Arkansas HS Coach Employs No-Punt/Onside Strategy

[FultonGrad]

Pulaski Academy Coach Kevin Kelley only punted twice in 2007 ?€’ once as an act of sportsmanship to prevent running up the score.

 

Kelley has reasons to go for it.

 

Keeping the offense on the field on fourth down allows for more creative play-calling. Third-and-long does not have to be a passing down. The Little Rock school can run the ball, throw a screen pass or use any number of formations. Defenses do not know whether to use a nickel or dime defense. And Pulaski's offense has less pressure on third down.

 

If Pulaski has a fourth-and-8 at its own 5-yard line, Kelley said his explosive offense likely will convert a first down at least 50 percent of the time. If it fails to convert, statistical data from the college level shows that an opponent acquiring the ball inside the 10-yard line scores a touchdown 90 percent of the time. If Pulaski punts away (i.e., a 40-yard punt with a 10-yard return) the other team will start with the ball on the 38-yard line and score a touchdown 77 percent of the time. The difference is only 13 percent.

 

The Pulaski coach has adopted an unusual approach to kickoffs as well. About 75 percent of the time, he uses an onside kick instead of a standard kickoff. To illustrate why, Kelley again relies on numbers.

 

If his team does not recover the onside kick, the opponent likely will field the kick around its own 47-yard line. On a typical kickoff, the other team usually starts around the 33-yard line.

 

"You're only giving up 14 yards," Kelley said. "And you get a chance to get the ball."

 

"Much like the punting situation, [the onside kick] becomes something the other team has to work on a lot during the week," Kelley said. "That's taking time from their preparation against your offense or defense. So it all works towards the common goal."

 

Full Article:

Arkansas Coach Punts on Traditional Gameplan

[RedDevil88]

Nice find. That's definitely thinking outside of the box. /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

[hvillefootball]

Pretty risky stuff, would be a lot of fun to watch.

 

I do love how he says his explosive offense would convert a 4th and 8.......wait, why is your "explosive" offense in a 4th and 8 situation to begin with?!?! /laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":lol:" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" />

[rollredroll]

I'd love to see a link to where statistics show that a TD is scored 77% of the time from the opponent's 38. That number seems very high. And I wonder why the coach is transferring statistics from the college game to the high school game. Anyway, my guess is this team had very few 4th and 8s from its own 5 (I agree with your question, hville) given the amount of points it puts up.

 

As a person who likes numbers/statistics myself, the article left a lot to be desired in terms of portayal of mathematics. For one, in the fourth down scenario, the author states the difference between an opponent scoring from the 10 (90%) and the 38 (77%) "is only 13 percent". Actually, the difference is only 13 percentage points. The 10-yard-line scenario is more successful than the 38-yard-line scenario closer to 17% of the time (yes, a small difference, but a difference). While the author scratched the surface on the comparison, he didn't fully develop other aspects of the comparison (e.g., the percentage of punts that actually go 40 yards, that are actually returned 10 yards, that are blocked, etc.) to let us know the true difference between the two scenarios. Granted, it's a sports article and not a math paper for a class, but it is somewhat misleading.

 

Plus, on the onside-kick scenario, it would have been nice to show statistics showing the difference in FGs made from, say, 30 yards versus 44 yards. The giving up of "only" 14 yards should have a siginificant impact on FGs made/missed, not to mention whether or nor a FG is even attempted. Of course, playing this team, you probably don't want to be attempting many FGs.

 

Yes, I may be splitting hairs on the statistics aspect of the article, but the story appears to overstate the coach's intellectual prowess in statistics. I'd say the coach knows his probabilities well, but it's the above-the-norm prowess of his team that's allowing him to gamble, not an inside track on mathematical concepts.

 

Nevertheless, it's hard to argue with success, and more power to the coach for pulling it off. I'm sure the concession stands sells quite a bit of Tums. And any coach that shows sportsmanship by punting so as not to run up the score will always get a thumbs-up in my book.

[B52Bomber]

If you think he is the first one to do this......you are all sadly mistaken. He is simply the first SUCCESSFUL one do do this. The rest got fired!

 

You throw unbaited hooks long enough.........sooner or later, you will catch a fish..........but that doesnt mean you are a great fisherman!

[noonesfool]

If you think he is the first one to do this......you are all sadly mistaken. He is simply the first SUCCESSFUL one do do this. The rest got fired!

 

You throw unbaited hooks long enough.........sooner or later, you will catch a fish..........but that doesnt mean you are a great fisherman!

 

Agree. He is Genious boy this year, next year he could be Idiot boy.

[bandit1234]

If he was from Memphis, everyone would be on here cracking on him for not being disciplined enough to have a kicking game and talking about how many championships it has cost him.

[B52Bomber]

If he was from Memphis, everyone would be on here cracking on him for not being disciplined enough to have a kicking game and talking about how many championships it has cost him.

 

 

 

If he were ANYWHERE and it wasnt successfull that would happen.

[jabbo]

Pretty risky stuff, would be a lot of fun to watch.

 

I do love how he says his explosive offense would convert a 4th and 8.......wait, why is your "explosive" offense in a 4th and 8 situation to begin with?!?! /laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":lol:" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" />

 

 

That question immediately came to my mind also!

[Yale Formation]

The Hal Mumme of HS football... /cool.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="B)" border="0" alt="cool.gif" /> It works well if you're loaded with championship talent; then again, EVERYTHING works well when you're loaded with talent.

[warrior2024]

That was the question I wanted to ask. How many 4th and 8 from the 5 did he have? We onside kicked alot but it was the study of film and banking on what we saw. We did punt and play percentages and field position. He probably would have won the state by punting and playing field position as well. His games may not have been as close if he had.

[Solomon]

I, for one, think it's pretty fascinating.

 

I read an article last year about this on ESPN's Tuesday Morning QB (Gregg Easterbrook is a fan of not punting). Pretty neat stuff then, and still is.

 

This guy won a state tile in 2003 before he tried this, so it's not like he was jus ta riverboat gambler who got lucky. He's obviously a good coach who developed something new and innovative. No, most teams could not run this with any type of success, but his coachign style will allow it so I say more power to him. He tweaks it to what fits his team. He said his 09 team may punt more. But how can you really argue with a state champion that averaged 570 yards a game on offense? It obviously works for him.