Bret Strelow breaks down the start of spring practice for Winston-Salem Journal readers:

http://www.journalnow.com/sports/asu/fo ... 46539.html

I think Brett nailed it. It will be interesting to see what happens at LB and on the OL. Critical positions and big shoes to fill.

For me it's LB, second string DT, QB2, redshirted WRs, and P.

An often overlooked special teams item is having a kicker with the ability to put a larger percentage of kickoffs into the end zone. We have had that with Martin and Critcher the last few years; not sure if we have anyone with that kind of leg currently.

SpeedkingATL wrote:An often overlooked special teams item is having a kicker with the ability to put a larger percentage of kickoffs into the end zone. We have had that with Martin and Critcher the last few years; not sure if we have anyone with that kind of leg currently.

I'd imagine Rylee Critcher will step in quite nicely.

SpeedkingATL wrote:An often overlooked special teams item is having a kicker with the ability to put a larger percentage of kickoffs into the end zone. We have had that with Martin and Critcher the last few years; not sure if we have anyone with that kind of leg currently.

This is very true. I believe Critchers touch back % was around 75%. For reference Toledos kicker was around 25%.

Goapps15 wrote:

SpeedkingATL wrote:An often overlooked special teams item is having a kicker with the ability to put a larger percentage of kickoffs into the end zone. We have had that with Martin and Critcher the last few years; not sure if we have anyone with that kind of leg currently.

This is very true. I believe Critchers touch back % was around 75%. For reference Toledos kicker was around 25%.

I kind of like the directional kickoff down to the 5 yard line or so. With good special teams chances are you can keep the receiving team inside the 20

bigdaddyg wrote:

Goapps15 wrote:

SpeedkingATL wrote:An often overlooked special teams item is having a kicker with the ability to put a larger percentage of kickoffs into the end zone. We have had that with Martin and Critcher the last few years; not sure if we have anyone with that kind of leg currently.

This is very true. I believe Critchers touch back % was around 75%. For reference Toledos kicker was around 25%.

I kind of like the directional kickoff down to the 5 yard line or so. With good special teams chances are you can keep the receiving team inside the 20

With the defense as good as it has been for App, many teams struggle to put together 75 yard drive after 75 yard drive on us.

I don't mind the kickoff inside the 5. More times than not, we'll stop them inside the 25. Definitely preferred the touchback when it was brought out to the 20.

AppAttack wrote:I don't mind the kickoff inside the 5. More times than not, we'll stop them inside the 25. Definitely preferred the touchback when it was brought out to the 20.

Those were my thoughts exactly. Of course actually executing that type of kick is probably tougher than just knocking the crap out of the ball.

bigdaddyg wrote:
Those were my thoughts exactly. Of course actually executing that type of kick is probably tougher than just knocking the crap out of the ball.

I agree with this completely. Of course it's nice to have the best of both worlds. A kicker with the accuracy to drop the ball inside the 5 yard line in the corner against most teams who can also kick it through the back of the end zone against dangerous kick returners.

I would like to see us try to kick it out of the end zone every time. I would much rather the opposing team have it at the 25, than be subject to a return. We were much improved last season, but I am far too traumatized from all the years of struggling in kick coverage. It would suit me just fine if we never had to cover another kickoff return.

Probably would be a healthier, too. Since we started using first and second string players on special teams, (which I'm 100% in favor of and the results speak for themselves) I would also prefer to kick it through the end zone every time. One thing is for sure. Nobody's ever returned one of those for a special team score. I'm sure Toledo would have liked to have had that luxury.

The chances of kicking the ball out of bounds on a kickoff increases dramatically when trying to do fancy stuff like an angled kick to the 5 yard line.

It will be interesting to see how the punting game fares going forward as Critcher did a great job the past few years.

S.Lewis15 wrote:The chances of kicking the ball out of bounds on a kickoff increases dramatically when trying to do fancy stuff like an angled kick to the 5 yard line.

It will be interesting to see how the punting game fares going forward as Critcher did a great job the past few years.

Very true. Kickoffs out of bounds are killer. Funny though on punts is that you never hear the term coffin corner anymore and whatever happened to having the return guy put his feet on the 10 yard line and let anything go that is over his head. I see guys all the time make fair catches inside the 10 and nobody says a word

The funny thing is that as upset as fans/announcers get when a kickoff goes out of bounds, there's only a 10-yard difference between that and a touchback now.

I miss the days when Appstatesports had daily recaps, most of the time video recaps of the practices.

Watauga Democrat had an article about Spring practice.

Glad to see a mention about one of the backup QB's. Maybe Jacob Huesman can be our future.