Fall camp is usually a time full of mundane quotes and over protective coaches who want to keep everything under wraps. However, San Diego St. Aztecs head coach Rocky Long is debating to under take an odd philosophy taken up by an Arkansas high school head coach which is to never punt on fourth downs:
"It's a day-to-day theory," Long said with a grin late on Friday night. "I haven't decided because we're getting a feel for it out here. I just read about this guy, and I don't know if I can do that because everybody in the world is going to say this is not Football 101, right?
"But there's a reason why he's winning those games. Maybe he just has better players than everybody else; or maybe it's their team gets used to playing like that and the other teams don't get used to playing like that. It's fourth-and-seven - most defenses run off the field. And now they're going to stay out there. ‘What? How come the punt team isn't coming out?'"
Coach, please do this.
It would be amazing to see defenses scramble on fourth down. This actually a brilliant thing to say in fall camp, because even if Long never follows through with not punting on fourth down it will be something an opposing coach will have to think about.However, this must be done. San Diego State is bringing in a new quarterback to replace Ryan Lindley and are replacing Ronnie Hillman, so why not mix things up. Perhaps teaching Ryan Katz or Adam Dingwell the quick kick just to make this more interesting.
There have been some websites full of smart people (don't recall where) who have figured it out that the odds are in a teams favor to go for it rather than punt, in most scenarios. If this is done it will open up San Diego States playbook on third down, and cause defenses to adjust their scheme on third and long, because it may not necessarily be a passing situation. Please, coach Long do this.
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