XI, XV, and XVIII. During his career, Guy played in a record 207 consecutive games, averaged 42.4 yards per punt for his career, had 210 punts inside the 20-yard line, led the NFL in punting three times, had a streak of 619 consecutive punts before having one blocked, had a record 111 career punts in postseason games, had five punts of over 60 yards during the 1981 season, and never had a punt returned for a touchdown. Guy was selected to seven AFC Pro Bowl teams, and in 1994 he was named the punter on the National Football League's 75th Anniversary Team.

Guy was also an outstanding punter and placekicker at Southern Mississippi. During his senior season, Guy recorded a 93-yard punt while leading the NCAA with a 46.2 average. As a placekicker at Southern Mississippi, he kicked a then-record 61-yard field goal. Guy was also a starting safety in college and intercepted a record eight passes. He was a consensus All-American, which included being named to the prestigious Walter Camp All-America Team. After his senior season, Guy was named Most Valuable Player of the annual College All-Star game, in which an all-star team of college seniors played the current Super Bowl champion.

Guy has been inducted into both the Mississippi and the Georgia Sports Halls of Fame, the National High School Sports Hall of Fame, the College Football Hall of Fame, and the American Football Kicking Hall of Fame, and he was the first pure punter to be nominated for enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Guy was known for punts with a high hang time—sometimes as long as six seconds—and once punted the ball with so much hang time that the opponents pulled the ball and had it tested for helium.

About Rick Sang

As the cofounder and director of the Ray Guy Prokicker.com Academy, Rick Sang is a veteran with over 29 years of experience establishing kicking instructional programs at colleges and universities across the country. This program has produced two Lou Groza Award winners, numerous college All-Americans, and several NCAA and NFL record holders. A former college coach, he was a member of both Eastern Kentucky University NCAA Division 1AA national championship teams (1979 punter and receiver, 1982 kicking coach) and a kicking coach for Arizona State's 1986-87 PAC-10, Rose Bowl, and Freedom Bowl championship teams. During his coaching career, he had a punter win an NCAA national net punting title and a kicker set a record of five field goals in one game. He is a member of the American Football Coaches Association and the Greater Augusta Sports Council.

About American Football

American football, known in the United States as football, is a sport played between two teams of eleven. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. The ball can be advanced by running with it or throwing it to a teammate. Points can be scored by carrying the ball over the opponent's goal line, catching a pass thrown over that goal line, kicking the ball through the opponent's goal posts or tackling an opposing ball carrier in his own end zone.

In the United States, high school football, college football and professional football are played under slightly different rules. High school football is governed by the National Federation of State High School Associations, college football by the National Collegiate Athletic Association and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, while the major professional league is the NFL.

The sport is also played in Europe, Japan and Mexico. The International Federation of American Football acts as an international governing body for the sport. American football is closely related to Canadian football but with some differences in rules and the field.

Because the game stops after every down, giving teams a chance to call a new play, strategy plays a major role in football. Each team has a playbook of dozens to hundreds of plays. Ideally, each play is a scripted, strategically sound team-coordinated endeavor. Some plays are very safe; they are likely to get only a few yards. Other plays have the potential for long gains but at a greater risk of a loss of yardage or a turnover.

Generally speaking, rushing plays are less risky than passing plays. However, there are relatively safe passing plays and risky running plays. To deceive the other team, some passing plays are designed to resemble running plays and vice versa. These are referred to as play-action passes and draws, respectively. There are many trick or gadget plays, such as when a team lines up as if it intends to punt and then tries to run or pass for a first down. Such high-risk plays are a great thrill to the fans when they work. However, they can spell disaster if the opposing team realizes the deception and acts accordingly.

The defense also plans plays in response to expectations of what the offense will do. For example, a "blitz" (using linebackers or defensive backs to charge the quarterback) is often attempted when the team on defense expects a pass. A blitz makes downfield passing more difficult but exposes the defense to big gains if the offensive line stems the rush.

Many hours of preparation and strategizing, including film review by both players and coaches, go into the days between football games. This, along with the demanding physicality of football (see below), is why teams typically play at most one game per week.

Football Kicking and Punting