Link: Punter Will Hagerup visits Tucaloosa

Airborne Tider

All-American
Aug 2, 2008
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Fort Benning
Will Hagerup, punter from Whitefish, Wisconsin was in Tuscaloosa on Wednesday. He visited with his parents and met with and worked out for the coaching staff. This is his second unofficial visit.

Andrew Bone says Hagerup is very high on Bama right now. In fact he went as far as to say he thinks UA is the team to beat.

Link
 

BamaFanatJSU

1st Team
Apr 24, 2008
750
368
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Rainbow City, AL
What are the capabilities of this guy? I know that the recruiting services wait a while to rate kickers and punters, so they're not much help. Wouldn't it be nice to have a gamechanging punter that could bomb one 60 yards or so?
 

fballcraze

BamaNation Citizen
Feb 24, 2009
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If you know anything about the Tide special teams then you know "booming it sixty yards" down the middle is not the strategy used to stop long return yardage by the lighting fast SEC punt returners.

The Tide strategy uses directional punting either to the left or right, with the gunners knowing the direction of the punt placement. That is why PJ actually is perfoming well under the strategy, because directional punting is much more difficult that just "kicking away" like punter's do in high school.

You won't ever see an Alabama punter even close to leading the nation in gross punting average either. But the critical factor is "net yardage." That and no returns for TD's is what helps win games.
 

ontopp

All-SEC
Jan 31, 2004
1,376
8
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Decatur.Alabama
Will Hagerup, punter from Whitefish, Wisconsin was in Tuscaloosa on Wednesday. He visited with his parents and met with and worked out for the coaching staff. This is his second unofficial visit.

Andrew Bone says Hagerup is very high on Bama right now. In fact he went as far as to say he thinks UA is the team to beat.

Link
I hope the heat dind't get him!:BigA:
 

Cape Tide

3rd Team
Jun 3, 2009
234
0
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Birmingham, AL
If you know anything about the Tide special teams then you know "booming it sixty yards" down the middle is not the strategy used to stop long return yardage by the lighting fast SEC punt returners.

The Tide strategy uses directional punting either to the left or right, with the gunners knowing the direction of the punt placement. That is why PJ actually is perfoming well under the strategy, because directional punting is much more difficult that just "kicking away" like punter's do in high school.

You won't ever see an Alabama punter even close to leading the nation in gross punting average either. But the critical factor is "net yardage." That and no returns for TD's is what helps win games.
Agreed, however I don't think you will ever see us leading in "net yardage" either. Not to bash PJ too much (I think he is the best we have, and doing the best he can), but I don't think many Bama fans would deny that we need an improvement in out punting game.
 

RamJamHam

Suspended
Jan 28, 2009
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True on directional punting, but a consistent 60-yard directional punt (wishful thinking, I know) probably leads to a lower net average than a consistent 40-yard directional punt. Even a 5-yard difference could make a huge difference over the course of a season.

As I sure we are all aware, hang time is pretty important as well.
 

crains

1st Team
Feb 6, 2007
841
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:biga:With a name like Hanger up he is bound to be a good one with a good hang time:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin: Roll tide Hope we get him!
 

BamaFanatJSU

1st Team
Apr 24, 2008
750
368
87
Rainbow City, AL
If you know anything about the Tide special teams then you know "booming it sixty yards" down the middle is not the strategy used to stop long return yardage by the lighting fast SEC punt returners.

The Tide strategy uses directional punting either to the left or right, with the gunners knowing the direction of the punt placement. That is why PJ actually is perfoming well under the strategy, because directional punting is much more difficult that just "kicking away" like punter's do in high school.

You won't ever see an Alabama punter even close to leading the nation in gross punting average either. But the critical factor is "net yardage." That and no returns for TD's is what helps win games.
I know enough about football to know that someone who can punt the ball sixty yards is better than someone who can punt it forty, no matter what direction he kicks it in.

Unless you've found some SEC punt returner who's averaging 30+ yards per return, I'll go with the guy who can flip the field position with one kick. Pardon me if I prefer something other than the roughly 30-32 net yards we've been dealing with the last few years.

No offense to PJ, but finishing 10th or 11th in the SEC in net punting average every year gets old.
 

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