Building a championship football team

by Paul W. Bryant

OUR PUNT RETURN

We have never done what I would consider an outstanding job of returning our opposition’s punts. One reason for this is that it is awfully easy to overlook this particular phase of the kicking game. I am planning to devote more time on punt returns from now on.

We feel about punt returns about the same as we do pass defense—you must either rush or return, and it is difficult to accomplish both at the same time. Therefore, we try to do one or the other, depending upon the game situation.

We use a punt return to our left and one to our right, and a return up the middle to keep the kicking team honest. All of these returns have proven satisfactory from time to time.

Punt Return Left

When we are going to return the punt left or right, we line up in a strong side defense. Consequently there is no indication of whether we are returning the punt right or left, or rushing the punter trying to block the punt.

[Figure 89] illustrates our punt return left. Our return rules are as follows:

Left End—He comes across the line of scrimmage about five yards deep into the offensive backfield, and makes certain the kicker does not get outside of him in the event the latter tries to run with the ball. After he sees the kicker punt the football, he turns and swings in behind his right guard in forming the wall. He will be the fourth man in line and he must keep his proper distance from his guard. The length of the kick will determine how far downfield he will go before he sets up. He blocks anyone who is in his area trying to break through the wall.

Figure 89

We have an imaginary post three yards outside of our defensive left end, and we want all of our players to swing wide and go around this spot before going back downfield. If all of the players do this, our entire line will be running in approximately the same path and our wall will be set up correctly.

Left Tackle—As soon as he crosses the line of scrimmage, he will turn to his left, go around the imaginary post, and head quickly downfield becoming the first man in the wall. His block will be a key one, springing loose the safety man. His depth depends on the distance the punter kicks the ball.

Middle Guard—He follows the same course as the left tackle. He will be the second man in the wall, and he must maintain the proper distance between the first man and himself. When he gets into position, he will block anyone who is in his area trying to break through the wall.

Right Guard—Same course as the left tackle, only he follows the middle guard around the imaginary post and back downfield becoming the third man in the wall. He should keep his proper distance from our middle guard.

Right Tackle—He will rush the punter from the outside, making certain the punter actually kicks the ball. Then turning to his left, he will swing wide, as illustrated in [Figure 89], becoming the fifth man in the wall. He must keep his proper distance from our defensive left end who will be the fourth man, as I explained previously.

Right End—He will rush the kicker from the outside making certain he actually kicks the ball. He will then turn to his left, and start around the imaginary post. He will be the sixth man in the wall, and he should maintain a proper distance between his right tackle and himself.

Right Linebacker—The right linebacker will come back to his outside and block the most dangerous pursuer threatening the safety man. He usually blocks the offensive left end as he covers the punt downfield.

Left Linebacker—He will come back fast to his outside, and his responsibility is to block out the offensive right end. The others are blocking toward the wide side of the field. He is the only man blocking toward the sideline.

Halfbacks—They will handle the short kick to their side of the field. Otherwise they are personal protectors for the safety man if he fields the kick. They block the most dangerous pursuer who is in a position to tackle our receiver.

Safety—It is very important that the ball is handled in the air and not permitted to strike the ground and bounce around. Assuming the safety man catches the football, he should start straight up the field in order to give his wall time to form and to draw the pursuers into the middle toward him. Then he swings in behind his wall on the sideline.

Our Middle Punt Return

Our return up the middle is very similar to our man-to-man kick-off return ([Figure 94]), in that we assign one man to block one man at the line of scrimmage. Each defensive man is supposed to stay with his offensive man, as illustrated in [Figure 90]. We use the same defensive alignment as when we are going to return the ball to our right or left ([Figure 90]).

Figure 90

Figure 91

If we want to be in a balanced defensive alignment, and we know they have a slow offensive lineman, we will line up in a straight 6-2 defense. [Figure 91] illustrates our alignment and hold-up return if we know the offensive center is slow. We merely let him go, and our interior linemen and linebackers hold-up the offensive ends, tackles and guards. Our ends rush the kicker from the outside, making certain he kicks the football. The interior linemen and linebackers use the same techniques our offensive backs use when they are protecting the passer. When they feel they are losing their men, then they will go into a cross body block. Our halfbacks will be the personal protection for the safety man. The safety will field the ball in the air and start upfield. If he sees a hole, he will break for it on our middle return.