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UL football coach Rickey Bustle has always been a disciple of strong special teams play, and he says that's going to become even more important in 2007.
Rules changes in place for NCAA football this fall will put a priority on kickoff returns, and several coaches at both the Sun Belt and SEC media days predicted more scoring this year because teams will start many possessions from better field position.
Kickoffs this year will come from the 30-yard line as in the NFL, replacing the 35 which has been used for almost two decades. NCAA research figures the average kickoff will now be received at almost the 10-yard line.
Bustle's squad hasn't been blessed with a strong-legged kicker, one that consistently forced touchbacks, in most of his UL seasons. Moving kickoffs back five yards only adds more pressure on his cover team.
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Dan McDonald
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"The return game's been in play for us for a while," he said. "They want to bring the return game back into play and cut down on re-kicks. Your kick cover team is going to have to be one of your top teams ... you're going to have to put guys there with a lot of athletic ability."
Kentucky coach Rich Brooks said at the SEC media day that more teams may utilize "sky kicks," "pooch kicks" or "squib kicks" - or may just kick out of bounds intentionally and let teams start at the 35-yard line.
"That may be better than kicking it deep and having a return out to the 40 or the 45," Brooks said.
One other new rule affects Bustle's pride and joy, although the Cajun kick-block teams haven't used the tactic. Now, in attempts to block kicks, no player may be picked up, elevated, propelled or pushed by a teammate.
"We haven't done that," said Bustle, whose teams have blocked 29 kicks since he became head coach in 2002. "But we played people last year that did, and I've always wondered about the safety issues there."
Bustle has changed some of his special-teams staffing. Secondary coach Tim Rebowe has shifted from the kickoff to the kickoff return team and Hurlie Brown will take charge of the kickoff team.
Most of the other new rules affect the same area that last year's clock regulations were aimed at - shortening game length. Some rules, including the clock starting on the kick on kickoffs and starting on the referee's ready-for-play signal on changes of possession, were ditched after many coaches' complaints. On the average, NCAA games included 14 fewer plays last year than in previous years.
"There are a lot of critical decisions that are going to be made under different circumstances this year," Bustle said. "It's not going to be as frantic when you're working against the clock."
Games may not extend back to the 2005 length even with the two recalls of the timing rules. Team time outs will be cut back from 90 to 60 seconds, and following a television timeout teams will be allowed only 15 seconds to put the ball into play. In addition, the 25-second clock will start on kickoffs when the ball is handed to the kicker.
The expanded kickoff returns will also likely result in shorter stoppages after kickoffs.
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